Pastel bites but wont eat? need assistance

I have a Lemon Pastel that wont eat but she will bite then let go several times. Any suggestions on how to get her to eat? Or why she is doing this?Never had this problem before.

What is her set up like? How big is she (weight)? What are you feeding her?

What are you feeding? F/T?

If so...

I had the same issue with my albino. He was fine for months on F/T and then would start to strike and constrict, but never eat...

I find that if I wiggle the mouse/rat once he bites, he will constrict more and finally eat the F/T rodent. I think he thinks he's doing the killing and the food becomes more appetizing. Good luck :)

Yeah try simulating a struggle: tug on the mouse with your tongs to make it seem like it's fighting back. Also I have noticed that one of my balls will strike and let go, but if I leave the F/T rat in there he eventually goes back and eats it.

I am feeding her hopper mice. I always feed live. She is about a month and a half old weighs 104g. Have her in a 40 gal. aquarium until Monday, when my RBI rack gets here. The problem is she wont constrict. She bites real fast then lets go of the mouse. Just got her two weeks ago from Mike Wilbanks. And he fed her a fuzzy rat right in front of my eyes. Now I know that you are going to say that I need to feed her rats. But that is not true I also have two Fire BP's that I received from Mike a couple months ago and they both eat like pigs on live mice. I am hoping that once I get her back into a rack enclosure that she will begin to eat again. By the way I have been trying to feed her outside of the aquarium. In a sterlite tub.

Its because she is in the 40 gallon tank. I bet she will eat within a week of moving her to a small tub.

Moving her to a separate enclosure to feed probably doesn't help either.

Dont Feed In a Separate Enclosure(aggression if feeding in the same enclosure is a myth none of mine are aggressive and i feed in their enclosure), My pastel baby has the same problem with f/t so i feed live. I keep mine that is 200g, even larger then yours in a 6qt tub. DEFIANTLY give a smaller enclosure.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Kaorte

Its because she is in the 40 gallon tank. I bet she will eat within a week of moving her to a small tub.

Moving her to a separate enclosure to feed probably doesn't help either.

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Ohhh You beat me to it kaorte lol :D

I love the fact that one snake may have a problem with something when another snake will have no problem. I guess I will see when I get the rack on Monday how long it takes to get her to eat. I will keep everyone informed. Thanks for the replies.

i totally agree- i swear all these snakes have different personalities

Problem solved! I just received my rack from RBI and two days later my female pastel ate. So it was the enclosure. Kind of strange that my two Fire's ate with no problems. But now all my snakes are in the rack and loving it. here is a pic.

https://ball-pythons.net/gallery/fil...2/rbi_rack.jpg

Some snakes are pickier than others. I have some that will only eat if I leave the dead mouse in the tub with them, and others that will only eat if I dangle it in front of them. Some like two hides, some like no hides. It really just depends on the snake!

Glad she started eating for you! The rack looks good, though I don't think you need waterbowls quite that big!

I have had those water bowls forever I am going to order some 5" crocks pretty soon. I just needed something in there for the time being.