Picky Picky Picky

So my female pastel (who's 950g now) went on a 6 week hunger strike during some of April and May. She finally ate the past couple weeks. I breed my own ASFs for feeding and my production has fallen behind which has resulted in smaller than desirable rats for my girl. The last 2 feedings, I've given her the largest rat in the grow up tub which was about a 50g. So she should theoretically be hungry if I feed her once every 7 days an undersized ASF.

Tonight, I go to feed her for the third time since the 6 week hunger strike ended.... She sees the ASF and her senses look very keen and alert. She's in the coiled position ready to strike as the rat and her are face to face about an inch apart. She's breathing heavy and excited as she normally does once she spots the intruder in her tub. For 10 freaking minutes, the rat and her sit nose to nose not moving a freaking muscle. The rat is just sitting there, crapping himself. After about 7 minutes of waiting, she slowly creeps closer to the point that her tongue is touching the rats ear when she flicks it. NOTHING HAPPENS. The rat finally gets his courage up to walk away and that's it.

I tried to bump him closer to her just to see one more time. And again nothing. I took the rat away and she retreats to her hide.

She's a pain. She used to be a garbage machine with these ASFs but recently they don't move when they get close to her and she doesn't strike.

I don't get it. My husbandry is spot on. She absolutely pays no attention to F/T so I feed her live ASFs. She's been a pig in the past. Then all of a sudden in late spring she goes on strike and has been picky ever since. :confused::confused::confused:

I'm having a similar problem with my 07 girl. She used to suck down f/t rats like a vacuum cleaner. Now she's on a feeding strike. She gets excited when she smells the rat, but then won't eat it. Sometimes I wonder what goes through their heads. :(

Jeez, it's like our girls all conspired together...

My male did the same thing for 5 months during breeding season
He eventually snapped out of it and now eats on a regular basis
Basically, as long as they're not showing any signs of significant weight loss, they should be okay =]
If it continues for a long time or you get super concerned, take her to the vet
She should eventually start eating
Cut back on how often you're offering food but continue to offer it

I'm in the same boat with one of my '07 females too. I finally got her back eating again, but she went into shed and hasn't eaten since. She's been driving me crazy with her hunger strike!

Have You tried a live mouse?

I normally feed the live ASFs but I've been thinking about trying a live rat from like PetCo or something... I'd prefer not to go to a mouse... They're too small for her.

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Originally Posted by Mitch21

I normally feed the live ASFs but I've been thinking about trying a live rat from like PetCo or something... I'd prefer not to go to a mouse... They're too small for her.

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Try the mouse just to spark her to eat, then try switching back to what You normally feed.

I learned along time ago just feed them what they will eat! Eating a mouse is better then not eating nothing.

Very true! Thanks!

any particular reason your production of asf's has fallen behind?

Have you tried turning all of the lights off and leaving the room for around 30 minutes? That seems to help.

My production of ASFs fell behind when I went on spring break this year. I had a litter laid that week that I was leaving and the other mom was due to drop one of the days I would be gone. I was away from the house for a week and the turned the heat down to 60 degrees thinking it would be fine. I came back to nothing in the tub except the dad and the two moms. Both moms were normal looking (not golf ball sized like they were prior to me leaving). So I assume they killed all babies from the two litters. Since then, it's been hard to get back to my large numbers but recently it's been growing quickly.

And I usually feed late at night in the dark (between 10pm to 3am). I'll only feed around the 7th day IF she looks ready and willing to eat... AKA She's in her hide staring out waiting for the meal.

And there's no way I'll leave the room with a live ASF in her tub! Those suckers are fiesty and I'm an overly protective father to Daisy. ;)

Mitch, all of my adult girls are on adult mice. They are bulky, muscley girls. Mice work JUST fine. Just feed 2-3, which will equal a good 65-70g rat, with less fat. With her size, I would go for 1-2 at first, then bump up to 3 large mice.

My 06 YB female is around the 1000g mark. She quit eating in a 32qt tub and would only take one per feeding. Not a whole lot of a feeding response either. I moved her to a 15qt tub in the same rack, left her alone for 2 weeks and now she's pounding food like nobody's business. She ate what, 3-4 large adult mice 2 nights ago. She's happy as far as I can tell.

These teenage phases are a pain. Work with them and find a combo they like. Stop trying to feed her all the time. Try every 2 weeks if you want. Get a live mouse and leave it in with her, bump her down a tub size, put newspaper balls in the tub, raise temps... whatever.

And believe me, she'll get to 2000g or better on mice just as quickly as she will on rats. All of my snakes are on f/t large adult hairless mice and man they attack me. I just go in the snakeroom now with a hot bucket of 100 nekkid mice and they go nuts. Got bit just opening a tub(from the underside mind you).

My male is on his second feeding strike, (the reason I joined this website). I'm just gonna wait it out now that I know his husbandry is fine.

Silly snakes. :P

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Originally Posted by SatanicIntention

Mitch, all of my adult girls are on adult mice. They are bulky, muscley girls. Mice work JUST fine. Just feed 2-3, which will equal a good 65-70g rat, with less fat. With her size, I would go for 1-2 at first, then bump up to 3 large mice.

My 06 YB female is around the 1000g mark. She quit eating in a 32qt tub and would only take one per feeding. Not a whole lot of a feeding response either. I moved her to a 15qt tub in the same rack, left her alone for 2 weeks and now she's pounding food like nobody's business. She ate what, 3-4 large adult mice 2 nights ago. She's happy as far as I can tell.

These teenage phases are a pain. Work with them and find a combo they like. Stop trying to feed her all the time. Try every 2 weeks if you want. Get a live mouse and leave it in with her, bump her down a tub size, put newspaper balls in the tub, raise temps... whatever.

And believe me, she'll get to 2000g or better on mice just as quickly as she will on rats. All of my snakes are on f/t large adult hairless mice and man they attack me. I just go in the snakeroom now with a hot bucket of 100 nekkid mice and they go nuts. Got bit just opening a tub(from the underside mind you).

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Good idea. My female was on small rats for awhile before the hunger strike. But maybe she would be more inclined to go for a couple mice. I will try it when I get back home and let you all know if she eats.