Will BPs refuse food which they think is too big? Are they scared of it?

[Jaydan]

Last week I decided to make the transition to rats, my BP has been on medium mice for a while now. I bought a pack of weaned white rats, looks identical to the mice I've been feeding him, and he showed a little interest then just ignore it for the rest of the time it was in there. I feed my BP f/t and he has never ate live. I compared the rat to the size of his body and he could definitely take it. I'm not sure if he just doesn't like rats, or if he was intimidated by the size, or if he thought he could not swallow it.

I'm going to investigate whether it's the size or the type of rodent, first of all I will purchase a smaller rat, if he still does not take it I will attempt adult mice.

Opinions on whether he is scared or whether he just doesn't like rats? Either way I'm still going to have to test it, just wanted to get some thoughts first. Worst comes to worst I'll just have to start feeding him doubles when he reaches the max mouse size which my local reptile supplies sell.

Edit: I replaced the weaned rat with the medium mouse after he wasn't eating it, then he ate the medium mouse straight away, so I'm certain he is not fasting.

[BMorrison]

Rats smell different next time you're thawing before feeding rub the mouse on the rat to give it the mouse scent.


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[redshepherd]

What works best for me is going to a pet store and asking for a bag of dirty substrate from their mice enclosure (used substrate, poop and stinky and all) because it's filled with mouse scent. And then get your thawed rat and roll it around inside the bag to coat it with the scent. Warm it and offer again, and the BP should take it no problem.

Like stated, rats smell totally different, so most people need to transition in this way or another way to coat the rat with a mouse scent.

[Stewart_Reptiles]

You went from medium mice to weaned rats? This is a HUGE difference pretty much double in size granted they give the proper name and the feeders are correctly sized.

If that is the case that's problem number one, problem number two you are trying to switch to another type of food and while it might be easy and done in one meal for some BP, most will require tough love and one of the easier way to switch is to switch to a different prey that is the same exact size and once used to the new prey you can move on to a bigger size if necessary.

Tough love means your snake does not eat you do not offer something else that of course requires proper weight enough to handle a few weeks or months without food.