fustrated....

ok to make a long story short, my bp is now at 820g. Before the issue i had with wood mites a few months back, he was a beast eating, in fact when i got him at 175g, he was eating mice like a monster, after he got to about 500, he was guzzling down 70g rats no problem! anyways he has fed on rats before, then he turned one down, so it was back to mice, 2 per feeding until he reached 700+ i keep trying rats and he wont take them, but he will show extreme interest in them, in one feeding he did a strike and miss then just quit and went into his hide. Ok so i had the issue with the wood mites and he was quarantined and did not feed for a month or so while i got my hands on PAM. After he was clear of mites, he was back on mice, now he takes mice down, but not as aggressively as before the mite situation. The last feeding was about 8 days ago, and it was 2 small mice.

A hiding bp is a happy bp right? well the last 3 days he was been very active and have had his body half out of his hide, i figuere he was hungry and sure enough it was that, because when i took the water dish out of his enclosure (thats his queu to know its feeding time) within seconds he was out in his S position, this time i figuered i try a rat again since he is probably very hungry, no dice. He showed alot of intered but as soon as the rat would get in his face he was run away into his hide, only to come back out of his hide flicking his tongue and going crazy searching as if he was hungry, only to, once he face the rat, back away. So it was this back and forth, showing interest hunting down the rat only to once the rat got in his face he would run away. I got tired of this after a half hour and just got rid of the rat. He is right now as we speak, 20 minutes or so after i got the rat out of there still looking around all interested and acting hungry. I just scream at his "STOP ACTING LIKE YOUR HUNGRY AND WILL EAT, YOU HAD YOUR FREAKING CHANCE AND YOU DIDT TAKE HIM!!!!"

sorry, it just he really gets me mad when he does this, i mean, atleast show no interest in the rat, then i can understand, ill just take the rat out and try mice in a week, but the fact that he shows sooooo much interest then just turns it down, i dont understand. If he is a mouser, then should't he be showing no interest in the rat at all after the first encounter? Why is he running away then coming back?

He comes up to the rat and can then smell it's not a mouse...

Just feed him mice, that's what he wants.

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that makes sense actually

i guess i will be sticking to mice then, man now i understand the fustration of those wanting to switch there BP's from mice to rats. It just looks odd such a big snake eating such a small mouse. Sometimes he eats them butt first as opposed to head first since they are so small....

I hace the same problem. Baloo wont eat anything but fuzzy mice. I've tried all kinds and sizessizes but she likes her fuzzies. Lol she's going to look funny when she grows up and the mouse is smaller then her eyeballs. I guess i will be feeding by the dozen then. :rofl:Lmao

I have one that won't eat nothing but mice. Three a week. Silly thing you can't fool him into eating a rat :)

JUST got over the same problm. this is what worked for us. the day of feeding, put a rat in with a mouse to scent it. then put a mouse on top or very near his enclosure so he can smell it to get him enticed. then you can either start with the mouse to get him started or go str8 to the mouse scentd rat. we went str8 to the rat. worked like a charm! our 2131g female took 2 medium rats like a champ! this was the advice i recieved and followed. also try feeding well after dark. let me know how it goes!

The best advice I can give you is just to rub the mice onto the rats before feeding it to him. If he still won't take it then I would try rubbing a gerbil scent onto it. But be warned. If you rub a gerbil scent onto the rat the snake may never take anything that doesn't smell like gerbil again. If you do decide to rub some mice scent onto it then try rubbing just a little on there so you can wean him off of the scent.

The after dark thing I found out yesterday just by chance. I needed to feed Baloo and only had a few minutes before work. It was around 9:30pm and I was shocked when she ate two mice in like 10 minutes. It was amazing because I had just been complaining that I couldn't get her to eat. lol Go figure. :rolleye2:

i cant believe rats and mice smell different, how is that? i mean a mouse grows up to be a rat, its the same body?? i dont get it.

but whats more weird is he has eaten rats before, i believe he has eaten 5 since i got him 7 months ago, and i have fed mouse/rats in different occasions, for example a rat 2 weeks in a row, then 2 mice then a rat. Then he just stopped on rats period. I would have kept him on rats but back then it was hard finding the right size rat, now he is 800+ and the petland rats do just fine, but he wont eat a rat, go figure.

Frankie, mice and rats are different animals; a mouse is not a baby rat. Do you feed live or pre killed?

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Originally Posted by FrankieCarbone

i cant believe rats and mice smell different, how is that? i mean a mouse grows up to be a rat, its the same body?? i dont get it.

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Uh, no. That is like saying a lion grows up to be a tiger. No. Your BP has identified mice as prey and not rats. Happens, especially with BPs. You can keep trying, but he may never switch.

so if mice and rats are 2 different animals, then why does he even show any interest in the rat? if they are 2 different animals, why would he even come out of his hide in hunt mode at the smell of rats? For example, i like chicken, but hate cornish game hen, i wont even bother at eating or tasting cornish hen, but i will destroy some kfc....

A cornish game hen is the same exact thing as regular chicken. They are the same breed. The only difference is the age it is slaughtered.

Most snakes will eat more then just one type of animal. Rats, mice, african soft furred rats, gerbils, hamsters. They are all prey even though they are different species. I had a ball python years ago that would eat anything. I fed him mice, rats, gerbils and dwarf hamsters. I am a little confused about your question. "so if mice and rats are 2 different animals, then why does he even show any interest in the rat?"

ok here another example

i dislike turkey, but love chicken, i would never show INTEREST in turkey, but i will in chicken. So, if you fry up a turkey leg im not going to come out of my room to see whats cookin, but if you are roasting a chicken i will, get the comparison? Thats what im trying to understand, why would my BP even show interest in a prey he dosent like? Why does he even come out of the hide at the scent of a rat when he knows he dosent like rats?

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Originally Posted by FrankieCarbone

ok here another example

i dislike turkey, but love chicken, i would never show INTEREST in turkey, but i will in chicken. So, if you fry up a turkey leg im not going to come out of my room to see whats cookin, but if you are roasting a chicken i will, get the comparison? Thats what im trying to understand, why would my BP even show interest in a prey he dosent like? Why does he even come out of the hide at the scent of a rat when he knows he dosent like rats?

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You said that your snakes ate rats before so he prolly comes out when he smells the rat, realizes that he doesnt really like the rats anymore and prefers mice instead. It would be like if u smelle something cooking and came into the kitchen only to realize that what u smelled was actually turkey and not chicken. You couldnt smell exactly what it was before but you realized once u got into the kitchen. I really dont know how acute a bp's sense of smell is exactly so maybe he just smells/senses rodent and comes running out but then realizes its a rat so he goes back inside. You said tht his queu is taking out the water dish so he prolly sees you do that, gets ready, then realizes its not what he really wants and goes back inside.
This is just my 2 cents, im not claiming to be a know it all lol.

Actually that makes pretty good sense....

tried again today, same thing, showed extreme interest but not strike, and this was a mouse like before, not a small rat. Dammit im VERY fustrated. Now i know why my mother used to get so mad at me when i was smaller and did;t want to eat the food she made.

I was so mad i screamed at him, loud, when i took the mouse out (when i knew it wasent gonna happen) i just turned at him and yelled "DAMMMITTT!!!!

I know BP's goes off feed, but whats the deal with him showing interest? I mean in the past when he has refused, he did not show ANY interest, is;t that what a general refusal consists off? Introducing the prey, and them not even looking at it? Is it wrong that he shows soo much interest but just looks at it?

Oh my gosh....first thing...relax!!!

Your ball is 820 grams, that means he is at breeding size...it's breeding season! I have ALL my adult males off feed at the moment. All of them! They do this, it's normal, and getting pissed every time he refuses is going to drive you mad.

Just try offering every 2 weeks as to not waste mice/rats, if he takes it, GREAT. If not? Then try again next time. As long as he's not losing a crazy amount of weight, it's normal, and should be expected this time of year!

Take a deep breath lol.

i know i know, but i just cant help it, it just really gets me mad and FUSTRATED, i can feel my hair fallin of as we speak

i guess its a good thing, shows how much a really care about him, even though alot of my friends think i need help for caring so much for a "snake"....

It's frustrating but it's normal. Even my garbage disposal male normal turns his head to a fat rat right now...