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2 1/2 year hunger strike is over!!

daddio207

daddio207

THUG FROG !
I bought this house snake about 2.5 years ago at an expo. The seller is someone I have purchased many reptiles from over the years. I'm told that the snake is a FT mouse eater and CBB. He was a snake taken in trade though. Not only he wouldn't eat FT mice he wouldn't eat anything FT, live, frog or lizard scented.
He was 200g when purchased and now 100g. Any force feeding would just end up with the snake throwing it back up. About 6 months ago he finally kept down a force fed fuzzy. Afterwards he kept down 2 more fuzzies. So today was feeding day and I went to force feed him. He has always been lively and as usual he struck at me a few times. Knowing he's a striker I always held out the FT mouse in hopes that when he struck at it he would bite and hold on. He always let go or dropped it after grabbing it. THIS TIME HE KEEPS IT AND EATS IT !!!
After all the non-eaters and hunger strike snakes that I've had over the decades this one goes in the record books!!!! WOW!
 

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jagodzinski said:
I'm so happy to hear that! Hopefully this continues as a positive trend for him. He's very pretty
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Thank you and I HOPE so too!!

DollysMom said:
Wow, what's the species? African house snake? So glad he ate! Beautiful snake.
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Thank you and Yes :)

hypnoctopus said:
Wow, I think I would have given up way before then. That's awesome, though.
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Every time I would check on him and expected to find him deceased I instead would find a feisty snake. Even after a couple of years he would still take a whack at me so I kept on hoping that one of these times when he struck the mouse it would click in his brain to eat and it did.
 
Thanks for the answer. He's that very dark phase and no eyelines so I wasn't sure, especially with his mouth full (which is a very good thing :) ).
 
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Wow, that's awesome! Looks like a black phase Lycodonomorphus inornatus. I spotted some dark olive ones at a show recently nearby and wished I had room to get one or two.
 
Thank you Dragonling. I'm not as familiar with Lycondonomorphus as I am with Lamprophis and Boaedon. That's why I was struggling to place it!

I'm having trouble wrapping my head around house snake taxonomy anyway.
 
Wow! Congratulations daddio! And I commend you for your patience! Waiting for that snake to eat must've been like leaving the porch light on for Jimmy Hoffa! Glad you were there for him and dedicated to the cause! I also agree with Dollysmom in that he's a cute little feller! I recently had something similar happen, but no WAY does it compare with the length of time you dedicated! I have 3 hatchlings who emerged from their respective eggs on July 11th and have refused any & all pinkies and parts thereof from the day they had their first shed (circa July 18th) up until very early yesterday morning (like 2:30am). Then, all of a sudden, ALL THREE ate within a 3 to 4 hour period, but all on the same day! Don't know what it was. They were a second batch of day-old pinkies I had purchased but they all were offered several from the same bunch before they all finally decided to eat! The next step was to force feed them since slap- and assist-feeding did not work with them either! Don't think I'll EVER know exactly WHY but as long as they keep it up, I'll just be grateful enough for that! They were getting SO frail! Matter of fact, if they were PEOPLE, they'd be able to TAP DANCE on RAZOR BLADES!! :eek1:

Thanx again for sharing!!
 
Congrats! What persistence. I have a demerits boa that has gone four months, twice, but 2.5 years is crazy. That thing is lucky to be alive! Well done.
 
Dragonling said:
Wow, that's awesome! Looks like a black phase Lycodonomorphus inornatus. I spotted some dark olive ones at a show recently nearby and wished I had room to get one or two.
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Thank you!

DollysMom said:
Thank you Dragonling. I'm not as familiar with Lycodonomorphus as I am with Lamprophis and Boaedon. That's why I was struggling to place it!

I'm having trouble wrapping my head around house snake taxonomy anyway.
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At this moment anyways LOL, Lycodonomorphus, Boaedon and Lamprophis are used for the common english name of african house snakes. Boaedon are widespread throughout Africa and comes in many colors.
Some label and sell them as "locals". Some/most brown house snakes will darken to black through adulthood.
I purchased it as a Boaedon. Boaedon are legal in Maine so Boaedon it is LOL.

Using english names has always been an issue in our hobby but latin taxonomy is more frustrating !!
 
axis1 said:
Wow! Congratulations daddio! And I commend you for your patience! Waiting for that snake to eat must've been like leaving the porch light on for Jimmy Hoffa! Glad you were there for him and dedicated to the cause! I also agree with Dollysmom in that he's a cute little feller! I recently had something similar happen, but no WAY does it compare with the length of time you dedicated! I have 3 hatchlings who emerged from their respective eggs on July 11th and have refused any & all pinkies and parts thereof from the day they had their first shed (circa July 18th) up until very early yesterday morning (like 2:30am). Then, all of a sudden, ALL THREE ate within a 3 to 4 hour period, but all on the same day! Don't know what it was. They were a second batch of day-old pinkies I had purchased but they all were offered several from the same bunch before they all finally decided to eat! The next step was to force feed them since slap- and assist-feeding did not work with them either! Don't think I'll EVER know exactly WHY but as long as they keep it up, I'll just be grateful enough for that! They were getting SO frail! Matter of fact, if they were PEOPLE, they'd be able to TAP DANCE on RAZOR BLADES!! :eek1:

Thanx again for sharing!!
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Thank you and your welcome :)
I would say it was your patience, perseverance and relief of stress with your hatchlings that worked! I always say without these 3 things all the tricks in the books aren't going to work. This house snake just proved that theory out to its limitations !!!!

Joba said:
Congrats! What persistence. I have a demerits boa that has gone four months, twice, but 2.5 years is crazy. That thing is lucky to be alive! Well done.
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Thank you !
I had a ball Python go 9 months and my last record holder (still in my possession) is a Rough Scale Sand Boa adult female at just over a year.
 
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Crazy!! My boyfriend has a ball python who goes through an annual feeding strike lasting for months, over the winter. When he does feel like eating, he will only eat live rats. Yeah, I know. He's tried everything. EXCEPT FT chicks. Sammy took the FT chick like that was the food he'd been waiting for his entire life, and has gone on to always feed reliably on chicks.
 
Nanci said:
Crazy!! My boyfriend has a ball python who goes through an annual feeding strike lasting for months, over the winter. When he does feel like eating, he will only eat live rats. Yeah, I know. He's tried everything. EXCEPT FT chicks. Sammy took the FT chick like that was the food he'd been waiting for his entire life, and has gone on to always feed reliably on chicks.
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My daughter and son in law have a BP that will also only eat live when it does eat. The local pet stores wont sell live feeders now so I'll order in some FT chicks to try. Thanks :)
 
Nanci said:
Sammy took the FT chick like that was the food he'd been waiting for his entire life, and has gone on to always feed reliably on chicks.
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Yup! That's what finally got my demerits eating. He wouldn't touch a rodent, f/t, live, nothing. I finally offered him a chick and BAM! like, "what the h*** took you so long to offer me one of those?"
 
I went to feed this snake again and as soon as I lifted his hide up he attacked and held on!
A great sign besides the pain of the bite LOL! I used my little trick of blowing into his mouth to get him to release and he did. I held out a mouse and he attacked it and ate it like he hasn't eaten in 2.5 years Haha
:dancer:
 

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Amazing little one! Housies usually don't bite, but I have heard that their teeth are longer than corn snakes and curved. I hope it didn't hurt too much. So glad your little "Boaedon" is eating again.
 
Dragonling said:
Wow, that's awesome! Looks like a black phase Lycodonomorphus inornatus. I spotted some dark olive ones at a show recently nearby and wished I had room to get one or two.
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I've been told that L. inornatus is pretty rare in the hobby, and that they only stay black as neonates. Apparently this is likely Boadeon fuliginosus from West/Central Africa instead, or possibly some blend of species.
 
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