Great eater refused meal after changing slots in the rack?

I have had a picky eater that has gone off feed for 1 month, in an effort to get her to eat I changed her from the bottom slot in the rack to the top slot in the rack and put my lesser from the top to the bottom.

My lesser is a great eater. He eats everything, every time, even seconds some times when others refuse their rat. I tried to feed him today a live rat pup (he usually eats f/t), even after leaving it with him for 2 hours nothing. He usually strikes within 30 seconds.

I haven't tried the picky eater yet. I was going to give her a few more days to settle in. Do you think there is something wrong with my bottom slat in my rack?

I have six shelves. My good eaters were in the following locations in the shelves.

Lesser (m)- Always eats sometimes 2
Pinstripe (m)- Always east sometimes 2
Spider (f)- Occational eater
empty
Cinnamon (m)- Great eater, Next to Pastel (f) - picky eater
Mojave- extreme picky eater

Hi,

Couple of things spring to mind as needing considered.

What are the temps in those tubs? Racks tend to be cooler at the bottom simply because heat rises.

He may just be settling in to his new enclosure - just because it looks the same to us doesn't mean it can't seem different to the snakes.


dr del

Quote:

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Originally Posted by dr del

Hi,

Couple of things spring to mind as needing considered.

What are the temps in those tubs? Racks tend to be cooler at the bottom simply because heat rises.

He may just be settling in to his new enclosure - just because it looks the same to us doesn't mean it can't seem different to the snakes.


dr del

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It is set on 92 with a 1 degree night drop. Also how long do you think I should wait before trying to feed my picky Mojave?

Hi,

I meant what are the actual temps inside the tubs - the thermostat setting can be quite a lot different.

I also wouldn't bother with night time drop even of a degree ( though that definately shouldn't be causing any problems :) ).


dr del

I've had one snake in my time who wouldn't eat live. He had been on f/t a long time and I don't know if it was the movement or the different smell, but he would jerk away when the mouse came close to him.

I know that most of them aren't that way, and the rest of my f/t eaters acted like the occasional live prey was a special treat. My snakes didn't get live prey very often--only when a friend's colony had a population explosion and he was unloading his excess production for almost nothing. But when it happened, I still had to keep f/t for that one particular snake.

I think he was a sissy and afraid of live mice. :D

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Redneck_Crow

I've had one snake in my time who wouldn't eat live. He had been on f/t a long time and I don't know if it was the movement or the different smell, but he would jerk away when the mouse came close to him.

I know that most of them aren't that way, and the rest of my f/t eaters acted like the occasional live prey was a special treat. My snakes didn't get live prey very often--only when a friend's colony had a population explosion and he was unloading his excess production for almost nothing. But when it happened, I still had to keep f/t for that one particular snake.

I think he was a sissy and afraid of live mice. :D

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I will try a frozen later then :) I hadn't thought about that. I knew it could be hard to get them on f/t but I never thought it would be hard to reverse. We do keep f/t but I just started breeding my own so I figured a pup would be safe.

Nagini my Mojave finally ate today!!! It was just a mouse but it is a start. I hope to get her to eat a rat next week. :D And Les my Lesser ate a live mouse today also and he is usually a rat boy. I feed off the mice because they were both males and fighting.

According to my thermometer it is 92 in his hot side. I notched up the thermostat to 93 and 0 night drop. :) Thanks to everyone for the advise.