Burm wont eat

[StevenLeeAugust]

Male Albino Burm, 11 years old. Great temperament, great eater until December of 2003, then he stopped. Ate F/T since day one. I have since tried live to no avail. I have tried rats rabbits guinea pigs, hamsters, gerbils you name it. He runs to the food as if he is starving yet won’t eat.

Vets (been to two) cannot find any thing wrong. No virus, not anything.
Several other Burm owners tell me they have had similar problems.
Anyone have any advise? Solutions? Same problems?
Thanks
Steve

	Frozen/Thawed A rodent or other prey item that is frozen and then thawed to be fed to a reptile or other animal.

[Ed_r]

Is this burm new to you? or one you have had for a long time? One thing that happened to me with the burm i gave to Squeezer is he stopped eating for long periods of time. He later passed on , and during the necropsy, they founds his heart's valves were not working, so he had heart problems. Anyway to get the vet to check his heart thuroughly?

[StevenLeeAugust]

I have had him since he was born…uh, hatched.
What would a vet do to check a heart?

[NicoleRussell]

sorry about your snake guys. I know you really love him and take good care of him. Brett aka JS has a burm that's healthy --he'll be along soon I'm sure.
I have my fingers crossed for ya.

[Dbutton]

I have a 12 year old male albino burm and he has stopped eating for a couple of months before. He didn't really loose any weight either which suprised me. Is yours still active? Does he cruise the cage at night or otherwise act hungry?
What are the temps in his encloure? And has there been any major changes around the time he quit eating like change of cage or the room it is in? Many things can effect their eating habbits. Has he been loosing weight?
Oh yea, what was his feeding schedule and prefered food item before he stopped eating?


David

[Ed_r]

What would a vet do to check a heart?

No clue. Don't they do ultra sounds to check a heart? i dunno I'm not a doctor, nor do i play one on tv.

[Ravnos]

I would also look into having bloodwork done for possible kidney or liver damage. Unlikely if you've had him from day 1, but who knows, burms seem to be suseptible to kidney problems.

Rav

[StevenLeeAugust]

“Sparkle” did have a bout with entrobacter (sp) a few years back so I did a throat culture right away. No growth. I lost a Burm to that so it was my first thought to check that out first..

Rav,
Did the blood panel and all is well.
I didn’t now kidney problems were a thing with burms, I did have several problems with kidneys in my boas a while back.

Dbutton, if the only stopped for a couple of months I wouldn’t be as worried as I am now. It going on 7. Not at all like him or any Burm I can think of. The fact that he is loosing weight is my concern. Like you said, yours went a couple of months and no weight loss. Temps vary from 78 to 90 on a basking shelf . My entire barn is humid but I mist daily. No changes in daily activities at all. Been doning the same things with him since he was born. You know, normal snake stuff, puling him out of flaming Bar-B- Que grills, or from peoples pants and wrapping him around showgirls…(little humor there for those who know me)
I know you don’t approve of his feeding schedule so no need to go into that again but he was 100% healthy according to my two vets in Dec of 03. Normal weight, normal poop, clean throat etc… Very tame, never bit, not even a hiss.


I will be going to vet #2 for a second opinion this week. If anyone else ever had such a problem I would be interested in knowing what was done.

I have heard this is part of the dreaded BD that does or does not exist. Any thoughts?
I will try force feed if needed but I rarely hear any success stories form that unless its during a recovery time and the snake is getting better, not worse.

Thanks for the input everyone
Steve.

	Bearded Dragon Bearded Dragon is the common name for any agamid lizard in the genus Pogona.

[Dbutton]

I hope the new vet finds something that is causing the problem and that it is treatable. I hate it when they have problems and noboday can figure it out. Makes alot of stress for the owner too.

David

[JuliusSqueezer]

BD would be a break down of the immuno system and then chronic RI and coughing up thick yellow goo /pneumonia and then slowly choking to death on the thick mucous because while a snake can cough, they have no diaphragm and can't cough enough to clear their lungs or lung depending on species. Any snake can develop kidney problems. Is he dropping urates still? Do you feel any "pebbles" in just above his vent a couple of inches or so?

If all his conditions are the same and he shows no outward sign of illness, I would inject 2-3cc of B12 ...wait a couple of days and try again.

He's an albino...does he frequently go outside during the day in bright sunlight? If so, he's probably blind now or very vision impared and probably stressed out about that.

Also, stick your head in the cage and make sure there is no strong ammonia pee smell. I have seen many times this cause a burm to go off feed.

I have 2 male burms, Max went off feed from Dec to early March for a total of right at 3 months. Julius has gone maybe a month at a time but no real fast. What exactly was the feeding schedule your snake was on that you say we won't approve of? I must have missed that in another thread?