Problem with very young YB not eating

Ok, I recently got a lovely little female YB ball at a show near my house. Paid a decent price for her, and I trust her breeder.

We gave her a week after she came home to settle in, then offered her a f/t hopper mouse, since she was still pretty small. She wanted nothing to do with it.

I understand sometimes they can take time to adjust, so we wait another week and try again. Again, she wants no part of it, even though I tried every single trick for feeding f/t I could find on here.

By the third week she's lost weight she can't afford to loose, and I cave in and drive 1 hour to the nearest shop that sells live mice that are small enough for her. I bought two.

When I offered her the first, she got very excited, since I knew she was hungry, but she seemed to have no idea what to do with that mouse. She coiled up, ready to strike, then stretched out toward the mouse. If the mouse moved, she'd jerk back and ball up. The mouse stayed still, and she'd stretch out towards it again, the mouse would move and she'd jerk away and ball up. I swear she was scared of it. After watching her from across the room for at least 10 minutes, she finally struck and coiled. I left the room so she could eat in peace.

40 minutes later I checked on her, and she still acts hungry, so I offer her the second mouse. Again, she acted like she had no idea what to do with that mouse. She'd butt it with her nose, pushing it around {It was a fuzzy and very small}. After at least 15 minutes she finally struck and coiled the second one. She looked like she'd swallowed a baseball bat, but at least she wasn't hungry. Sunday was feeding day again, and I had high hopes that having gotten her to eat, she would not be as likely to refuse, but she did. I did everything I could think of, and she wanted no part of that f/t hopper.

She's still very thin, and I'm at a loss as to what to do. I can't be driving an hour once a week to buy her live, but I don't know what else to try to convince her to take f/t. I've done everything I've found here, heating the head, running hot water over it, etc. etc. and she wants no part of it.

Stubborn little cuss.

So, if any of you have any suggestions as to what I may have overlooked, please let me know.

gale

Maybe force feeding would work if you really can't seem to get her to take anything. Force feeding would be a last resort, but when my Spider gave me a look that just said "What do I do?", and curled up in a Ball, I didn't want to waste the rodent so I had to force feed. He is a tiny little guy and I definitely do not want him to lose any weight.

Was she previously eating frozen thawed?

did you try the blow dryer trick...???

i had the same problem with my 09 mojave try a live rat pup and cover the tub or tank so its dark shell get it if shes hungry.

You can try all the tricks in the book and it may not work. Your best bet with a baby like this is to suck it up and drive that hour to get it well established.....and on a regular feeding schedule....then starve it(not really starve) for a couple weeks..... then try all the tricks.(run on sentence):D

Big Gunns is way too lazy(like usual:D) to list all the tricks, but they are not hard to find on this forum.

Hi,

Like asked above what was it eating for the breeder?

Might be worth asking them to run through their feeding routine for you to see if any major differences show up. :)

Are you feeding in her tank or in a seperate enclosure?

But I really wouldn't force feed a snake that will eat fine on it's own just because it isn't choosing to eat the prey type you want.

All you will do then is add stress and possibly stop it eating all together.


dr del

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Originally Posted by CoolioTiffany

Maybe force feeding would work if you really can't seem to get her to take anything. Force feeding would be a last resort, but when my Spider gave me a look that just said "What do I do?", and curled up in a Ball, I didn't want to waste the rodent so I had to force feed. He is a tiny little guy and I definitely do not want him to lose any weight.

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Just to clarify, you did not force feed your snake, you assist fed it. There is a big difference and I don't think you should EVER force feed a snake, especially one that has shown it can eat perfectly fine on its own.

OP: how many hides does the snake have and what is its setup like? Some snakes are a little picky about hides and tank/tub size so changing one of those could get her on the right track.

Ok,

Right now she is in a 6 qt tub on aspen shavings. She has a very nice tight hide where she spends a lot of her time. Her temps run 90 hot side/ 82 cool.

I only feed her in her tub, I already know that to move them adds unneeded stress.

I have tried the hair dryer thing, nada.

What BG said makes sense to me, it may just be she was not well established in a routine when I got her, and I need to start over and establish a routine feeding live before I try again to go the f/t route. I'm not looking forward to all that driving, but if I have to do it, so be it.

The breeder told me at the show she was eating. I'm pretty sure he said f/t, but I bought two snakes that day and I may be confused. I've left a phone message and e-mail for him, hopefully I will hear back soon.

I do not want to force/assist feed if I don't have to, she's nervous enough about feeding already and I just know I'd end up making it worse.

Thanks for the replies, I'll let you know how things go with her.

Gale

Try giving her a second hide. That might do the trick.

If you try f/t again, maybe dip the rodent in tuna juice? BHB has videos on problem feeders, and I think it was Chewy that said the tuna trick usually works.

You might also want to bump up the temps.

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Maybe try this procedure:

Heat it. Brain it. And squeeze a bit of the brains out. When you're feeding her do it late at night, or whenever she becomes active. Have the lights low (only enough for you to be able to see what's going on.) Open the tub/tank only a little, and make sure you're dangling it by the tail (sometimes mine get confused if I'm using utensils to hold it.)

If that still doesn't work, maybe you can buy a live mouse, keep the mouse in a small tub near the snake tank (where the snake can see it) and once she gets a good active feeding response going, open the tub/tank and offer her the ft. (Make sure it's heated and brained.)

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I recommended this to another person who had a problem feeder and they said it worked. It worked for me too with my picky girl when I first got her. Just remember if it gets cool while you're braining it, blast it with a blowdryer--the mouse/rat should feel warm to the touch but not hot.

It's possible she was confused by the mice because she was used to eating rat pups. I try to start most of my hatchlings on rats, and only use mice on the ones that refuse them.

Now, you didn't mention what size mice you offered her. The FT you said was a hopper--were the live mice both hoppers? If she is the right size to eat hoppers, and ate two of them, that's a whopping big meal for a baby snake. I rather think she should be big enough to eat something larger than a hopper, if she can down 2 of them. I would give a snake that can eat 2 hoppers an adult mouse, instead.

Now, if the live mice you offered were fuzzies, that explains her confusion...I've seen snakes react that way to prey that is too small. She wants something bigger. The prey should be as big around as the widest part of the snake.

The person who suggested force-feeding--you do NOT force or assist feed a snake that has already eaten once, and has only missed one meal! (you don't force-feed a snake at all, unless all other options have been exhausted and you have been trained by someone highly experienced in how to do that without killing the snake--assist feeding is reasonably gentle, but force-feeding can be deadly).

FT rodents smell completely different to snakes than live ones do. I've had a lot of success with rubbing warmed FT rodents in fresh rodent pee--the live animal scent apparently makes them more appetizing.

If the snake will only take live, give it live--you can get it switched over with some patience, but it will be easier if it's feeding regularly.

Most babies only take live! Buy a plastic tub and keep a few mice or rats so you only have to make the trip once every couple of weeks! After a couple months of good feeding then you can try to make the switch! Good luck!