Feeding

Hello, new to this site. I recently bought 2 ball pythons from a local breeder. My sons is a het pastel who is beautiful, and it eats great. As soon as the rat hits the floor, it's all over it. My snake, which is a pastel spot nose has not eaten yet. They are in identical enclosures, heat and humidity are perfect. They are both friendly. The spot nose sees the rat and zoomed to the other end of cage, no interest. So after last Thursday snake did not eat but went right into shed. She shed and had a big bowl movement on Monday. Tried again today, same thing, no interest and scoots away from the rat. Any suggestions?

Welcome. Start here and see if anything is off.

Additionally, "het pastel" does not mean anything. "Het" when used as a term in the hobby means the animal is carrying a recessive gene that you can't see. Pastel is not recessive, it is co dominant, meaning that if it has the gene it will look like a pastel, not a normal.

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Originally Posted by Lizardlicks

Additionally, "het pastel" does not mean anything. "Het" when used as a term in the hobby means the animal is carrying a recessive gene that you can't see. Pastel is not recessive, it is co dominant, meaning that if it has the gene it will look like a pastel, not a normal.

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LOL. I wasn't going to go there yet because technically he could be correct. Providing that it is actual a pastel, saying it is heterozygous pastel is really not wrong. A super pastel would be a homozygous pastel. In the hobby we normally only refer to recessives as het and we even don't follow that rule all the time. Referring to a Gravel as het Highway is just flat out wrong in my opinion.

Thanks for the lesson, main concern is the eating, I am not looking to breed just for eating advise.

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Originally Posted by Jasonl

Thanks for the lesson, main concern is the eating, I am not looking to breed just for eating advise.

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Do you have the caresheet points covered?

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Originally Posted by JodanOrNoDan

LOL. I wasn't going to go there yet because technically he could be correct. Providing that it is actual a pastel, saying it is heterozygous pastel is really not wrong. A super pastel would be a homozygous pastel. In the hobby we normally only refer to recessives as het and we even don't follow that rule all the time. Referring to a Gravel as het Highway is just flat out wrong in my opinion.

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omg that one DRIVES ME NUTS!

Yes it's all good.

Well she finally ate. I put her in a darker shoebox and tried a rap pup but she was not interested. I put a large mouse in there and she ate it pretty quick. I hope she will eventually eat while I watch. Watching them eat is one of the reasons I like owning snakes.

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Originally Posted by Jasonl

Well she finally ate. I put her in a darker shoebox and tried a rap pup but she was not interested. I put a large mouse in there and she ate it pretty quick. I hope she will eventually eat while I watch. Watching them eat is one of the reasons I like owning snakes.

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That's good. Now, for the sake of your wallet and time, you can teach her rats are better.

We are trying !!!