Is my problem wet rats?

So I've been unsuccessful feeding like 3 weeks in a row for my two larger females, but my new little one has eaten fine. I've noticed a couple of times the snake will strike or S up like it's going to, then either after biting or checking out the rat, it'll lose interest.

I recently moved up to a larger size of prey (but they'd fed on it before and the weight ratio is fine, to the point where they were probably ready for an upgrade before this) and I've been noticing that when I heat the rats up, these larger guys seem to end up more moist at the end. Could this be what's turning off my BPs? Maybe like, since the little guy is eating rats that don't have hair yet, it feels less wet to it?

Thanks all. Starting to get a little stressed. I know it's the winter and all, but they were fine before.

How old and how large are the snakes who are not feeding?
You say larger females, so I assume adults?

Many adults go off-feed for the winter(breeding season). So if your girls are adults, its not uncommon or abnormal for them to be off feed. Especially if you say your smaller snakes are eating fine.

Wet prey could also be a factor. Perhaps its not getting hot enough either since it is larger?

Try using a blow dryer to dry the rats. Serves a couple of purposes: 1) Dries the rat and maintains heat in it 2) Gets those awesome rat smell scent particles floating around in the air, which can increase feeding response.

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Originally Posted by Slim

Try using a blow dryer to dry the rats. Serves a couple of purposes: 1) Dries the rat and maintains heat in it 2) Gets those awesome rat smell scent particles floating around in the air, which can increase feeding response.

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Now that's brilliant! I'm totally going to try that on my fussy eaters


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My mom had a snake who absolutely refused to eat wet food... you could offer it wet, and then the same item, offer it dry, and it was like the snake hadn't eaten in weeks, it couldn't strike fast enough. Lol

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Originally Posted by dkspftw

So I've been unsuccessful feeding like 3 weeks in a row for my two larger females, but my new little one has eaten fine. I've noticed a couple of times the snake will strike or S up like it's going to, then either after biting or checking out the rat, it'll lose interest.

I recently moved up to a larger size of prey (but they'd fed on it before and the weight ratio is fine, to the point where they were probably ready for an upgrade before this) and I've been noticing that when I heat the rats up, these larger guys seem to end up more moist at the end. Could this be what's turning off my BPs? Maybe like, since the little guy is eating rats that don't have hair yet, it feels less wet to it?

Thanks all. Starting to get a little stressed. I know it's the winter and all, but they were fine before.

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Could be many reasons.

Females generally tend to go off feed during breeding season.

Now that you've switched sizes, you're not heating it up well enough.

Maybe the snake doesn't like wet food. Dry the rat off with a towel, or thaw your rats with a hair dryer.

Maybe they just don't want to eat the larger rats. I have a ball that is refusing to eat anything bigger than a weaned, and will only eat one per feeding even though she could be on stalls.


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Thanks for the advice all. I put up this post shortly after feeding and actually the little one didn't eat this time, although I think that was my fault for dropping the rat in a sort of hard to get to spot where he couldn't easily strike.

I'm actually concerned I've been heating them up too much, as with the larger prey I switched to a bigger heat lamp to heat them up. And I usually heat them up in a plastic bag to stop my cats from messing with the process, which is why all the moisture is being held in. Guess I gotta buy a hair-drier!

One of the bigger girls ate yesterday but she's the less picky of the two so it wasn't so surprising. Unfortunately the other one has been off feed a week longer than her.

I think they're not quite breeding size yet but they're approaching it, so I'm not sure if they're off feed for that. Last I weighed her the one that is now not eating was at about 900g, I'm guessing she's lost maybe 50g if that, based on how she looks. She's a bit over a year old now. I don't think it's dangerous or anything yet, but she's hopefully gonna be the main female in a dreamsicle project, so I can't help but stress when she doesn't eat.