Can't get my BP to strike

[stillyball]

I've had my girl since April 12th.. The guy I got her from said she was eating live pups.
I waited two weeks and fed her and she struck and are it immediately. It was a little big so I waited two weeks and tried again... Nothing. Now it's been a week since that failed attempt and I just tried again.
She coils up like she's going to take it and then just backs away and goes on about her business.
I'm starting to get extremely stressed out here


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[stillyball]

Update: while I was holding the rat.. She just bit it.. Didn't hold onto it, just defensively bit it. She did that several times.


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[scalrtn]

You could try something smaller, like a crawler or small mouse...also, be sure your temps are ok, and is cage clean? I don't feed live prey, so when mine doesn't take it, I just leave it alone in the cage with the snake for awhile...

[stillyball]

My temps are ok I think.
She's in a tub but the warm side is like 88-89 and the cool side is right at 75..
It's a small rat so I just left it.
It's definitely not too big


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[kiiarah]

I just wanted to point out that scalrtn specified that they are not feeding live. You didn't state whether you are feeding live or frozen/thawed, but please be sure never to leave a live rodent in with your snake. If you are feeding pre-killed I would definitely recommend leaving the dead rat in overnight, often the snake just isn't ready when their keeper decides it is meal time but if you leave it for a while you will find they have eaten it.

[BenzieBox]

I feed frozen/thawed medium rats to my biggest bp. He's my more relaxed feeder. My usual routine is thaw the rat, place it in the bin right in front of his favorite hide, close the lid and slide the tub back in place. I let him eat when he feels like it. Very rarely has he ever been super excited and striking around for the rats. I check in on him about a half hour lately and by this time he usually has the rat in a tight little hug. If you're feeding frozen/thawed perhaps try this. Some snakes don't want their meal dangling in their face constantly and prefer to just eat when they're ready. If you're feeding live I do not recommend leaving the animal in the enclosure unsupervised. A shy bp is an invitation for the mouse/rat to defend itself out of fear.

[scalrtn]

Another trick you can try is "braining" the feeder rat, i.e. crack its skull with a pair of pliers so some of the brain matter is released. Kind of gross, but it's a trick a lot of keepers have used with good results.

The other thing to be sure of is the feeder itself is sufficiently warm. I use an Infrared temp gun to be sure the feeder is warmed to at least 95 degrees (of course insuring it's not too hot - say over 100 degrees or so).