No strike, still eating

Hello, my normal ball female has always had a great feeding response as well as no issues switching from mice to rats. She has successfully taken down several small rats over the last month or 2 and doesn’t seem to need anything bigger quite yet however, 3 weeks ago she stopped feeding (was eating prekilled every time) I’ve tried live and frozen and didn’t seem interested but I tried a frozen today and she came out to investigate and was in strike position but never took the rat. I left it in her tank and checked back an hr or so later and she had eaten it. Obviously if she’s eating I’m not worried but why wouldn’t she strike but still eat?

I'm not sure of the age of your snake. But I have had a few do this to me too. IMO based of the little info you gave I would say it's likely just feeding confidence that needs to be developed over time. To fix my issue I started feeding my collection around 7pm and I fed my few shy eaters last and left the room for about 20 min. Since then they all eat very well and I have no issues. Good luck!

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Some snakes will learn that the prey is pre-killed and not bother with the muss and fuss of striking and constricting. My female corn was this way, just picked the mice up and ate them.

Thank you for the response I would estimate her no more than 7 months old. I’m just not sure why the sudden lack of confidence would happen as she used to have a great feeding response just a month ago but I will try the tips you mentioned thanks a lot for the info

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Originally Posted by Mikawave

Thank you for the response I would estimate her no more than 7 months old. I’m just not sure why the sudden lack of confidence would happen as she used to have a great feeding response just a month ago but I will try the tips you mentioned thanks a lot for the info

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Np. It could be a few things. But when you said nothing happened while you watched but when you left and came back it was gone it's an indicator of a shy eater. I've had plenty eat in front of me but still exhibit "shy" signs. Id say about %20 of my collection are shy or feel vulnerable and prefer to eat without an audience. Best wishes!

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