Didn't eat...

[lillyorchid]

So went out and got a mouse today since the petstore was out of rat pups. Came home stuck the mouse in a 10 gallon tank, left it there for a bit. Put my snake in there with it and sat back and watched. My snake was more worried on how to get out then wanting to eat I guess. So after sitting there an hour, I took my snake out and put him back in to his tub.


So how long should I wait before trying to feed him again? How long do you keep your live rodents in with your snakes before calling it quits?

[JLC]

If your snake is used to eating rats, there's a good chance it won't ever take a mouse right off. BP's seem to "impress" upon a particular food item and have a hard time switching over. (There are always exceptions to that, but as a general rule, they prefer the same animal served up the same way each week.)


To answer your questions: If the snake refused to eat today, I would wait a full week before trying again. Won't hurt the snake at all to skip a meal. As for how long to leave a live rodent in there...I guess that depends on how patient you are to sit there and supervise...or the age of the rodent. I wouldn't leave an adult rodent unsupervised for more than 15 or 20 minutes...but if you're watching, you can probably go longer if you think it'd help. If it's a fuzzy rat or something harmless, you can leave it in longer.

My extremely limited experience with feeding bp's though, has shown me that if she doesn't eat within the first 10-15 minutes of the rat being put in her cage, she's not going to eat at all.

[elevatethis]

That sounds like one of those examples where feeding in a seperate cage is actually counter-productive in the world of successful feeding. I used to feed in seperate boxes, but stopped once I realized the half of the time, the snakes got so freaked out from being removed from a cozy hide that they lost their appetite. I notice a sort of "flighty" behavior when a snake isn't interested in food, which sounds about right based upon your description.

[lillyorchid]

Well I guess I'll wait another week and try again. Hopefully they have a rat pup next time!