Feeling defeated - the famous "feeding" topic - again.

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Originally Posted by rottn

I will try the prescenting idea. And the late feeding idea. I do wait till the main tank lights go out, and she becomes active - but even still, it's pretty early. Like 8ish or so. And the moonlights are on. So next feeding, I will wait till lights are out completely (11:00 I believe) and I'll prescent the room, and try feeding her in darkness. Maybe that'll be the trick to get things going. I will wait for a couple weeks before trying again.

Thanks for the reassurance everybody. And I know that I need to be patient. I've read this over and over again. And I really didn't want to post my worries. But being a first time snake-mom, my patience just kept wearing thinner, week after week. And I understand that 4 wks is nothing in the grand scheme of things for Alice, but I was just stressing (cuz 4 wks is an awful long time to me - a measly muggle :P) and just needed the reassurance you guys gave me. Thank you to all!

And Crowfingers - I like the terra cotta idea. But I don't have room unless I replace her cool hide, which she doesn't really use anyways. So I could actually try to do that. Thanks. :)

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All my current Royals will only strike from their hides so it's worth trying to dangle a warm mouse in front of the entrance when he's in there .


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Originally Posted by rottn

I am putting him in hot water (in ziplock bag) for 20 minutes. Then I blow dry him for a bit. He sees/smells it, because he does appear to show interest. I try to dangle it, zombie walk it, (I do reheat in between) - in the end I leave it and walk away, and in the morning, into the garbage it goes. :(

I haven't quite figured out how to post pics yet. Once I figure it out, I will share my set up. :)

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Defrost in his room, don't seal the bag so the smell gets out. 30+ minutes to scent the room. Turn off the overhead lights while this is going on. Then open the cage before blow dryING so the scent gets nice and strong. Keep the food low, don't move it much, and hold it still nose to nose when the snake investigates.

From my experiences watching rodents and balls when feeding live to a difficult eater, this comes fairly close to what happened in the tub.
Scenting the room weakly tells the snake there is food somewhere in the area, catches his attention. The dryer gives some real heat and tells the snake food is close and its time to hunt. Small movents and nose to nose is pretty typical rodent behavior when presented with a pedator.

Balls will stay in their hide and ambush if possible, they feel secure and more likely to feed. I saw a lot of mice and rats wander around the tub with the snake barely peeking out of his hide. Eventually the rodent sticking his head into the hide to investigate, freezing, and then getting sucked in like a scene from a horror movie.

If it gets to be a realy long time you may need to resort to a hidden hide and some small live feed to get things moving.

Until then relax, keep him warm with 12 hours of daylight and let him get hungry. Don't leave the food if he doesn't eat, pull it and refereeze it. Balls aren't scavengers, generally won't eat a rotting carcass.

Another thing that works, when I have a BP go off feed, is to offer a fresh pre-killed rat. I drop feed it right next to them usually where they are "coiling". I check after 2-3 hours and it's usually gone. If it's an animal that has been in a breeding cycle I then follow up with a frozen thawed 3 days later; they usually start right up after the pre-killed and get back on feed - not all the time. Each animal is different and do change their behavior from time to time, so the key is to adapt with them and you will start to get a sense as to how to deal with situations that come up through your observations and interactions. My advice is to get something like Reptiscan or a diary and take notes of your observations, over time that becomes a valuable tool for you.
It's also usually nothing to really worry about but can be very stressful when it goes on along time. I once had a wild-caught BP that laid a clutch and didn't start feeding again until 15 months later, it was an extreme case for me, but we perservered...the way I got her to snap out of it, as a last resort, I offered a live ASF rat which she took and then I scented a frozen thawed rat with ASF and drop fed for a few offerings and then was able to offer an unscented normal frozen thawed rat which is what she takes to this day. She went from 2360g to 1230g during that time frame.

I would say the way you are prepping might be the issue . You should try leaving it in the ziploc bag frozen in cold water for two hours . Then after that pour the cold water out and put hot water for about ten minutes . Then when you are trying to feed them it will be warm and thawed correctly. If they haven’t taken it I would then dip it straight in the hot water and dab it on napkin and the heat from it will usually get them to strike if they are hungry.