Nursing back to health....

[Zuma22]

Hi everyone, I am new to the site, but not new to owning snakes. I thought I would get some good opinions from you all on nursing my new girl back to health. She is a gorgeous spider, but hasn't eaten since November and is quite skinny and shy. With picky eaters I usually use live mice to get them eating and them wean them on to f/t and I've had a lot of success with this method. However, I am temporarily living in a location where I can't seem to find any live feeders.

I tried showing her a warmed up f/t mouse but she showed zero interest or indication that she even knew it was food. I've only had her a few days so I've just left her alone to let her adjust and feel safe.

Any ideas for trying to feed her? I'm really uncomfortable with the idea of force feeding, so no need to even suggest it!

Thank you!

[Griffith]

Where are you that you can't find some live feeder mice? Most small petshops even have feeder mice these days...

Unfortunately I don't have any tips cause I haven't ever had a picky feeder really...mine are usually garbage disposals lol

Good luck, I'm sure someone will chime in soon...

EDIT: Saw your other post...how big is your snake? Cause you were asking for live pinky/fuzzy mice but even hatchlings will generally take a small hopper...

[Annarose15]

Griffith has a good point. If the mouse was too small, then it wouldn't be surprising if she doesn't recognize it as food.

[Griffith]

There are quite a few petshops that pop up around Worcester MA, I can't imagine that NONE of them have live hoppers that you could try

[Zuma22]

If I'm going to give live, I don't like the idea of giving a feeder that's big enough to fight back. I'd like to make it as easy for her as possible...but, the f/t I showed her was a hopper, so he wasn't too small. I haven't weighed her yet, but she is 5 1/2 mo. old and tiny for her age.

And I am waiting to hear back from a small pet shop here who said he might be able to get me live feeders. He used to supply them but stopped because there was no market for them here.

My other guy is an absolute garbage disposal and will eat anything I put in front of him, but he started out picky, so hopefully I can get this girl on the same level eventually.

Thanks for your input...keep it coming!

[Zuma22]

Hi guys...

I'm still having trouble with this girl. I've had her covered so she feels more secure, everything is the proper temp/humidity...she's drinking well and occasionally comes out to look around, but I've been trying to leave her alone as much as possible. I thawed and warmed up a mouse the other day and left it in with her over night and for the whole next day with absolutely no interest. I would really love any new suggestions. My male is eating like no other, but this girl is so skinny and hasn't eaten since November. I realize it is winter, but her behavior is still concerning.

I can take her to the vet, but there aren't any vets in my area who know reptiles well enough. And I'm still trying to find live feeders, but the blizzard this weekend has thrown all businesses out of wack.

Thoughts???

[Seanjackmc]

So to be clear I've owned a ball for less than a week. It so happened that last Friday was feeding day. I fed a live feeder mouse to him and he had no interest while I was in the room. Took him out and consulted and expert. It was suggested to put the live in and turn off the lights in the room and go away for an hour. I did that cam back and mouse was gone. It worked for me, that's all I'm saying I might have to feed two next time if I can't get larger mice or small rats.
good luck