Feeding help.

[Amy05]

So i went to feed my male last night, and he struck, and he sturck, and he struck...he tryed to get the food about 5 times, but missed every time. I am not sure what this indicates, but i do know that my '05 did it when he was a hatchling as well.
Any tips on how i can fix this? I was thinking the pray was not warm enough, but i'm not so sure.
Thanks all

[Nate]

ya know....one of my females did the exact same thing the second week i had her...and she's been on a 1 1/2 month food strike ever since then. what's the deal? looking for advice on this as well.

[Adam_Wysocki]

Striking and not grabbing can be a couple of things ... most likely, in my experience, stress ... but other things like too large of a prey item, a F/T item that isn't properly warmed, change of prey item, etc can also cause this behavior.

Amy, is this the male that I sent you? Shoot me an email and we'll get you all fixed up.

-adam

[xdeus]

So i went to feed my male last night, and he struck, and he sturck, and he struck...he tryed to get the food about 5 times, but missed every time. I am not sure what this indicates, but i do know that my '05 did it when he was a hatchling as well.
Any tips on how i can fix this? I was thinking the pray was not warm enough, but i'm not so sure.
Thanks all

When he struck, did his neck stay out or did it retract back in right away? If it retracted back in, it was probably a defensive strike instead of a feeding strike. Balls will sometimes strike at a prey item defensively, most likely due to something stress related. Just leave him alone and make sure his environment is as comfortable as possible. Don't handle him at all and try again next week.

[Nate]

Stress sounds like a probable cause for my girls actions then. tips? tips?

[xdeus]

Stress sounds like a probable cause for my girls actions then. tips? tips?

Stress can be caused by a lot of different things. Has anything changed recently? How often do you handle her? Can you describe her setup?

[Adam_Wysocki]

Stress sounds like a probable cause for my girls actions then. tips? tips?

Assuming that your husbandry is correct (temps are the biggest things) ... do her up "McCurley style" and fill the box with crumpled newspaper ... she'll come around in a couple weeks.

Over the years, it's on of the best husbandry tips I've ever gotten!! Thanks Kev@NERD!!!!!!

-adam

[Nate]

Well i got her with the intentions on switching her from live rats to f/t rats. f/t was convenient for me at the moment. I've since then found a source for live rats, so every week i offer her a small live rat.

I went from handling once a week to only taking her out to put her in a new clean tub. She's on the third level of a 4 high rack. 32qt tubs.

everything else is the norm, water bowl, 55-65 humidity, ~93/~83, medium sized hide on warm side.

I'm looking to buy/build a rack that holds 41qt tubs...but i don't know if increasing her tub size would really make a difference. she's about 1200g right now, not really an 'adult', but i do believe she was housed in a 41qt tub before she was sent to me.

edit: Adam, as per our PM's, i've had wads of newspaper in her enclosure since you gave me that advice a few weeks ago. since then, she has constricted and killed one rat. she did not eat it though. maybe it was more of a "damn it you're annoying me" kill?

[Adam_Wysocki]

so every week i offer her a small live rat.

Go smaller.

-adam

[xdeus]

It could be that she's just sensitive to her surroundings when she feeds. Try feeding her right after dark. Place a rat pup or weaned rat in her enclosure and leave her alone with the lights out.