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  • 08-10-2015, 01:01 AM
    Bigfish1975
    Nice snake, I hope she switches for you. She does seem a little on the small side. I'd see if she takes the live and at least get her some nutrition.
  • 08-10-2015, 07:48 AM
    tembii
    Re: What are some variables you may have changed for your finicky eaters?
    I don't know if it'll make a difference now if you are switching to live feed, but my 2 cents on what helped to get my picky eater eating again was to blast some warm air onto the f/t mouse/rat and Louie has eaten every single item offered to her since! She skipped three feedings before I tried using a space heater (I don't have a hair blow dryer :P) and now he eats every time!! Hope this helps in the slightest bit possible!! Good luck! xx
  • 08-10-2015, 09:56 AM
    200xth
    Feed her live for now.

    At 160g her getting food she will eat is more important than your desire to feed her FT someday.

    People have misconstrued the "BP's go off food all the time" thing. It's fine for adults and near adults to go long periods without food, but hatchlings and juveniles (particularly small ones) need to eat, and that means feeding them what they are willing to eat, not trying to force them to eat what you want them to eat.
  • 08-10-2015, 07:19 PM
    eddie-head
    Re: What are some variables you may have changed for your finicky eaters?
    one little bit of advice that was a godsend to me and I have used to get my girl to eat every time without fail is a hot water bath of prey before feeds:

    I fully thaw rat in room temp water for a few hours
    5 minutes before feeding I run the hot tap and get it as hot as it will go (it won't be boiling!) and replace the rat water with fresh hot water
    I leave it in the bath for 5 minutes right next to the tank
    I get it out of the bath and give it a light dab off so it's not dripping wet
    I sneak it into the tank and if I blink I miss the strike

    This got my girl out of a three month refusal and she's never missed a feed since. Might be worth giving it a go especially as you're trying to get off of live feed. IMO warming up with a hairdryer is still going to leave that prey colder than a live mouse
  • 08-10-2015, 07:37 PM
    redshepherd
    The hot water bath does help, if you're still trying F/T prey- depending on how picky the BP is. I just heated a bowl of water (not boiling, but actually rather hot to the touch!), stuck the prey in a ziploc bag, put the bag in the water... for about 1 minute. Take out the prey and immediately serve.

    I've seen some BP's dislike wet prey, but some BP's respond better to wet AND hot prey... So you can try either and see which one works. In terms of wet and hot, just dunk the prey in the hot water directly without putting it in the ziploc bag.

    You can ALSO try asking for mouse aspen from the pet store (like.. aspen with mouse poop and scent in it), and roll the F/T rat around in the mouse aspen. In my experience, snakes just find mice about x1000 more delicious than rats- it helped start my female back on eating again after her random hunger strike.

    And actually, the hot water trick worked for me a couple times- but then my male BP decided that he didn't like that anymore either. :\ He was also on live feeding with his breeder, before they shipped him to me. I've since switched him to live since he ABSOLUTELY refused to eat F/T, and he eats the live prey before it even hits the ground.
  • 08-10-2015, 09:00 PM
    Jamiesniper
    Re: What are some variables you may have changed for your finicky eaters?
    I have a female that was 560g and a live feeder when I got her, where I live, feeding live isn't an option as they are hard to get unless you breed your own so I only feed F/T, she didn't eat for just over 3 months but now I've got her switched she takes f/t with a bit of encouragement, offering her for 10-15min is usually what it takes, I dip the head in hot water for 20-30sec before offering and it usually gives me a pretty good response,

    My advice would be to try her with live until she has some decent weight on her and then try switching her to frozen
  • 08-13-2015, 04:35 PM
    Megg
    You might try a mouse. Mine will never refuse a mouse, but rats always go to waste! Also, when my boy wouldn't eat, I tried feeding him later at night (around 10 or 11pm), and I blow dryed his food.
    Also, I "scent" the room, so by the time the mice are thawed they're already out looking around for food.
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