Annie's STILL not eating :'(

I don't know why though. A week after the day I bought her I tried to feed her and she backed off, almost scared then she shed so I wasn't worried, but since her shed I've tried to feed her two live mice (at seperate times of course) and all she does is coil, hiding her head and if a mouse gets close to her, she scurries off as if she's scared to death of the thing. When I got her the f'ing turd owner at the pet shop told me that she's a great eater and handed me a feeding card which showed that she ate every ten days and he said that she NEVER passed up food. Any suggestions, would help me SO much.

I'm calling the pet shop Monday to see if that guy was "mistaken" when he said that he fed live, adult mice and even check if he remember if he fed a certain colour.

Thanks!

Could it be because its ALIVE? I would be afraid to...... Get prekilled or F/T. It takes me about 5 minutes of dangling the dead mouse in front of Caboose's head until he strikes.

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Originally Posted by Reptidude

Could it be because its ALIVE? I would be afraid to...... Get prekilled or F/T. It takes me about 5 minutes of dangling the dead mouse in front of Caboose's head until he strikes.

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there is nothing wrong with feeding live. it is just personal preference or snake preference. If done RIGHT, feeding live is safe and fun.

I would find out what the pet store was feeding (the feeding card doe not say??). If they were feeding live adult mice successfully....keep trying with live. If they were feeding f/t or prekilled, try it. A snake will generally take what it is used to. What method are you using to feed the mouse to the snake? how long are you giving her to take it?

here are some things to try that may help. your snake may be getting afraid be of you standing there watching, dim all the lights in the room (so you can still keep an eye on the mouse) and just leave them be for a while making little movement. Do you move stuff around in the enclosure before you feed or do you just drop the mouse in? Sometimes, bps like to 'hunt' from the safty of a hide and set an ambush for their prey. just keep trying...these kinda things happen sometimes. Just keep a watch on her weight to make sure she is not loosing too much.

...... dont get all jumpy man. Feading live mice is inhumain and its also crude. Now you can go ahead and do that, but if your snake gets hurt, dont go cryin to me. Some snakes refuse to eat LIVE anything. Try doing something else, and if its still not workin, then switch back.

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Originally Posted by daniel1983

there is nothing wrong with feeding live. it is just personal preference or snake preference. If done RIGHT, feeding live is safe and fun.

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There isnt any way to feed live mice/rats and make it SAFE..........

I could get 100 people to back me up on this.

Hey Amber, if she isn't losing weight, I would try to give her another week to get used to her surroundings a little more(with minimal bothering, except for water changes and poo cleanups). If she was eating live mice at the store, I would see if they have different colored mice there. Maybe she doesn't prefer the albino mice. Plus, another week will give her time to get hungry and more apt to eat. If they sell live rat crawlers(baby rats that don't have their eyes open), you can see if she will take one of those. Adult mice can be pretty bold, sometimes even going up to the snake, but younger mice(hoppers,small adults) and younger rats(crawlers, pups, weaned, and smalls) usually do the trick. :)

We're not going to get into a f/t vs live debate, but feeding live can be as safe as feeding frozen/thawed if it is done right. It is not cruel and inhumane, since the prey item doesn't die from suffocation. It dies from lack of blood flow to the brain and other important organs. It is almost the same as when a mouse dies from breathing carbon dioxide. They are not suffocating, but the CO2 replaces the oxygen in the cells, thus putting them to sleep and eventually death.

Pictures on the internet of torn-up snakes, supposedly resulting from a feeder rodent left in the cage, occur because of the owner being ignorant. This happens because the prey item was left in for days at a time without food and water. Of course, the rodent is going to need something to eat, and the unsuspecting, not-hungry snake is the only other edible thing in the cage.

When feeding live, the prey item should be left in the snake's enclosure for no longer than 30 minutes. If the snake shows no interest, remove the prey item, and try again in a week. Be sure to observe the snake, and make sure everything goes as planned, unless the snake's feeding habits require that you not be present.

Hope this has cleared some misconceptions up. And Amber, hope this helped out a bit. Good luck with her :-D

double check your setup 90-94 hot side/80-84 cool side. let the snake settle in for a week or so. i'm with daniel find out what it ate last and try that.

hey people let's not do the live feeding thing again! all kinds of feedings are done weekly by thousands of us live,thawed,fresh killed. each way has some degree of risk (so does keeping an animal captive) there are literally thousands of live feedings done weekly with no problems. same goes for thawed and fresh killed. do what works for you and your snakes!



vaughn

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Originally Posted by Reptidude

There isnt any way to feed live mice/rats and make it SAFE..........

I could get 100 people to back me up on this.

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and 100 more would say that live feeding is ok. it is WRONG to put down something that can be perfectly ok if done correctly. Feeding f/t or prekilled can also hurt or kill a snake if done incorrectly. like I said before it is all personal preference. wild snakes eat live...and they have existed on this earth longer than we have. All I ask is just to be open to the idea, what you do is your own business. Just keep an open mind :)


BTW....I feed f/t rodents.