F/T question/pied question

so the past few weeks some of my snakes have been refusing to eat(got to love Bps:mad:), so it got me thinking, i normally defrost my rodents by putting them in containers in my reptile room for around 4-6 hours with a fan blowing on them to scent the room. then they got warmed my hot tap water. Thinking about trying the hair dryer method to see if that gets some of the snakes back on feedings. what do you guys think? for people that have tried the hair dryer and hot water methods what seem to get the best feeding response out of your snakes? does the sound of the hair dryer bother the snakes?

now the pied question
so i got a pied from my gf cowork, on july 10th. he has not eaten since i got him(one week he was shedding so no food was offered). i talked to the guy i got him from and said when he first got him he would eat F/t rat pups for a few weeks. Then he stop eating so he tried adult mice(still f/t) ate them for 2 weeks, then he stopped eating for 2 weeks so he offered adult live mice to him, and ate them then stopped feeding agin for 2 weeks. I have tried offering weaned rats f/t rats to him and adult f/t mice to him(he is 484 grams), do you guys think i should just keep at the f/t weaned rats/ adult mice or try offering him live, or does it just seem like i have one of the "bad eater pieds". i figured i would keep trying f/t for a few more weeks(it has only been 2 tries at feeding), but he comes over to the rat, smells it and then defensive strikes at it and moves away. temps/humidity is perfect-basking 90-91 cold end-80-84, humidity 50-56%, 15 qt tub. I try to only open his tub sunday for cleaning cage day/feeding day, wed/fri for new water day. i might just try to keep his tub shut for a full week no disturbing him not even for new water. And before anyone says it i know im over reacting, i just hate having to throw uneaten mice/rats out, or having my carpet stare at me on feeding day like " yeah tom bring those uneaten rats my way ill finish them for everyone"(yeah shes my garbage disposal).
thanks for the help
tom

Have you tried the F/T in the dark at all? I have one snake that hasn't missed a meal but only struck off tongs for me once.


Defensive strikes are what lead me to believe this may help, otherwise try blacking out the enclosure and leaving it alone completely for a week. At the end of the week just crack the tub and throw in a live appropriately sized meal. Hopefully the snake forgets you exist by then.

Balls are weird like that. You just have to figure them out individually. I have had a ball that would not eat anything until I REMOVED all the hides and finally she ate. I have had balls that were great eaters before they came to me but became picky with me. I have had ones which were picky but once kept with me started eating like crazy. I have also ones which were problem feeders which suddenly started eating for no reason. Another one which did not eat well on F/T, ate one live rat, then suddenly from then on would snap up F/T no problem.

The one thing that I tried which seemed to work for the vast majority of my snakes were when I put them into dark tubs. I noticed the picky eaters would start eating more, and the normal eaters would start eating even more than before. Maybe you can try this, of if your rack doesn't fit dark tubs, cover the front with some paper during feeding.

Thanks guys I have not tried feeding him in the dark yet I'm going to tru feeling him later next Sunday around 9pm. I am going to put a piece of cardboard infrintnof his tub to keep it darker. Also just bought a new "hide" for
Him today, he had a exo terra cave(only hide I had left since I didn't plan in getting another ball for a few weeks) and gave him a black container with a hole in the front. Gunna use the new hair dryer unjust bought at Walmart today also.
Thanks
Also what is considered an okay weight loss before serious action need to be take? I read anywhere from 10-20% weight loss is okay until drastic measure need to be taken. Not that I'm worried since he has only lost 8 grams in 3 weeks and he also shed.