• Posted 12/19/2024.
    =====================

    I am still waiting on my developer to finish up on the Classifieds Control Panel so I can use it to encourage members into becoming paying members. Google Adsense has become a real burden on the viewing of this site, but honestly it is the ONLY source of income now that keeps it afloat. I tried offering disabling the ads being viewed by paying members, but apparently that is not enough incentive. Quite frankly, Google Adsense has dropped down to where it barely brings in enough daily to match even a single paid member per day. But it still gets the bills paid. But at what cost?

    So even without the classifieds control panel being complete, I believe I am going to have to disable those Google ads completely and likely disable some options here that have been free since going to the new platform. Like classified ad bumping, member name changes, and anything else I can use to encourage this site to be supported by the members instead of the Google Adsense ads.

    But there is risk involved. I will not pay out of pocket for very long during this last ditch experimental effort. If I find that the membership does not want to support this site with memberships, then I cannot support your being able to post your classified ads here for free. No, I am not intending to start charging for your posting ads here. I will just shut the site down and that will be it. I will be done with FaunaClassifieds. I certainly don't need this, and can live the rest of my life just fine without it. If I see that no one else really wants it to survive neither, then so be it. It goes away and you all can just go elsewhere to advertise your animals and merchandise.

    Not sure when this will take place, and I don't intend to give any further warning concerning the disabling of the Google Adsense. Just as there probably won't be any warning if I decide to close down this site. You will just come here and there will be some sort of message that the site is gone, and you have a nice day.

    I have been trying to make a go of this site for a very long time. And quite frankly, I am just tired of trying. I had hoped that enough people would be willing to help me help you all have a free outlet to offer your stuff for sale. But every year I see less and less people coming to this site, much less supporting it financially. That is fine. I tried. I retired the SerpenCo business about 14 years ago, so retiring out of this business completely is not that big if a step for me, nor will it be especially painful to do. When I was in Thailand, I did not check in here for three weeks. I didn't miss it even a little bit. So if you all want it to remain, it will be in your hands. I really don't care either way.

    =====================
    Some people have indicated that finding the method to contribute is rather difficult. And I have to admit, that it is not all that obvious. So to help, here is a thread to help as a quide. How to become a contributing member of FaunaClassifieds.

    And for the record, I will be shutting down the Google Adsense ads on January 1, 2025.
  • Responding to email notices you receive.
    **************************************************
    In short, DON'T! Email notices are to ONLY alert you of a reply to your private message or your ad on this site. Replying to the email just wastes your time as it goes NOWHERE, and probably pisses off the person you thought you replied to when they think you just ignored them. So instead of complaining to me about your messages not being replied to from this site via email, please READ that email notice that plainly states what you need to do in order to reply to who you are trying to converse with.

Force Feed or Try Live?

As others have said, the relatively short fast & small weight loss are not really of concern with a 2 yr old male.
First step is always to double check husbandry.
If you can't bring yourself to leave him alone, please consider assist/force feeding him a last resort (and one that doesn't need to happen for a few more months). There are too many alternatives to pursue with a snake of that age/size. If you don't want to feed a live rat, offer a f/t mouse...a lot of BPs that go off f/t rats will take f/t mice. If you don't have an emotional connection with mice, you could always offer a live mouse (even more will take those); but I've had too many decide that they like live mice to offer that suggestion lightly.
 
Randy F said:
I believe the 10-15% weight loss is regarding a immediate weight loss, not that over a 3 month period off feed.
Click to expand...

This. While ballpark numbers are good to have in your head, ya need to make sure you have a point of reference. Ten to 15% weight loss over a couple weeks is a completely different issue than 10 to 15% over a year. :)

I just had my male G-stripe start eating again after a nine-month fast. Over those months, he only lost 15% of his body weight. I'm finally used to BP fasting, so I wasn't worried.

As others have said, force-feeding should be a last resort.

Also, if you're worried about weight loss and/or when to consider force- or assist-feeding, my vet said to check muscle tone. If you run your finger from dorsal to ventral scales, you should be able to feel a couple ridges of muscle running parallel to the length of the snake. Another way to check muscle tone is to test how well the snake can grip things. See if he can grip your fingers with the end of his tail and if he will wrap around your arm if laid across it--things like that. If you don't feel the muscles and/or he seems to have trouble gripping, then it's time to consider assist- or force-feeding. But as long as the snake's muscle tone seems good and as long as he hasn't had an extreme, sudden drop in weight, he's probably just being a pill. ;)
 
I mean no disrespect, but waiting too long to assist/force is just as bad (if not worse) than not waiting long enough - IMO, of course. The difference is that too soon is unnecessary; while too late is....well....too late.
 
Matt2979 said:
LOL...you're not the first to feel like that! I had boas for years before I got my first ball. "Fasting" was extremely rare...'til really got into BP's, that is. :ack2:
Click to expand...

Hahahaha Same here man. I had some big boas that would eat regardless of the size of food. If they could take it down, they were eating it. Now that I have switched completely to ball pythons, I have a much smaller feeding bill to say the least. A lot less bite marks on my hands as well. :thumbsup:
 
hhmoore said:
..... If you don't want to feed a live rat, offer a f/t mouse...a lot of BPs that go off f/t rats will take f/t mice.......
Click to expand...


Thanks so much! We wound up buying a fuzzy rat but before we even got home we decided that we couldn't go through with feeding it, so we stopped and picked up a frozen mouse. Sure enough, he took it! We will continue to feed him mice for a few weeks to get his weight back up and then try and switch him back to rats.

So long story short, Beau finally ate, and we now have a pet rat that we have named Lucky. We will just have to make sure we wash our hands before handling the snakes now.
 
I guess "Lucky" really is lucky!!! :rofl:

Congrats on getting your boy to eat! But rather than waiting a few weeks to try to switch him back, you might try following a mouse with a rat. I've had some success doing this (4 BP's in the last few months) so I'd say it's worth a shot. Either way, glad to hear that he's eating and not stressing you out so badly!! :D
 
Great news. This week Beau ate a FT rat! No hesitation! So glad he is eating again! More great news. The new mojave male we got on the 29th ate for us for the first time. He was on live before we got him so we were worried it would be hard to switch him to F/T. Just a little more than two weeks and he took one!
 
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