Oh Bugga! He didn't eat..

Quick run down....

1st Feed Attempt: Tanveer arrived 4/27/09. I left him alone for a week, offered him a med. F/T rat and he didn't eat BUT he then went into the shed period.

2nd Attempt: On 5/7/09 I attempted to feed and he didn't take the rat while dangling but did after I left it in the tub for about 5 minutes. Feed went well after he snuggled with it;)

3rd Attempt: On 5/17/09 he struck after I barely got the rat over the tub with tongs, coiled, and enjoyed his meal:D

4th Attempt: Today was a disappoinment. I dangled the rat and left it in the tub with him. After about 1 hour, I gave up and removed the rat. He was more interested in cruising around after his original introduction and sniff:confused:

He is an adult male (3ft. to 3 1/2 ft.) and weighed approx. 1223 grams on 4/27. My first and only snake. He is in a 20 gal. tank with back and sides covered. Plenty of vines, 2 hides, water bowl, repti bark etc... Temp on the warm side is 90 degrees and humidity ranges from 45% to 50%. I haven't changed anything between the 3rd and 4th attempts to feed. I didn't even handle him yesterday just to make sure he was ready to eat today.

I do feed in a seperate tub and feed a F/T med. rat every 10 days because that is what he is used to and I simply kept the routine the Rescue had him on. I do understand that it is okay to feed in his tank;) I was told that he is a very good eater.

So I have a couple questions:

1. Could it simply be a denial of food because he is just not hungry? I am just confused since nothing has changed in the routine or his tank etc...

2. Do I wait another 10 days before I attempt to feed him again?

3. Should I have left the rat with him longer then an hour? I just thought logically the rat would have lost it's heat by then so I removed it.

4. Any suggestions?

I did read a lot of previous Feed threads. I normally thaw the rat in hot tap water in a ziploc and then offer it. But I think I may then heat it up with a blow dryer like someone suggested in a previous post. Also maybe laying it on top of his tub to pre-scent.

Grrr. I was really hoping I would have a good eater all of the time even though with BP's I know the odds were slim:tears:

I wouldn't worry about it. It's not abnormal for them to not eat. If he didn't take it within and hour, he isn't going to.

Offer food in a few more days.

When was his last shed?

His last shed was in the the very beginning of May and he has eaten twice since then. Now that I have observed him the last 2 days I think he just wasn't hungry yet because today he even defecated again (twice since last feeding on 5/17/09. He's been chilling in the cool side of his tank today but looks well. So I will try to offer a rat again tomorrow and see if he'll take it. I'll give another update then!

Now I'm definately confused.

Normally he hides during the day and starts cruising his tank about 9pm or so. For some reason, on Thursday during the day he stayed outside of his hide on the warm side under his vine. He hasn't done that before. He also defecated that day and it was normal.

Then yesterday (Friday) he hung out on the cool side all day outside of his hide and he hasn't done that before except usually the day after I feed him. However, he did cruise quite a bit towards the late afternoon and evening.

Today I decided to try to feed him again and it was a no go:confused:. Later in the day I then had him out and while putting him back his tail was hanging out of the tank (his other half was in his hide) and when I went to move it with my hand so I could put the lid on, it scared the heck out him (he flinched big time and came back out of his hide). Now he hasn't come out of his hide since. Not even for his evening stroll in his tank. :tears:

Ugh, I feel like I got the bad mom award tonight.