Grr, feeding issue

Well, today was Thor's first feeding attempt and he struck right away. I was relieved and thought he'd be fine. Well, I came back in a few minutes later to notice that he had gotten the mouse sideways. Left, and came back in a few minutes later and the mouse was sitting on the ground. Did I do something wrong??
Weight- 205G trying to feed F/T Med. Mouse (he was started on f/t per Pro Exotics).

Hi,

I would really heat the head up and re-offer it to him and see if you can get him to strike again.

I find a hairdrier is the best way to do it - just give the head a good blasting. :gj:

Er... the mouses head that is.


dr del

ah well, no dice, he'd smell it but no 2nd strike. Try again tomorrow?

give it acouple days. attempting to feed day after day will only lead to more dissapointments and stress on you and the snake. i learned that the hard way!

Quote:

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Originally Posted by nickdolin

ah well, no dice, he'd smell it but no 2nd strike. Try again tomorrow?

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Nope, that will only stress him out. Try again in a week. And don't handle him this week, let him acclimate. :)

Hi,

No, I would wait and try him again next scheduled feeding day - offering food too often to a snake that doesn't want it can cause stress. He might eat tomorrow if you offered but skipping a week really isn't a problem to a healthy snake so it is the best choice most of the time.

**edit** Dang I type slow **end edit**


dr del

I guess my mistake was heating the whole body with the hair dryer the first time. Next time (5-7 days w/o handling) I'll make sure to focus the heat on the head.

BTW, we have a great section in our Ball python caresheet on "Why won't my snake eat?" that covers different reasons for a refusal. It's a very helpful check-list to see what other reasons he may be refusing. Although, one refusal isn't much to be concerned over. :)

Hey,
I have never tried heating the head more, thanks dr del that makes good sense! Adam Wysocki 8 ball python comment of pre-scenting has worked like a charm for me. Mine had in his smaller enclosure wrestled a rat around a bit and then tried the middle and dropped it, similar story.

I just picked it back up and re-warmed it presented it a second time holding it (BBQ scissors-tongs) past the rear legs (rats legs that is) my guy struck constricted (second time) and had a better position to take the head.

I decided that in my case this was a small enclosure limiting his manoeuvring room. I put him in a larger one and this trouble went away. I don't know if this will help but that was what my problem seemed to be. Just don't stress him out check your temps and such and leave him be for a bit and try again next feeding day.

Well I was hoping that re-heating the head would provoke some interest but no luck. And Robin, I read over the care-sheet and really I think my husbandry is OK except I'll just have to leave him alone (trying to limit intrusions) for 5-7 days until I give it another shot.