Striking and holding on to prey, but not eating?

Sorry for posting another thread about a ball python with feeding issues! My three month old ball python, Onyx, has refused her past four feedings. All were f/t fuzzy rats, which she had eaten three of on previous occasions. Nothing has changed in her husbandry. I'm not too worried, she hasn't lost much weight (just seven-ish grams), but I'd like to get her back to eating as soon as I can.

Honestly, it's not the fact that she's not eating that's got me wondering, it's how she's not eating. She strikes and coils around her prey, gets the head in her mouth, but the next morning it'll still be in the cage. Sometimes, she'll come up to the rodent flicking her tongue and poking it with her nose and then reluctantly strike it, but most strikes are fairly enthusiastic, and none of them have been defensive.

I decided to watch her eat to see just what the heck she's doing, and I saw her do something that was just plain weird. She grabbed the prey item, but didn't coil around it (she did on previous occasions, however). She then proceeded to release it and bit it on various places of the body. When she grabbed the middle, she jerked back and immediately lost all interest. I'm really not sure why she did this. The mouse (tried a mouse to see if she'd take it) is definitely the right size for her, she should have no problems handling it. Any ideas on why she could've done something so weird? I'm pretty baffled.

How are you preparing the prey Item for her? Are you blow drying it to keep it warm to make it seem alive?
Also when she strikes it, do you go in there and jiggle the prey item a bit to mimic a struggle or not. Its important you do make the prey seem like its struggling a bit so the snake actually coils around it to secure the kill (if the snake isn't. Most snakes do coil though 99 percent of the time) and also if this isn't done the snake will never learn to coil stronger which could cause problems if one day you plan to switch to live preys, she wont kill them properly due to weak coil/choke.

But the behaviour is definitely weird to me, specially the part where she attempts to eat it (putting it in her mouth) then just gives up and lets go. May indicate that the prey Item could be too large or if not, maybe she's in a too stressful environment where she thinks there's imminent danger and doesn't have the time to swallow her fresh kill.

Is it thawed properly? Throughout the whole body? Did you warm it up?

Yes, the prey is thawed for an hour or more and then warmed with a blow dryer or warm water. I make it dance, but the last time or two she seemed a little scared by the zombie dance (I'm guessing it's her age). The prey is definitely the right size, she used to take these just fine. I'll check her environment for anything that could be stressing her out, but I can't think of anything off the top of my head.

How often do you feed her? You mentioned her loss of 7 or so grams of weight but what is her actual weight?

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Originally Posted by C2tcardin

How often do you feed her? You mentioned her loss of 7 or so grams of weight but what is her actual weight?

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I've been offering food every 4-6 days. Last I weighed her (a few days ago), she was 131 grams.

For that size the feed intervals seem right, that's how often I've done it in the past. 131 grams seems a bit small for a 3 month old BP but nothing alarming. A few ideas would be to perhaps switch to mice of the similar size instead of rats or if possible switch to live mice for a while. My Fire and Super Pastel were picky eaters at first so I switched to live mice and after a few months switched them to f/t rats and they are great eaters now. On that note I also have a normal that is still refusing f/t anything, so every week I have to make a special trip to Petco just to get one mouse for him. :rolleye2:

I'm having the same issue with one of mine. He'll strike and coil every time I offer him f/t, but hasn't been eating it the last few times. I tried offering him live instead, but he won't even look at a living mouse. I've had snakes that have killed their food and released it to poke at a few different places before finally latching on and swallowing, but the whole "nevermind" thing is new and weird to me. My plan was just to continue to offer until he finally eats something, but I'm very interested to see if anyone knows why or has a trick to get them to actually eat.

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Originally Posted by C2tcardin

For that size the feed intervals seem right, that's how often I've done it in the past. 131 grams seems a bit small for a 3 month old BP but nothing alarming. A few ideas would be to perhaps switch to mice of the similar size instead of rats or if possible switch to live mice for a while. My Fire and Super Pastel were picky eaters at first so I switched to live mice and after a few months switched them to f/t rats and they are great eaters now. On that note I also have a normal that is still refusing f/t anything, so every week I have to make a special trip to Petco just to get one mouse for him. :rolleye2:

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She's probably a little on the small side because she's refused food before and I didn't realize I was supposed to feed every 4-6 days when I got her and was going once a week. My most recent attempt was a mouse, and while she was interested, she didn't end up eating it. I'd like to try a few other things before trying live, but if worst comes to worst, I'll give it a shot.

I'm thinking that freezer burn could be the issue. I've noticed a little bit on the past few rodents I've offered. I probably won't be able to get more until Thursday, though...

Make sure it's warm and take everything out of the enclosure besides the hide that the snake is in. I find that making sure the prey is warm enough and having no obstacles in the way of finding it often works. Also completely cover the tub or enclosure with a shirt or blanket once they strike so the snake doesn't get distracted by another heat signature or movement

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Originally Posted by BumbleB

Make sure it's warm and take everything out of the enclosure besides the hide that the snake is in. I find that making sure the prey is warm enough and having no obstacles in the way of finding it often works. Also completely cover the tub or enclosure with a shirt or blanket once they strike so the snake doesn't get distracted by another heat signature or movement

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My snake gets stressed when I take other things out of the enclosure, so I'm not sure that would be the best solution for her. Either way, there really isn't much in there besides thermostats, hides and a water dish. I might try covering the enclosure, though.

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Originally Posted by Penultimate

My snake gets stressed when I take other things out of the enclosure, so I'm not sure that would be the best solution for her. Either way, there really isn't much in there besides thermostats, hides and a water dish. I might try covering the enclosure, though.

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This is going to seem like a silly question, but you'd be surprised at some of the things people do when they are given the wrong info or don't take the time to research. But anyways I am hoping that by "thermostat in the enclosure" you meant temperature probes??? Sorry if this question offended however that it how is was said above and you have not included any pictures of the enclosure/set up which by the way helps a lot in some cases. ...... Anyhow on another note when is the last time your girl shed?

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Originally Posted by T_Sauer

This is going to seem like a silly question, but you'd be surprised at some of the things people do when they are given the wrong info or don't take the time to research. But anyways I am hoping that by "thermostat in the enclosure" you meant temperature probes??? Sorry if this question offended however that it how is was said above and you have not included any pictures of the enclosure/set up which by the way helps a lot in some cases. ...... Anyhow on another note when is the last time your girl shed?

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Oh, sorry! I think it was late at night when I posted that. The herpstat isn't in there. xD

I can try to get some pictures, but the room lighting is really poor so it might be a bit of a trick. Last time she shed was... um... late October - mid Novemberish. I lost all of the information and records I had been keeping on her, so I don't know exactly when she last shed. If it helps, though, she has only shed once in the time I've had her.

Good news! She took a f/t small mouse yesterday (and ate it like a normal snake)! The problem appears to be that she didn't like the freezer burned mice I had stored. The one I offered was not freezer burned. Hopefully she'll eat consistently from here on out! :)

Good job. BPs like their food fresh too :D

I totally over looked the freezer burn aspect!! Which I am kicking myself now lol ... After reading your recent post (congrats by the way) I instantly remembered that my g/f's spotted python did the exact same thing with some mouse pinkies that we had that had gotten freezer burn .... My conclusion when I had the issue you just had was that the freezer burned skin turns super gummy and almost rubber like, making it so that the snakes teeth would get stuck in the rubbery skin making it so the snake couldn't properly release and regrip the feeder with its jaws as it wenched the prey into it's mouth .... After watching her try and try to release it I actually had to grab ahold of the pinkie so that she could back up and let go of it ..... Ahhh finally CASE CLOSED!!:rofl:

Great to hear that you've finally solved the problem. :)

I had a similar problem, I just posted my thread for it but I'm glad you were able to solve yours. I hope you won't have to deal with this problem again I know it's scary for me. I'm so glad she ate c: it gives me hope about my snake