Not Eating, HELP!!!

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Originally Posted by smasharama13

To each his own. For me a risking the welfare and life of a snake over killing a $5 rat that's going to die anyway is not worth it.

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Can you elaborate about risking the welfare and life of your snake? I'm not sure I follow you.

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Originally Posted by SatanicIntention

Feeding live prey is very safe if done properly, just like f/t or pre-killed. I pre-scent the room for a good 30 minutes to an hour, so all of the snakes know what is going on. I also make the room dark so they feel more comfortable. I then go around to each tub, in a specific order, and drop a mouse in on the opposite side the snake is on. I move on to the next tub until everyone has a mouse(and the boa has a guinea pig or rabbit). I leave the mice in the snake's tub for 15-20 minutes and if they don't show interest or haven't struck in that amount of time, the mouse is returned to the cage.

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I agree - I feed both live mice and rats and calculated I have over 2000 live feedings with nary a scratch on any of mine. With rats, I'm not feeding anything larger than a small/small rat. I've had one try to bite me, and the teeth were too soft to even hurt, much less break my skin which is much more fragile than snakes' scales.

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Originally Posted by smasharama13

Shoot I must have forgot to paste it after finding it. sorry

It's down at the bottom.

Here: http://www.ball-pythons.net/forums/s...t=44423&page=2

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haha...that contraption looks pretty nuts...i'll think about making one of those, but for now, i'm good with the live feeding...i mean, no rats have ever tried to hurt her yet, so until that happens, i think my roomates and i are fine with our current strategy...i guess we'll also downsize the rats from now on too.

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Originally Posted by rabernet

Thank you! Wish those were mine - but they are Adam Wysocki's snakes.

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haha...sorry, didn't read the post, only saw the pictures...but still, that BP's huge!!!

so i was trying to tell my roomates to wait a whole week until feeding her again, but because they're stubborn and own Aurora too, i really can't put up much of a fight...but guess what, she took a shot at the rat, unlike last time, but she missed :( she then continued onto behaving how she was on Sunday night and Monday night...now they're convinced we have to wait longer to feed her, lol. hopefully they'll listen to me more next time.

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Originally Posted by rabernet

I agree - I feed both live mice and rats and calculated I have over 2000 live feedings with nary a scratch on any of mine. With rats, I'm not feeding anything larger than a small/small rat. I've had one try to bite me, and the teeth were too soft to even hurt, much less break my skin which is much more fragile than snakes' scales.

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This is good to hear. You read so much anti-live stuff but I'm always suspicious because these people feel the need to make such long detailed arguments. For some reason, I'm really set on live feeding. I think someone has every right to feed dead prey but it seems like the anti-live people exaggerate the risk to the snake. I would like to hear more about pre-scenting...

But, to the point of the thread. I did just start a thread about lower activity levels in my BP a little earlier tonight. I realized that this also coincided with a switch to much larger prey. My BP is just shy of two feet and due to lack of choice I have settled into feeding him small adult mice. He always eats but I've suspected that perhaps being better fed does lower his activity levels.

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Originally Posted by nlankas

so i was trying to tell my roomates to wait a whole week until feeding her again, but because they're stubborn and own Aurora too, i really can't put up much of a fight...but guess what, she took a shot at the rat, unlike last time, but she missed :( she then continued onto behaving how she was on Sunday night and Monday night...now they're convinced we have to wait longer to feed her, lol. hopefully they'll listen to me more next time.

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Sounds like the strike was more of a defensive strike than one of interest in the rat. Is this still a medium rat? Can you take it back to the pet store for credit and get a small/small one a week from now (since they tried last night).

Get your roommates to join this forum as well. At some point, someone is going to need to be an advocate for Aurora and speak up and set boundaries on her care so that everyone is on the same page.

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Originally Posted by bearhart

I would like to hear more about pre-scenting...

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I believe one of the most important things about live feeding is setting routines. Pick one day of the week for feeding. Do the same things each time. For example, I feed mine in the same order each week, I feed at the same time of day each week, etc.

Pre-scenting is having the prey item in something like a Critter Keeper and setting it near the enclosure for about 1/2 an hour before offering it to your snake.

I also feed all of mine in their enclosures and do not remove any "furniture" from the enclosure (IE, hides, etc)

Mine are usually hitting and constricting before I've moved to the next tub beneath then.

thanks rabernet...i'll try to get them to join...wish me luck, but yeah, i think i'm just gonna go back and get a smaller rat, we'll see how that goes.

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Originally Posted by rabernet

I believe one of the most important things about live feeding is setting routines. Pick one day of the week for feeding. Do the same things each time. For example, I feed mine in the same order each week, I feed at the same time of day each week, etc.

Pre-scenting is having the prey item in something like a Critter Keeper and setting it near the enclosure for about 1/2 an hour before offering it to your snake.

I also feed all of mine in their enclosures and do not remove any "furniture" from the enclosure (IE, hides, etc)

Mine are usually hitting and constricting before I've moved to the next tub beneath then.

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interesting... I've been using a seperate enclosure due to warnings that you run a bigger risk of getting bit when sticking your hands in their main enclosure. I a big rubbermaid storage tub that is similar in size to his 20 gallon tank. I put him in there and give him about 30-60 seconds to orient. Then when I feel like he's at least looking somewhat in the right direction I drop the mouse in on the opposite side. He's usually looking up the walls and then suddenly he turns his head and you know he's seen it. Then he lowers down, gets in strike position, and waits. The mouse eventually bumbles his way into strike range and bam! its game over. Its been working well but I'm concerned about my guy being in a bad tactical position initially. Eventually I'll have to move to rats and I hear they are more formidable foes...