Another "snake won't eat" question

My stubborn bp Millie is in week 9 of her hunger strike. Normally she eats f/t rats. So far we have tried a f/t asf, a brained f/t thawed asf, a prekilled asf which we put with her in a paper bag overnight and a f/t asf covered in homemade chicken stock. (I seriously don't know what's wrong with this rotten animal when she turns down my chicken soup!)

At this point she's lost just under 50gr and is still over 1300gr, so she's not in any danger yet. Her temps/humidity/husbandry are all good.

I am reluctant to feed her live because I don't want to get stuck with a live rodent if she refuses it. My question is whether there would be any value in offering her a live pinkie just to try to break the cycle, because if she doesn't eat the pinkie I can give it to my sand boa.

Thanks for any help!

Pinkies are awfully small for her size. She may not even recognize it as a food option it's so small.

Now now, no reason for name calling lol. Just be glad you havent been assist feeding a hatchling for 4 months hoping when he's big enough he will eat live.....because all you can get for live, is adult mice and larger...

That's kind of what I was wondering, if it was worth bothering to try it. I guess I'm leaning toward it won't hurt and might help. Oh, and I also found this article, so I cleaned everything out, changed hides and gave Millie a bath the day before the last feeding attempt, just to see if that helped, too.

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Originally Posted by Libby

That's kind of what I was wondering, if it was worth bothering to try it. I guess I'm leaning toward it won't hurt and might help. Oh, and I also found this article, so I cleaned everything out, changed hides and gave Millie a bath the day before the last feeding attempt, just to see if that helped, too.

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You can definitely try. No downside, with a potential upside, so it can't hurt.

Kyle, you should have heard what I called my darling pet after she peed/pooped all over my new sofa! Assist feeding for 4 months? That sounds incredibly stressful for both of you! I'll definitely come back to you for tips if it ever gets to the point where we assist feed. (Which is a loooooong ways off yet.)

1300 grams, I wouldn't worry too much. You are probably more worried about it than her. What size tub is she in, how many and what kind of hides? How often do you handle her? I wouldn't handle or bathe her before a feeding attempt. Also, how often are you offering food? Too frequently can stress her out too. I'd try cluttering up her tank with more hides or crumpled news paper, and just leave her alone for 2 weeks. Then try offering food. Personally I'd offer live. But I know that's not for everybody.

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Originally Posted by Libby

Kyle, you should have heard what I called my darling pet after she peed/pooped all over my new sofa! Assist feeding for 4 months? That sounds incredibly stressful for both of you! I'll definitely come back to you for tips if it ever gets to the point where we assist feed. (Which is a loooooong ways off yet.)

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Ya its Terrible, I took the little guy in as a rescue and was only 43 grams ribs and everything. I didn't think he had eaten since he had hatched.

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Originally Posted by DooLittle

1300 grams, I wouldn't worry too much. You are probably more worried about it than her. What size tub is she in, how many and what kind of hides? How often do you handle her? I wouldn't handle or bathe her before a feeding attempt. Also, how often are you offering food? Too frequently can stress her out too. I'd try cluttering up her tank with more hides or crumpled news paper, and just leave her alone for 2 weeks. Then try offering food. Personally I'd offer live. But I know that's not for everybody.

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She's in a 20 gal long with the back, left side and most of the top covered. (Natural light comes from the window on the far right side of the office, so I haven't covered that end.) There's a ceramic heat bulb above with an ambient of 80F and a UTH on the right set at 90F. Humidity is nice and steady at 60%. She has a hide on the right over the UTH and several large cork logs tetrised together on the left (her cool hides/jungle gym) and a water dish in the center under the ceramic bulb. We offer food every Sunday night, but she's large enough it might be time to back her down to 8-10 days. We've reduced how often we handle her to no more than a couple times a week since she's been on strike and really only have her out when she wants to come out on her own. (If she's nosing around the top we'll open it up and let her crawl out to us. In fact she gets frustrated and keeps poking then staring at us if we DON'T get her out.) Oh, and she's on aspen.

I would prefer not to feed live just because I don't want to risk her getting chewed on, but the real deal breaker is that we simply cannot keep any animals with fur or feathers in our home. My son's allergies were the reason we decided to get a snake in the first place. Bringing home a live rat or mouse and feeding her wouldn't be a big deal, but if she refused it, I'd be stuck with it. That's why I've been thinking about trying a live pinkie just to try to trigger a feeding response. If she turned it down, I could just give it to our little garbage disposal of a sand boa!

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Originally Posted by kylearmbar

Ya its Terrible, I took the little guy in as a rescue and was only 43 grams ribs and everything. I didn't think he had eaten since he had hatched.

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Oh, good on you for taking a rescue! Have you put up any pictures of him?

What kind of hide does she have? Try giving her at least 2, tight (as in, almost doesn't fit ) dark hides. One each end. Maybe block off the other end of the tank, give her more security. They don't care about light. Also, I wouldn't even bother with a pinkie. It's not large enough. She more than likely will not see it as prey, and it too, will be wasted. You may check if you have a local mom and pop shop, they might take the feeder back if she refuses. Or you can euthanize it, and save it for when she is back on f/t.

Doolittle, I knew it would have been easier to take a photo!

Millie fits very securely both in her warm cave style hide and her favorite cork log/cool hide. It has one end against the side of the tank, so it does have privacy. I don't get the impression that she is stressed, since she wants to come out for a visit almost every night and if she's awake during the day will stick her head out of her hide and twist it around so it's resting on top of the cave and keep an eye on anyone in the office, which is a lower traffic area. (Just saw another thread describing another bp doing exactly the same thing my little derp face does.)

I've been putting a towel around the tank on feeding days and leaving her covered with the mouse just to give Millie a little more security. I may just go ahead and cover the right side. I know I probably just need to wait her out, but it is frustrating!

Oh, and the reason I even considered the live pinkie is because our sand boa would eat it if Millie didn't, so I wouldn't have to worry about, um, leftovers.

At this weight your BP could go a year without food. Alternative prey is not the answer, the answer is make sure that the husbandry is optimal and most importantly PATIENCE.


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Patience is not quite the right term here. It's more like too much worrying haha. You want them to eat just so you know they are healthy but they just won't.

1300 grams and going off food at this time of year? My diagnosis, breeding season/1000 gram wall. Almost every single one of mine have gone through it. Usually about a 3-4 month break. Don't worry and just offer her usual food, which should be small rats at that size, every other week or every week if you really want to. Went they want to go back on food they will. I just did the happy dance this week. My 1300g Lesser Female hasn't eaten in 5 months. Took her first rat on Tuesday.

No fears.

Sounds normal to me if your husbandry is within standard.
I wouldn't worry too much yet.

Well, I just came back to all the wonderful advice to just be patient. But...being the nervous/relatively new snake owner that I am, I had already gotten a live hopper mouse today, since the reptile store said we could bring it back if she didn't eat it. It took her a while, but she did eat it. :)

I had never fed live before and supervised VERY closely. Next week I'll offer either a f/t asf or small rat, depending on what's left in the freezer. For those who mentioned husbandry, her temps/humidity are always spot on.

Thanks everyone so much for always being here with solid advice and plenty of reassurance. I may not be on the boards regularly, but it's really is great to know that if I have questions, I can always come here for help.

I have, but not in awhile. Im out of town right now, but when I get back tomorrow I could, but he looks much healthier now and is up to 85 grams.

This is a before an after if my lil guyhttp://img.tapatalk.com/d/14/03/03/asezeta7.jpghttp://img.tapatalk.com/d/14/03/03/ese7ehup.jpg

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Sry for the reviving of dead threads. But I have an update. I just tried a feeding and he ate! After 4+ months of assist feeding. Two weeks ago I dereased his enclosure size by quite a bit, he's in a tub a little smaller than the usual hatchling tib, close to the same dimensions but not as vertical. I also covered all 4 sides. Then about a week ago I started giving him jump start by zilla every 3 days, about pinky mouse size syringe. Then today I saw a small live mouse about hopper size and got it, put it in his tub and he watched it for about 5 minutes then struck it! Im so happy I can barely stand it :-D