Getting her to feed on her own..

Hey

I've got a lesser female who is about 5 months old. I got her about two months ago. The seller told me she ate f/t.

But after a few weeks she still hadn't eaten, so I emailed the seller. Then the seller told me she actually only hade eaten a dead rat once... which was prekilled.

So I told him that I might have to return her if I don't get her going with f/t soon. I don't even know were to get live food around here and I live in student-dorm so my room is already cramped without rat-breeding. Also, feeding live rodents are illegal here in Sweden.

Anyway last contact with the seller was about 5 weeks ago and since he haven't returned my emails, I assumed that he probably won't let me return the lesser.

So having tried everything to get her to eat f/t (extra warm rat/mouse, different size, chicken broth and so on) I resorted to assist feeding.

I have fed here 5 times that way now and I was wondering if she will start eating on her own soon? Or will she never take f/t by herself? I ofc give her the chance to eat on her own before every assistfeed.

I'm sorry for your situation. I would normally recommend trying to feed live to get her started, but it sounds like that isn't an option.

How are you offering her F/T items? It may take some work and patience to get her going. I would start off by pre-scenting the area around her cage about an hour before getting her to eat. You can do this by leaving the warm F/T rat near her cage, or placing a little soiled mouse bedding in her cage. Feed about 1-2 hours after dusk which is when they are in their hunting mode.

Make sure the F/T rat/mouse is warm, especially the head, and use tongs to do the mouse dance a few inches in front of your snake. They seem to be attracted to jerky movements, so keep the rat still and move jerkily in front of the snake every few seconds.

You may already know all of this, but I figure it won't hurt to mention it again in case there is something you haven't tried.

Good luck!