Adopted BP changing his eating habits?

[Dirulurv]

Hey guys, I have this adopted ball python for about 5 months now, he's been a very good eater since I've had him and was a good eater when the prev owner had him till she decided to stop feeding the poor thing. (He was also on live rats) He is still eating but I've noticed he now (last 2 months) prefers to take the f/t rat as it lies there motionless whereas before I had to wiggle the rat near him and he would strike and curl. Now he takes over 30 minutes to even start on the rat, he spends most of that time looking around and sniffing the rat figuring out which end is which.. Also seems to be having trouble seeing.. He bumps into it and spooks himself, He'll grab a hind leg realize it's a wrong part, grab an ear, realize that's not right either.. seems to have a hard time finding the snout. When he does it's go time but compared to before his strike response has diminished. He's def intrigued by the smell and will eat but I have to patient myself to make sure he does so that I don't leave the rat lying there long enough (ie overnight) for it to start to deteriorate and soil his bedding. His eyes are clear I've checked them wondering maybe something is wrong..

Any ideas as to why he now accepts motionless cold rats ?


Oh just remembered I also noticed a couple months before this that he would strike at the rat and miss 2-3 times in a row and it's right in front of him. If that helps. (I think he's about 5, I remember him when he was a baby at this persons house)


Thanks!

Cass,

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[200xth]

Some of mine will only eat if I leave the rat laying on the ground for them. They just seem to prefer it now for some reason. They generally prefer the quiet and 1 or 2 will only eat in the middle of the night hours after I've left it for them and closed up.

Taking a while to find the head is not uncommon for some of mine either.

You can leave the rat laying there overnight without issue. It won't decompose so much it causes problems in 8 or 10 hours.

[Velrys]

So if I understand correctly he was being fed live and is now being offered f/t.

What temp is the food item when you feed it and how are you measuring its temp.

If you think about how "heat vision" works a live rat (hotter towards the head and center mass heat) is going to look very different from a f/t rat (possibly uniform heat but superficial) so he is probably having a little trouble recognizing it for what it is. Put that together with live rats that it is used to seeing on the ground and f/t that are apparently falling from the sky.

Your answers to the 2 questions above may change this but I would suggest raising the heat on the food item and be sure to make the front end warmer than the back end.

[kiiarah]

At first glance this sounds like nothing to worry about. It is possible that since he is used to live rats coming into the tank and having to strike quickly he was doing that at first out of habit. He may not have realized yet that they aren't alive. I sort of had the opposite happen with mine, he used to do what yours is doing, just lazily nose around until he decided to swallow it. He would hide if I moved the rat for him and would only eat it while it was still. Recently he started striking and constricting the F/T rats. I was curious why this might be so I posted about it on here. Basically what people said was that it was more common for him to not strike or feed aggressively because he knows it is dead and that he doesn't need to kill it. Basically with F/T he may just be learning that he can take his time.

As for missing strikes, my guess be the heat signature. If you post how you have been preparing the rat it may help us give some feedback on that, but it does sound like he doesn't have good enough "vision" of it to be accurate. You can try dipping the head in water that has been microwaved for about a minute to boost the heat signature of the head and better imitate a live rodent. This sometimes helps. Also, if like you said he takes a while to get interested, the prey may just be cooling enough by that point that it is harder for him to recognize it.

[Dirulurv]

All of these replies are helpful, thx! As for the rats I prepare them by thawing them in hot water and paper towel them dry, they're pretty warm after drying and both my bp's have had no issues with finding their prey as I lay it down in front and wiggle them as though it would be a live rat just squirming, I don't tend to dangle because that just looks unnatural lol, I prep my rats the same every time, I get a great strike response from my original and usually do with my adopted boy, but lately not so much, I think I'll try using a hairdryer to warm up the head end more.

He used to refuse the f/t rats with the prev owner when her pet store no longer carried rodents so she didn't bother feeding him afterwards, I had him switch to f/t and has been an awesome eater since getting him, I'll modify my thawing technique as you've suggested! Thanks lots!


Thanks!

Cass,

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[kiiarah]

Just throwing it out there, but I have really good luck scenting with tuna juice (in water not oil of course). When I got my little guy he accepted the first pinky rat I offered but the next two feedings he refused. The first time was because he was getting ready to shed, when he finished shedding I had to help him with some retained shed and I think he was just too worn out to want to eat. The week after that I really wanted to pull out all the stops and do everything I could to make sure he wouldn't refuse another meal. I had read about tuna scenting so after warming the rat in hot tap water I not only dipped the head in microwaved water but also in tuna juice, patted it dry, and used the hair dryer to fully dry it, focusing the hot air on the head. He took immediate interest and I have been doing it that way since and he has been eating like a champ. Keep up posted and let us know if any recommendations seem to help. Always good to know what works best.

[Dirulurv]

Tuna juice? Really? Hmm lol sounds weird but I'll try it I guess, love tuna so I always keep some canned stuff on hand.

Bought a hairdryer to warm the rat after thawing rather than pat dry, concentrated the hot hair into its head as suggested previously but my guy still refused his rat tonight. (My younger one took his no problem) He curled back up into his hide and just left it there. He could be 'not hungry', but he never used to be one to refuse a feeding unless he was in blue.. Except lately..

Ill give your tuna juice a try, thanks for the reply!

[Ophidia]

....Put that together with live rats that it is used to seeing on the ground and f/t that are apparently falling from the sky.

That cracked me up, I had to revisit it.

Everyone has some great tips though, each one of my snakes has different eating habits, so I wish you luck!