Can't get my BP to strike
I've had my girl since April 12th.. The guy I got her from said she was eating live pups.
I waited two weeks and fed her and she struck and are it immediately. It was a little big so I waited two weeks and tried again... Nothing. Now it's been a week since that failed attempt and I just tried again.
She coils up like she's going to take it and then just backs away and goes on about her business.
I'm starting to get extremely stressed out here
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Re: Can't get my BP to strike
Update: while I was holding the rat.. She just bit it.. Didn't hold onto it, just defensively bit it. She did that several times.
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Re: Can't get my BP to strike
You could try something smaller, like a crawler or small mouse...also, be sure your temps are ok, and is cage clean? I don't feed live prey, so when mine doesn't take it, I just leave it alone in the cage with the snake for awhile...
Re: Can't get my BP to strike
My temps are ok I think.
She's in a tub but the warm side is like 88-89 and the cool side is right at 75..
It's a small rat so I just left it.
It's definitely not too big
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Re: Can't get my BP to strike
I just wanted to point out that scalrtn specified that they are not feeding live. You didn't state whether you are feeding live or frozen/thawed, but please be sure never to leave a live rodent in with your snake. If you are feeding pre-killed I would definitely recommend leaving the dead rat in overnight, often the snake just isn't ready when their keeper decides it is meal time but if you leave it for a while you will find they have eaten it.
Re: Can't get my BP to strike
Another trick you can try is "braining" the feeder rat, i.e. crack its skull with a pair of pliers so some of the brain matter is released. Kind of gross, but it's a trick a lot of keepers have used with good results.
The other thing to be sure of is the feeder itself is sufficiently warm. I use an Infrared temp gun to be sure the feeder is warmed to at least 95 degrees (of course insuring it's not too hot - say over 100 degrees or so).