10 month old Piebald male refusing to eat

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Originally Posted by MusicCityMack

Thanks!

I haven’t used chicks yet, since the vast majority of my collection will eat rats. The lone exception is the OD mouser I mentioned. My biggest struggle at the moment is trying to get my Retic to eat f/t, since I don’t want to be bringing in live rabbits in about a year. So far, she won’t even take a fresh killed [emoji28]


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I’m not suggesting chicks at this stage to be honest .. I just have one Royal who went 15 months without eating a damn thing but then was seduced by a couple of thawed chicks and has eaten chicks ever since .. he will not eat anything else though !!!


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Best wishes with your new BP. Please share pictures when you can. They all eat eventually so don't stress. If your temps are in range and he's got a couple of hides hopefully he'll settle in and eat soon. I agree with sticking to rats if that's what the snake was eating prior and spacing out the feeding attempts to biweekly offerings. Keep us posted on your progress!

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Originally Posted by Jlok619

Thanks! I think I’ve been a lil too anxious to feed, so I’ll wait a bit longer in between attempts, I’ve been trying every 5 days or so, I’ll give it two weeks. I will also read up on that!

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I agree with the suggestions you've gotten so far (stop handling until he's eating reliably, etc) but just one thing to add: it further stresses a snake when we keep offering food. Since you've been trying every "5 days or so", that combined with handling (IMO) is likely what has stressed him into not eating. It's often best with a new snake (of any age) to just not even offer food for at least a week or 2 (unless they really act hungry). That way they can both settle in AND get hungry. But when we try too hard to get them to eat, it usually backfires, so just relax & he'll probably relax too.

And :welcome:

Unless I’ve missed something .. aren’t warm side temps of 87F ( at best ) rather low for a Royal ??


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From the prey size being way too small (basically for an hatchling out of the egg) to an enclosure designed for an adult female there is no surprise there, you need to downsize temporarily until your snake feeds for you and you need to offer the right prey and right size.

Your snake right now is telling you that what YOU are doing is not working.

Good news everyone! Tonight the lil guy decided to finally strike at a rat pup I thawed out with the hair drier method Zincubbus told me about. It just took a few tries, but after warming it up and drangling the rat pup infront of his hide, he struck it and it currently wrapped around it. I will leave him alone for the night and let you guys know if he kept it down by tomorrow. Thanks again!

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Originally Posted by Jlok619

Good news everyone! Tonight the lil guy decided to finally strike at a rat pup I thawed out with the hair drier method Zincubbus told me about. It just took a few tries, but after warming it up and drangling the rat pup infront of his hide, he struck it and it currently wrapped around it. I will leave him alone for the night and let you guys know if he kept it down by tomorrow. Thanks again!

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Wonderful news !!

Even after all these years it’s still so disheartening when one of your snakes doesn’t eat ...


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This boy is eating like a champ now! Today he ate his third rat since he started eating 3 weeks ago. Thanks a bunch to Zincubus for teaching me the hair drier method to warm up his prey. I recommend to anyone having trouble getting their BP to eat, to try this method. I could not even get mine to strike or show any interest before I tried this, now he strikes within a few seconds of me dangling his warmed up rat infront of his hide. You may have to try a few times like I did the first time, but eventually he struck and ate his rat. Now it only takes a few seconds and he’s a happy camper eating normally every 7 days. :D

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Originally Posted by Jlok619

This boy is eating like a champ now! Today he ate his third rat since he started eating 3 weeks ago. Thanks a bunch to Zincubus for teaching me the hair drier method to warm up his prey. I recommend to anyone having trouble getting their BP to eat, to try this method. I could not even get mine to strike or show any interest before I tried this, now he strikes within a few seconds of me dangling his warmed up rat infront of his hide. You may have to try a few times like I did the first time, but eventually he struck and ate his rat. Now it only takes a few seconds and he’s a happy camper eating normally every 7 days. :D

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That is wonderful news when we’re bombarded with so much bad stuff on the telly !!

Once you see it work it somehow fills YOU with confidence for all subsequent feeds and that’s why I stress how important in the first instance to keep reheating and re-offering until it grabs it .

So now if it misses one or two feeds in the future don’t panic just leave it 10 days or so and try again :)


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I'm glad he's eating well for you now. They ALL eat eventually. ;)