Not hungry after shed?

Hey guys, so as mentioned in my other post Shesha shed (mostly) and I managed to get the last bit off for him with the help of a warm bath and patience, but I have read everywhere that usually they are very eager to eat after a shed and he had no interest whatsoever in the pinky rat I offered him last night. His feeding timeline is as follows:

9-19 - ate rat pinky (first at home feeding)
9-23 - offered another pinky as I was concerned that the one he ate prior to this may have been too small and he may still be hungry, he refused this one.
9-26 - he was in blue, but just in case I went ahead and offered another pinky rat since it is his normal feeding day, he refused this too.
9-29 - finally done shedding and ten days since last feeding but not interested in pinky rat (10 g much larger than the first one he ate).

Now given that I did have to handle him for 45 minutes or so and he just shed I am hoping maybe he is just stressed from the whole process, but now I am not sure what to do. He is already 10 days from his last feeding and I am concerned that offering every day will just prevent him from having time to recuperate and keep him stressed. He was very calm while I helped him shed but I am sure it wasn't relaxing for him. Should I give him a couple of days to recover before offering again and should I wait until his next feeding day (Friday) or just offer after say a 24 period of rest and recovery? I don't want to do anything to put him off food but I am concerned that at the breeder's he was getting prey items that were quite a bit too small for him (the breeder confirmed that he should be moved up) so I am eager to help him put on some weight. Any advice?

Some of mine eat immediately after shed. Some refuse every so often for some reason.

He'll be fine waiting til his next scheduled feed day.

Considering you had to help with his shed, he's probably a bit stressed out right now. If you combine that with the constant offering of food every 3 days, I can imagine he's not too eager to be eating.

If your last attempt to feed was the 29th, I would wait till Friday to feed. And if he refuses again, leave him completely alone. No handling, only checking to change water and clean. And offer in another 5-7 days.


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Alright will do. When I do feed him on Friday, what would you think would be the least stressful way to go about it? He is eating F/T. I don't want to take him out and put him in a separate tub (though that is the way he ate the first time but it took some persistence). He is on aspen bedding and there seems to be quite a bit of debate whether feeding them on loose substrate is safe. I would be happy to just drop in the feeder when the room is dark and wait for him to eat it but I am concerned because some people say not to risk them ingesting the bedding. I did try once putting the feeder on a piece of paper on top of the substrate but he seemed to just want to hide under the paper. On the plus side, he is much more active at night now that he has shed so I think maybe he is getting back into hunting mode.

How much does your snake weigh? Pinky rats are usually much too small for even fresh out of the egg hatchlings. I'd definitely bump him up to rat pups and offer every 5-7 days instead of every 3. Offering too much can end up being counterproductive. Definitely feed him in his enclosure as long as the rat is wet the aspen shouldn't stick too much, and even if it does it is okay. They can digest the bedding just fine [emoji4] they have very strong stomach acids that break down bones so the little wood shavings should be no problem at all. Also in the wild the rats probably get nice and dirty too so they are used to it lol. Keep us updated on him. He should start eating again for you soon.


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Thanks Alexis, when I weighed him a few days ago he was at 92 grams and the breeder tells me that he is about 2 months old. The breeder had been feeding him pinkies, and he sent me a couple just in case I couldn't find a feeder supply where I live right away to give me time to have rats shipped. When he ate one for me he had it down in like a minute, which seemed too fast. So that is one reason I am sort of pushing the food on him so often, I am concerned because he was already eating too small a size. I don't have the rat pups but do have rat fuzzies which weigh around 20 grams so I will try one of those. It has been tough because he seems afraid of the rat when I offer it, I just hope a larger one doesn't freak him out even more. He is an absolute teddy bear, amazing temperament, but his calmness and non-aggressiveness seems to carry over to feeding times too unfortunately.