A nearly ten month feeding strike ended.

Quite pleased with how my new Pinstripe, now deemed "Seeley Booth", has adjusted to life at my house.
His little background story can be found HERE.
Bought him a live mouse earlier today, which remained in a Kritter Keeper on top of his tub along with water and appropriate food. I bought the mouse early in the day because I wanted to be sure it was not hungry or thirsty before putting it in the tub, wanted to minimize any risk of biting my beautiful new addition. :)
I put the paper bag that the mouse came in into the tub for a few hours, which sparked the interest of the snake. After about four hours of watching this adorable little mouse and beginning to fall in love with it, I had to feed it off before I ended up with another pet. :oops:
I placed the mouse inside a small, well ventilated tupperware container which I left in the tub for 5 minutes before releasing it.
Once outside the safety of the little container, the mouse did not survive more than ten seconds. :rolleyes: Seeley struck, killed, and swallowed the mouse in under five minutes. He then proceeded to hunt around the tub for more since the mouse was so small.

I'd have to say this has been a good night, hopefully he remains consistent with feeding from now on. :please:


EDIT: I forgot to clarify, this is the first time I have offered him food since obtaining him last Wednesday. Seems like "first time's the charm" with all three of the BPs I have received. ;)

YAAAAAY!! I am SO glad to hear he ate for you, congrats!!! :D :gj: :D :banana: :D

Edit: (needs more happy dances :D ) :banana: :banana: :banana:

Congrats!!::gj:

:D very nice

Nice work! Get that snake a bunch of mice!

Regards,

B

Told you he liked you better :D

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Originally Posted by Simple Man

Nice work! Get that snake a bunch of mice!

Regards,

B

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I would really love to just stuff him with food to get that 300g+ that he lost back on, but after ten months without food I'd be afraid to offer him too much too quickly. I'm not completely sure how their digestive system works after not eating for such an extensive amount of time, but I'd imagine it'd be a bit slower at first. I'm going to continue to offer him one mouse every 5 days if he consistently takes them, then hopefully switch to rats pups.. if not, multiple mice.
Hopefully I've got it planned right, suggestions are always welcome. :)

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Originally Posted by kb1290

Told you he liked you better :D

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Haha! I am completely fine with that. :P Hopefully he puts that weight back on within a couple months.

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Originally Posted by Kymberli

Haha! I am completely fine with that. :P Hopefully he puts that weight back on within a couple months.

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Looks like we both had success with our skinny ones tonight! I'm sure he will be back to weight in no time. Hmm I wonder if now that he's eating again if he will take rats as easily as he did before.

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Originally Posted by kb1290

Looks like we both had success with our skinny ones tonight! I'm sure he will be back to weight in no time. Hmm I wonder if now that he's eating again if he will take rats as easily as he did before.

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That would be fantastic if he did, but I'm going to stick with mice for a little while just to kick-start his feeding response and get him on a regular schedule (hopefully). I'd be devastated if I offered a rat, he refused, then went back on strike for one reason or another. :(

yeh its a good feeling when you see that strike and coil, its like having 100 pounds lifted of your shoulders

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Originally Posted by Kymberli

That would be fantastic if he did, but I'm going to stick with mice for a little while just to kick-start his feeding response and get him on a regular schedule (hopefully). I'd be devastated if I offered a rat, he refused, then went back on strike for one reason or another. :(

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Fingers crossed that he keeps eating mice for you! Worry about rats when the time comes.

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Originally Posted by FrankieCarbone

yeh its a good feeling when you see that strike and coil, its like having 100 pounds lifted of your shoulders

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I swear I probably looked like a child on Christmas morning during the whole process tonight. I felt like I was holding my breath until I saw the mouse's hips go down, I was afraid at any point before that he would release the mouse or spit it back up. Once the hips went down I had the biggest smile on my face. :oops:
Very stressful to watch!

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Originally Posted by kb1290

Fingers crossed that he keeps eating mice for you! Worry about rats when the time comes.

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Definitely. :) I'm not too concerned about switching to rats. I just hope more than anything they all continue eating well after the three hour move to Vegas next month. :please:

Congrats let's hope he stays that way :gj:

Congrats! I'm glad to hear you had success on the first feeding and I hope he keeps it up for you. :)

Personally, now that he ate, I would offer him small rats. He's plenty big enough. The more you're offering him (multiple mice) the more chance you have of refusal. Take advantage of that "hunger" and high drive right now and get him eating the right stuff. Just my $.02... but good luck and congrats either way!

Regards,

B

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Originally Posted by simple man

personally, now that he ate, i would offer him small rats. He's plenty big enough. The more you're offering him (multiple mice) the more chance you have of refusal. Take advantage of that "hunger" and high drive right now and get him eating the right stuff. Just my $.02... But good luck and congrats either way!

Regards,

b

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x2

X3!

Great news! I failed in an attempt to get a new addition to eat today....i will probably utilize some of your great ideas!

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Originally Posted by Simple Man

Personally, now that he ate, I would offer him small rats. He's plenty big enough. The more you're offering him (multiple mice) the more chance you have of refusal. Take advantage of that "hunger" and high drive right now and get him eating the right stuff. Just my $.02... but good luck and congrats either way!

Regards,

B

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Good to know, I suppose I'll try a rat next time. :) He was on small live rats back in August while he was being bred at Boas and Balls, so that's obviously what I was going to try to get him back on. I hadn't thought of it that way though, so I'll get him a live weaned rat on Sunday.

Hey delete some of ur private mesgs can't write u back ur space is full lol

my pastel male has never taken a rat. he was a stubborn feeder since he hatched. the only think ive ever been able to get him to eat is mice. hes 6 years old now. ive tried keeping a rat with a mouse for a few days, prescenting his eclosure with mice then offering rats, i have been trying for the past year pretty hard. just today i tried all the tricks. i even let a mouse go in his cage and when he looked like he was gonna strike i dangled a f/t rat in front of him. he literally went up and around to get to the mouse. so i think today ive decided hes a mouser.

its not too late for you and LL..i mean Seeley ;) if i were you id go back to rats next feeding.

it's stuff like this that makes me question who's really in captivity... our snakes or us:P

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Originally Posted by cecilbturtle

my pastel male has never taken a rat. he was a stubborn feeder since he hatched. the only think ive ever been able to get him to eat is mice. hes 6 years old now. ive tried keeping a rat with a mouse for a few days, prescenting his eclosure with mice then offering rats, i have been trying for the past year pretty hard. just today i tried all the tricks. i even let a mouse go in his cage and when he looked like he was gonna strike i dangled a f/t rat in front of him. he literally went up and around to get to the mouse. so i think today ive decided hes a mouser.

its not too late for you and LL..i mean Seeley ;) if i were you id go back to rats next feeding.

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Oh, I know it's not too late to get him on rats, lol. The only reason I offered him a mouse tonight was because during feeding night for my other BPs I thawed their rats right by his tub to see if I could get a reaction.. nothing. The second I brought the rats near my Normals' tubs they went "hunting". The only reaction from scent I've been capable of getting out of Seeley was from the mouse today. I'd rather have him on mice than nothing at all.
So, when I purchase the Rat on Sunday I'm going to have them toss in a little used aspen from a mouse tub. Considering he was on live small rats for the majority of his life, I'm not worried about him becoming a "mouser".

Good job Kymbo! :gj: I think your explanation for how you got it to eat was sheer perfection. Couldn't go wrong with all that you did.

Mark

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Originally Posted by MarkieJ

Good job Kymbo! :gj: I think your explanation for how you got it to eat was sheer perfection. Couldn't go wrong with all that you did.

Mark

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Thank you! I took every suggestion I could think of that I've come across in other threads and simply combined them. Worked wonders! I can only hope that this helps someone else with a stubborn feeder on strike. :)

:bow:

well played KP :yes:

Congrats...Arnold was a pain all winter...worried sick about him, but in the last few weeks, he's eaten 3 times...summer's in the air :-) I just feel better when all may snakes eat once a week...wish I could Dr. Doolittle what they're thinking.

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Originally Posted by Plissken

Congrats...Arnold was a pain all winter...worried sick about him, but in the last few weeks, he's eaten 3 times...summer's in the air :-) I just feel better when all may snakes eat once a week...wish I could Dr. Doolittle what they're thinking.

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Ahh, don't we all :)

Awesome just awesome I was so tempted to take him in as he only lived an hour away from me but I have a male lemon blast so I didnt need another male w pinstripe in him so glad he ate for you my male lemon blast and female pastel both were on ratstheone day decided against it and we battled for about 2 months till igavein and both inhaled a mouse before it hit the ground but now thewont even come out of hides for a rat but a mouse has nochance around them

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Originally Posted by frenchy

Awesome just awesome I was so tempted to take him in as he only lived an hour away from me but I have a male lemon blast so I didnt need another male w pinstripe in him so glad he ate for you my male lemon blast and female pastel both were on ratstheone day decided against it and we battled for about 2 months till igavein and both inhaled a mouse before it hit the ground but now thewont even come out of hides for a rat but a mouse has nochance around them

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I had to drive 2hours each way. (I live in the Inland Empire) :oops: Luckily, I enjoy the drive to SD. I drove there a couple months ago to pick up my male normal that was being neglected, and I'll be driving back there next month to pick up my Milksnakes. Four out of five of my snakes will have been from San Diego. :rolleyes:

I'm sorry that I didn't catch this thread earlier. I am so happy to hear that you got the pin to feed! What an awesome feeling it is when they finally come off their fasts and decide to eat again.

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Originally Posted by ballpythonluvr

I'm sorry that I didn't catch this thread earlier. I am so happy to hear that you got the pin to feed! What an awesome feeling it is when they finally come off their fasts and decide to eat again.

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Especially one that was beginning to approach the one year mark. :oops: Definitely a relief!

Awesome! Glad he ate for you!

Congrats! I just got my picky one to eat and my husband and I just about did the happy dance when she was finally coiling it. :banana:

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Originally Posted by MoshBalls

Congrats! I just got my picky one to eat and my husband and I just about did the happy dance when she was finally coiling it. :banana:

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I refused to do the happy dance until the hips of the mouse could not be seen anymore. :P