Ignoring rat, should I leave it in cage over night (F/T)?

My snake who previously has never refused a meal has decided to go on a hunger strike. Wants nothing to do with his F/T rat. When I was heating it up with a hair dryer he came out of his hide and was nosing around the door to his cage, but when I put the rat in he just ignores it like its not even there.

Wondering if I leave it sit in his cage he might decide to eat it, or should I just give up and toss it out now?

This is the second week in a row he's decided to not eat, should I keep trying every week or let him go a few weeks?

I've left f/t rats in overnight with positive results. I say go for it!

Nope i leave it in over nite and if its not gone by morning i throw it outside for other critters to snack on. I never throw it out, hate to waste them.

From personal experience, i left a thawed mouse in my ball pythons cage over the weekend because he didnt eat it. I had somewhere to be so I couldnt observe. But by the time i came back it was stinking up the wholeee room. Dont leave it in more than a day though cause it will start rotting if you absolutely dont want to waste it. but i dont think he will eat it. Try wiggling it next to his nose? Thats how I get my ball to eat when hes uninterested.

I'll leave it will morning and toss it out in the woods if its still there. I've tried wiggling it around, he litterally just pushes right past it and goes on his merry way.

Sometimes they just like to waste your money I guess, haha. Ever spice it up with a live one every once in a while? They like a little fight sometimes. And if he didnt eat it, it would still be alive the next day. No wasting.

Personally with all my f/t eaters I just toss the rats in and check the next morning. More often than not they've eaten them, but I once made the mistake of becoming complacent and assumed that they were all eaten. I didn't get around to going down to check the morning after feeding, and the next day holy lord did it smell BAD!

TL;DR: yes, leave it overnight, but make sure you check the next morning!

omgitsnikita: It's NEVER but NEVER a good idea to leave a live rodent unattended with a snake. They can do untold damage and even kill the snake if the snake is not interested in eating. That may not have been what you meant in your post, but I just wanted to clarify in case.

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Originally Posted by Alexandra V

Personally with all my f/t eaters I just toss the rats in and check the next morning. More often than not they've eaten them, but I once made the mistake of becoming complacent and assumed that they were all eaten. I didn't get around to going down to check the morning after feeding, and the next day holy lord did it smell BAD!

TL;DR: yes, leave it overnight, but make sure you check the next morning!

omgitsnikita: It's NEVER but NEVER a good idea to leave a live rodent unattended with a snake. They can do untold damage and even kill the snake if the snake is not interested in eating. That may not have been what you meant in your post, but I just wanted to clarify in case.

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She said thawed :)

Well the butt head didn't eat it. I put it at the entrance to his hide and he actually crawled right over top of it to get inside and ignored it all night. I used to feed him live but when it got time to move to rats I switched to F/T and he ate every time for about 6 months or so. The last two times he ate he was progressively less interested and the last time it was more like, "oh fine I'll eat it if you'll leave me alone".

I don't know what I'd do with a live rat if he didn't eat it. Maybe put it in my neighbors house (payback for their annoying barking dog ;)).

How big is he? If hes a male he may be in breeding mode still...

It could just be the typical BP "I'm well fed so I'm just going to stop eating for a couple months" situation. My female pastel went on strike, just ignoring any f/t I gave her (didn't try live as I've never fed live and wasn't comfortable getting a med. rat and letting her go at it). After about 6 months of no weight loss, but no interest, she just decided one day that she was hungry again. As long as he's not losing weight I wouldn't fret about it

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Originally Posted by Valentine Pirate

It could just be the typical BP "I'm well fed so I'm just going to stop eating for a couple months" situation. My female pastel went on strike, just ignoring any f/t I gave her (didn't try live as I've never fed live and wasn't comfortable getting a med. rat and letting her go at it). After about 6 months of no weight loss, but no interest, she just decided one day that she was hungry again. As long as he's not losing weight I wouldn't fret about it

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I have a couple females that do this. They get a little chunky and decide to go on a diet.

My male is doing the same thing, going on 3 weeks now. Sitting pretty at 704g but he's cost me $8.

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Originally Posted by Mike41793

How big is he? If hes a male he may be in breeding mode still...

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I say "he" but I really don't know if its a male or female. My wife said it has to be male because only a boy could be that aggrevating :D. Last time I weighed my snake he was 1250 grams, that was about 2-3 weeks ago. I'm guessing he's around 3.5 feet long. Haven't measured in a long time.

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So when they go on feeding strikes like this, do I still keep offering every week? Or give him a few weeks off in between?

I've got some new hides for him, would now be a bad time to put those in?

Sometimes they just skip the meal. I leave FT o'nite but do heed the advice of checking in the AM.
They also sometimes just want privacy when they eat. Dark and quiet

My guy ate finally, went buck wild when I fed him on Sunday. Was clearly hungry.

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Originally Posted by UpNorth

My guy ate finally, went buck wild when I fed him on Sunday. Was clearly hungry.

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That's good to hear. Mine is still being a goon. He seemed interested at first then the rat bumped his nose and he retreated and balled up. First time I've ever seen him live up to his namesake. Left the rat there overnight and it was still there this morning.

I have exactly the same problem. Tried many different things, but he still refuses to eat. At first, he looks like he is going to strike, but then returns back to his hide as if the rat was no longer interesting for him. I guess I will just have to be patient and try until he eats.

p.s. leaving the rat overnight did not help either