Don't roll your eyes! It is yet another newbe with a feeding question!

Hello all,
I got my first BP last month (Feb 28th) She is a 6 month old captive bread normal. She was fed by the breeder on Feb 22. She was being fed live and F/T. I have only been offering F/T rat pups and have no interest in going live.

1st feeding- March 4 (in feeding box) refused
2nd- March 10th (in enclosure) Fed F/T rat pup
3rd- March 17th (in feeding box) refused and hissed :(
...threw out feeding box and will feed in enclosure
4th- March 20th (in enclosure) refused no interest
5th- March 24th (in enclosure) struck and coiled but did not eat
6th- march 27th (in enclosure) refused and slithered away to hide :(

She is being housed in a glass vivarium which I have covered all the sides and part of the top on. Only 1 door remains uncovered. She has mulch substrate and an under the tank heater, a day lamp and a red lamp. We set up the enclosure and monitored temps/humidity for 1 month before putting the snake in. Hot side 85-90 degrees on top of basking rock is 95 cool side 75-80. Water dish she can soak in, 2 hides, climbing branch and humidity is at 50-65. She is in the living room which is high traffic but she will come out during the day to hang out on her branch if the house is quiet. She is not being handled right now (we took her out 2 days the week she fed 48 hrs post feeding) until I get her feeding regularly.

She is very cautious of the rat and I am afraid that she will develop a fear of it. I have been feeding at night with tongs.

Help or advice would be appreciated :(

Hi,

First thing that jumps out is that you are offering the prey a little too often after a refusal.

This can actually stress them out and make them less likely to eat.

I would wait another 7 days and during that time do not handle her or mess with her enclosure any more than your really have to.

How are you preparing and offering the prey? Do you prescent?

What was it eating at the breeders?


dr del

Thawing in fridge overnight and warming in water in a zipbag till it's warm to the touch (39C with the temp gun)
This snake not eating is stressing me out and I agree I should probably space the feedings out more.

If you're set on her eating f/t then you just need to be patient and persistent. Keep in mind that some BPs won't fully convert to f/t. Try mice if she's pretty afraid of the rat.

I read somewhere that thawing in warm water in a tupperware dish next to the cage and then warming it slightly with a hair dryer once thawed over the vent works well. It entices the snake to eat.


Of course I have just seen it in videos and read it. I'm gonna try it for the first time tomorrow!

Good luck! I tried that tonight and had no luck with making her hungry it certainly made a nice "rat aroma" though LOL

I'll let you know if mine feeds. I am using f/t mice hoppers instead of rat pups. I have no interest in feeding live either. But if she doesn't wanna eat by wednesday I probably won't have a choice.

since you offered and got a refusal today do NOT offer again till next saturday.

My first BP will not take a f/t even after her yearly winter fast (4 mos.) ended last week. I've had her two years and have tried the switch a few times. I held out giving her a live one for a couple of extra weeks to entice her to switch, but she wasn't having it. My second BP takes them no problem without even striking and constricting. It seems to really depend from snake to snake. I guess the new method for conversion is "Tough Love", but I settled for feeding two small live ones.

:rolleye2:
ok guys I will hold out trying to feed her again till next week. Hopefully she will get over being rat shy and take it like she did in the 2nd feeding. Patience I guess is the way to go as hard as that is.

hit it with a blow dryer right before offering and feed in her enclosure. It is kind of an old wise tale that it makes them cage agressive. The only time that they are typically agressive is if something is wrong or you smell like a mouse/rat.

When I got my first BP I was set on feeding her outside the enclosure.....it was a nightmare. She often would not take it....I had to jump through soooooo many hoops to make it happen. Then I found this site and started feeding in the enclosure....I have only had one refusal in 6 months. Plus it is so much easier for you and much less stressful for the snake. Remember snakes are most vunerable when feeding...so they want to feel safe while they are doing it.

Hi,

You didn't mention what the breeder was feeding - if you are offering rats but the snake is more used to mice that could be part of the problem.

I would ask the breeder if he could talk you through how he prepares and offers the food to see if there is any difference.

I would also suggest trying to defrost for an hour or so near the snakes cage rather than it all being in the fridge or plastic bag - the scent can get them in the right feeding mode.


dr del

I am curious as to what kind of hides she has?

Do you have a picture of your setup?

You know On a similair vein I'd like to ask about defrosting a mouse.



How long does it take to thaw an f/t hopper in a little tupperware container of warm water?


I am so hoping she eats for me. Though I won't be surprised if she doesn't cause I just got her from the show yesterday, and I'm a moron trying to set up her cage while she's trying to hide.


I accidentally uncovered her 3 times! Each time she balled up so high I couldn't put the pot back down so I didn't know what to do except move the pot lid. I was afraid it would hurt her if I rested it atop her.

ok so the breeder was feeding rat pups and alternating F/T and live although I would probably bet it was feeding only live, not that breeders are dishonest but I heard a lot of cute sales pitches at the reptile expo about BP being "so easy to switch back and forth" ok So she did take the 1 F/T rat pup I offered on her 2nd feed attempt and she had really good feed response, it was so easy I got all excited but alas she has refused everything since. :(
It's hard to get a pic of her enclosure since it's mostly covered up now but I'll try. she has a lot of cover in her enclosure and she mainly likes to hang out behind a strip of corkbark that spans across the back of the viv. It's nice and tight back there she also has a small flowerpot in her cool side and a too big for her rock hide on the hot side. She uses the hot hide despite the fact that it is too large (that is where she successfully fed from) and alternates between the "lean-to" (cooler hide) and the rock which she can do by crossing about 1 inch of open space. I am reluctant to change the rock hide for something smaller because she seems comfortable using it and I don't want to mess with her enclosure till she is feeding regularly.
Today she was out for a while at noon tongue flicking and exploring all over despite the fact that people were up and around, she seems comfortable in the enclosure and it just seems to be the feeding that she is shy about. So frustrating!

Thanks for all the input though.

BTW I have left the rat out for 60 min on top of her enclosure to get to room temp and even tried the blow dryer thing last time but she doesn't get excited about the scent.

Try a live one. If she eats, switch back to FT the next week. I have found that once you get them eating again they aren't as picky.

I start all my breeders on live when they come out of the fast at the end of the breeding season. After that, the ones that will take it get FT, and they don't refuse it.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by WingedWolfPsion

Try a live one. If she eats, switch back to FT the next week. I have found that once you get them eating again they aren't as picky.

I start all my breeders on live when they come out of the fast at the end of the breeding season. After that, the ones that will take it get FT, and they don't refuse it.

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What he said but I would offer smaller prey so not to intimidate the snake. Soo if it takes rat pups (20-25ish grams) try 2 big pinkies/fuzzies weighing about 10 grams each. They don't move much, they are already scented and will not harm ur BP if he mis strikess.
Also it sounds nuts but go to Petsmart or a pet store and ask for some mouse bedding out of the mouse cages (or rat if your feeding rats). Put this little bag open next to the cage and cover the cage and the bedding with a towel or something so the snake HAS to smell the bedding and I am pretty sure he will be VERY willing to eat. Do this for about an hour before feeding. Then drop in that pinkie/fuzzy and let the snake have at it.
Hope this helps.
Also I would say do this until the snake has eaten for atleast 3 weeks in a row then you can try bigger live prey. Then once the snake is used to bigger prey switch over to F/T and you should be good to go.