So happy tonight!

Ozzy hadn't eat it about 5months. While we knew he was probably ok we were still worried as we hadn't had feeding issues prior and he's only 2.
My daughter has shed a lot of tears worried about her baby! We went thru the gambit of possible issues, temps, humidity, wrong color mouse?! Sick, stressed... nada. Not remotely interested.

I researched tips and ideas every couple weeks. Yesterday I read a new one, cleaned his tank thoroughly last night. I guess in the wild they move "homes" when they fed taking over the foods home before moving to the next. So, in desperate situations make a *new* tank! Made his tank feel "new" no Ozzy smells, rearranged a bit. We left him alone today (no stress! Nothing new here), extra small mouse (done that one already!) And I asked the pet store staff to place in a container full of gerbil bedding...
The little stinker ATE! Pet store is gonna have get used to my odd request for gerbil bedding! They looked at me like I was crazy! Lol. Hoping he eats without me deep cleaning his home every dang week though, or I'll be buying a rack so he can switch homes every other week! But hopefully we've broken the fast! He's got a fat little belly tonight and happy 11yr old mommy.

And I'm just glad my baby girl isn't worried about the pet she loves! And wanted share with people who feel the pain! And joy of mice eating. Lol!

I've never heard or considered the trick of making their home smell "new", that's very interesting. Congratulations :gj: I hope he "behaves" from now on.

Interesting technique. I've never heard of that.

Thanks for sharing and congrats!!!!

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Originally Posted by Bogertophis

I've never heard or considered the trick of making their home smell "new", that's very interesting. Congratulations :gj: I hope he "behaves" from now on.

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Originally Posted by craigafrechette

Interesting technique. I've never heard of that.

Thanks for sharing and congrats!!!!

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really?? i thought it was a fairly common trick. i give Yellow's T8 a real deep clean around april to try and jump-start him back to eating. this year it worked for 3 weeks and then he quit again lol.

congrats, OP!

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Originally Posted by tttaylorrr

really?? i thought it was a fairly common trick. i give Yellow's T8 a real deep clean around april to try and jump-start him back to eating. this year it worked for 3 weeks and then he quit again lol.

congrats, OP!

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Yup, never heard this one. Another +1 for BP.net spreading quality education!

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Originally Posted by chelliex2

....And I'm just glad my baby girl isn't worried about the pet she loves! And wanted share with people who feel the pain! And joy of mice eating. Lol!

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We all definitely know how good this feels! :gj: :carrot::dance::fest::dance::fest2::banana::D

And thank you for sharing your experience here too.

Congrats! I'm dealing with my girl's first fast and I am going to try this this weekend - seems like a great idea!

Let me know how it goes! I'd love to see if it works for someone else or it was just... him being ready to eat! Lol!

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Originally Posted by chelliex2

Let me know how it goes! I'd love to see if it works for someone else or it was just... him being ready to eat! Lol!

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It's always hard to know for sure...our snakes have their own personalities & perspectives, but forums like this are so helpful because we don't all think of
the same things to try. And for a new keeper, a snake that refuses food time after time is just so frustrating & demoralizing..."community" helps a lot.

I always give people used bedding from the mouse cage. Most of the time it works. Now cleaning the cage...have not heard that one. I might have to do that with boople! She is on strike.

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Originally Posted by chelliex2

Ozzy hadn't eat it about 5months. While we knew he was probably ok we were still worried as we hadn't had feeding issues prior and he's only 2.
My daughter has shed a lot of tears worried about her baby! We went thru the gambit of possible issues, temps, humidity, wrong color mouse?! Sick, stressed... nada. Not remotely interested.

I researched tips and ideas every couple weeks. Yesterday I read a new one, cleaned his tank thoroughly last night. I guess in the wild they move "homes" when they fed taking over the foods home before moving to the next. So, in desperate situations make a *new* tank! Made his tank feel "new" no Ozzy smells, rearranged a bit. We left him alone today (no stress! Nothing new here), extra small mouse (done that one already!) And I asked the pet store staff to place in a container full of gerbil bedding...
The little stinker ATE! Pet store is gonna have get used to my odd request for gerbil bedding! They looked at me like I was crazy! Lol. Hoping he eats without me deep cleaning his home every dang week though, or I'll be buying a rack so he can switch homes every other week! But hopefully we've broken the fast! He's got a fat little belly tonight and happy 11yr old mommy.

And I'm just glad my baby girl isn't worried about the pet she loves! And wanted share with people who feel the pain! And joy of mice eating. Lol!

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Well I’m glad it worked out for you. And regarding the “new smelling home trick” I thought it was an old trick, but I believe JKobylka Reptiles has claimed to have great luck with it. Glad he ate for you. But I can’t help wondering if it was just time. I have nothing but males, and after 2 years they all pretty much fast. That’s why so many people start to stretch their feeding schedules out as they become older. And mine usually don’t start eating heavy again till late June early July. Happy herping!

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Originally Posted by Sonny1318

Well I’m glad it worked out for you. And regarding the “new smelling home trick” I thought it was an old trick, but I believe JKobylka Reptiles has claimed to have great luck with it. Glad he ate for you. But I can’t help wondering if it was just time. I have nothing but males, and after 2 years they all pretty much fast. That’s why so many people start to stretch their feeding schedules out as they become older. And mine usually don’t start eating heavy again till late June early July. Happy herping!

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Granted we've only had him for a year... but 5 months of missed feedings is a lot of time to research and do tricks! lol. So, it was a new one to us. And sometimes doing SOMETHING feels better than doing nothing. Even though you *know* they are OK.

We were told he was about 1yr old when we acquired him so we did weekly feedings and he never skipped a meal. But maybe with him being more like 2 now... and being able to go 5 months without food obviously... perhaps we should switch to something like bi-weekly feedings. What do you think?

My 700g boy and my 1kg girl go every other week now. They turn down when offered every week now.

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Originally Posted by chelliex2

Granted we've only had him for a year... but 5 months of missed feedings is a lot of time to research and do tricks! lol. So, it was a new one to us. And sometimes doing SOMETHING feels better than doing nothing. Even though you *know* they are OK.

We were told he was about 1yr old when we acquired him so we did weekly feedings and he never skipped a meal. But maybe with him being more like 2 now... and being able to go 5 months without food obviously... perhaps we should switch to something like bi-weekly feedings. What do you think?

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I don’t think you could do any harm stretching their feedings out 10 to 14 days. You find a lot of the more experienced keepers and breeders on here do the same. It’s definitely a step to take if you want to encourage year round feeding and minimizing fasts. Sorry I took so long to respond.