When to try live?

[Marrissa]

So the clown girl has only eaten for me once since she got here about a month and a half ago. She weighed in at 127g when I got her and is now 126 so not alarming. I was told she eats everything, F/T or live rats. She will act like she's going to strike, check it out all over, and then just carry on like she never saw it. I've been trying every 5 days when I feed my leopard girl, I haven't been handling her, and her temps and humidity are correct. The one time she ate was when I left it there in front of her hide. I came back 10 minutes later and it was gone. I've tried this again and end up having to throw the gross rat away in the morning.

Should I stick to my guns and keep wasting F/T rats or should I go check the feed store to see if they've had any rat births? So frustrating that she just won't eat. I've tried everything I can think of to get her to go for it and she won't strike. Lots of time wasted with the hairdryer and various zombie dances. I really hope it just clicks one day and she realizes she needs to eat.

[Mr Oni]

I have the same problem. I even had a mini clothspin clipped on the tip of the tail with fishing string, closed the tub, got out of site and wiggled the f/t rat and she would check it out but end up turning her nose at it.

Couldnt hurt to grab a live one.
I had to accept she only eats live that after throwing out 10+ rats

good luck though

[T&C Exotics]

Another trick that works a lot with younger BPs is to stick the head of the rodent to a light bulb for a few seconds to get it considerably warmer than normal, not cooking it, and that usually gets a good response for me. She has not lost much weight at all so I would not be worried yet. If she got down below the 110 gram mark then I would worry.

[Crazymonkee]

As long as she's not loosing considerable weight, I guess it would come down to how many rats you want to throw away.

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[Naom9Anne]

Perhaps try leaving it a full 7 days and try again? Missing a few feeds won't harm her but monitor her weight and if you feel like you are uncomfortable with her weight loss perhaps you could try feeding live/pre-killed? Have you attempted braining the animal? I know it isn't for everybody but it could be the next step up in your attempt to get her to feed

[mvptext1]

I have the same problem with my BP sometimes, and one accident I found a trick that sometimes works. As I was dangling the rat in front of my BP, the rat's tail broke and it fell from the tongs to the ground in front of the BP. My guy stuck at it really hard as soon as the rat's head hit the ground. Since that "accident" I've tried this technique a few more times with success. Of course I am not talking about a big drop, the rat is about a inch or two off the floor of the the cage.

[BloodStar]

Hey!

Me and my Girlfriend were having the same issue. I actually still am having the same issue however with one of our BPs we did the following:

-Thaw in fridge over day
-Put in warm water for about 10 min to heat the core
-Blow dry to fluff up the furr
-Split the head so some juices come out
-Then bask under heat lamp or on UTH for about 10 sec
-Put in seperate contrainer, grab snake and put her/him in the container with the dead rat/mouse
-Put in either a closet that is dark and quiet or cover the container with a towel and leave alone for about 20 minutes

My GF BP wasn't eating at all for almost a month and now she has eaten 3 weeks in a row following this method. Just have to try everything till you find your snakes preference lol

Good Luck!

[coldbloodaddict]

I would try live..Better for them to eat, than not eat what we want them to.

After a few live meals try thawed again.

[Marrissa]

Thanks guys! I'll go check out the store today. Last time I was there they only had mice babies. They have a lot of rats in a 29 gallon tank so I'm not surprised they weren't breeding when I was there last. Hopefully they have some now. If it comes down to it I guess I can get one breeding tub setup for rats. I've done a lot of reading on here about them. I was just hoping to manage to wait on that until I have my own house. Plus this semester is hellish and caring for rats is another thing to make time for. Rat babies would be fun though..

[Crazymonkee]

I would try live..Better for them to eat, than not eat what we want them to.

After a few live meals try thawed again.

Agreed

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