Kills but doesn't eat it?

For the second week in a row, Mona has killed her live rat - but not eaten it. :weirdface Last week I thought it was because the rat got stuck under the water dish, but this time everything seemed to go fine. So why isn't she eating them? She refuses F/T, but until now has always taken live quite aggressively. Oh, and I doubt she's in shed, since that just happened about 2 weeks ago. Any thoughts??

well i have heard if u cut a little bit of the rats head and let it bleed a little it would do the trick

are you sure your not waiting long enough? sometimes when they are feeling a little insecure they like to wait a bit before they start to eat. just something i have noticed in the past.

How are you feeding? Like what time are you doing it? Are the lights on in the room?

I always feed at dusk. I keep the lights off in my room or my pastel wont eat. I gotta do it at dusk cuz if I wait longer then I cant see and it screws me over.

Good luck, I hope it works out.

After she's got it wrapped & under control- leave the room. Lights off & then check in the morning... she's probably wanting privacy.

She is a shy eater, so I always leave her alone... I just throw in the rat and leave the room, and usually she kills and eats it quickly. Since she's never refused live in the past, why is it only recently she hasn't been eating it?

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Originally Posted by bads15

are you sure your not waiting long enough? sometimes when they are feeling a little insecure they like to wait a bit before they start to eat. just something i have noticed in the past.

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I left it in her tub for a good 3 hours before removing it - she was desperately trying to escape by that point.

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Originally Posted by tank4102

well i have heard if u cut a little bit of the rats head and let it bleed a little it would do the trick

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This was a LIVE rat, so I couldn't really do that... :weirdface

You should NEVER leave a live rodent in a tank alone with any reptile. theres always a chance something could go rong.

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Originally Posted by bamf64

You should NEVER leave a live rodent in a tank alone with any reptile. theres always a chance something could go rong.

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Usually I stand right outside the door to secretly supervise - she simply won't eat if I stand in view.

I would try to get her to eat F/T. In my opinion if a snake gets hungry and all that it being offered is F/T, it will take it. Back when I fed live sometimes they would kill the mice but not eat them. It was confusing and I never did figure out why they did it.

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Originally Posted by Lolo76

Usually I stand right outside the door to secretly supervise - she simply won't eat if I stand in view.

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oh ok :)

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Originally Posted by tbowman

I would try to get her to eat F/T. In my opinion if a snake gets hungry and all that it being offered is F/T, it will take it.

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I've tried switching her to F/T, but she has been stubborn about it... She went 3 weeks without eating, no matter how I offered the dead prey, so I gave in and went back to live.

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Originally Posted by bamf64

You should NEVER leave a live rodent in a tank alone with any reptile. theres always a chance something could go rong.

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I leave live rodents in with my ball pythons for up to an hour and never have any issues. My rodents are produced by me, so are never hungry when in with the snakes.

Hope this helps.

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Originally Posted by Lolo76

I've tried switching her to F/T, but she has been stubborn about it... She went 3 weeks without eating, no matter how I offered the dead prey, so I gave in and went back to live.

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If I were you I wouldn't give up after only 3 weeks. Three weeks without eating is not going to harm your snake at all, many snakes can survive up to a year without food. I leave my f/t in there for a day. My bp will not strike at food, and doesn't seem to like to eat in front of me.

How big is she?

My ball python did this once, but then this is when he was in shed. Well when I first offered a frozen rat to my ball python, once he uncoiled from the rat, it took him a good 10 minutes just to find the head because it was a new prey item because he used to eat mice and he wasn't used to it, even though he bit it by the head. Maybe it may be just confused on to where to eat it, the jump from mice to rats is pretty big considering how much bigger rats are to mice.

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Originally Posted by twistedtails

How big is she?

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She weighs a little over 2000g and is 4ft long. :) And to answer the last post, she's been eating rats for a long time without a problem! She's about 3-4 years old, so this isn't a new thing for her.

P.S. Should I wait until next week to offer another meal? And should I go live again, or start trying the F/T switch-over?

just skip a week & get her hungry & try again,mine have done this many times give her a week off & also maybe try a smaller rat.

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Originally Posted by Lolo76

I left it in her tub for a good 3 hours before removing it - she was desperately trying to escape by that point.

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FYI: I meant 3 hours after she killed it, so this wasn't a live rat scaring her... now I know why you were worried, LOL. :D

Btw, Delilah (my yearling female) also refused her dinner for no apparent reason... she's often a picky eater, but usually takes the F/T mice pretty easily. Even Toby refused one of his three last night, and he's NEVER refused a meal! Could it possibly have to do with the weather? The outside temperatures dropped a bit this week, so maybe they got confused and think it's winter? :rofl:

some have luck with ball pythons on F/T but when you have alot of them they have different eating habits,leaving a rodent in for a few hours is no big deal but for a day or so is a no no the rodents will get hungry & maybe chew on them.I only feed live thats it .

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Originally Posted by tank4102

well i have heard if u cut a little bit of the rats head and let it bleed a little it would do the trick

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This is the second time I've heard this. Braining on a DEAD animal is fine, please tell me you are not advising someone to cut a live animal.

OP, I have one snake that will kill her ASF's and then leave them be for a few hours before she eats them. I feed late at night and just leave it in the tub with her overnight -- obviously make sure it's dead first.
Hope she stops being so picky for you soon.

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Originally Posted by greghall

some have luck with ball pythons on F/T

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Most do.