i have one female

[gncz73]

i have one female that seems to have forgotten how to eat. she strikes at and grabs sometime but lets go right away. she is a f/t eater for the most part llike all mine are. i have tried both live and f/t and she does the same thing. any help never seen anything like this. now she hasen't eaten in 5 months

[daniel1983]

how old is the female?

I figure since you know she has taken them and the spit them out that you watch your snakes feed?? I have experienced this once or twice while watching my male bp feed (sometimes he gets stage fright). He would be in the middle of constricting, see me enter the room, then let go of the mouse and go hide. So now I just leave the f/t rodent in the enclosure, turn the lights out, leave for about 30 min. then check every 20-30 minutes or so. Everything is wonderful. The majority of the time I catch him once he as already started eating and will watch if I feel in the mood. If you have not tried that already, I would suggest that.

[gncz73]

yes i have tried that all of mine eat off of tongs so me being there is the same and nothing new to them. but i did try that just in case she has become shy and i don't know how old she is as i got her for a pet shop at 500 grams and she now 1100 grams so i would say about 2 years old.

[daniel1983]

worst case....have you checked the inside of her mouth or noticed any type of injuries, substrate etc.?

more than likely she is just being stubborn, you know how that goes. if you feed her rats, try offering her several mice instead to see if she will go for that.

[gncz73]

on injuries and have tried both i'll just keep trying

[dystopia]

Perhaps something is stressing her?

Striking and immediately letting go seems more like a defensive strike than a feeding strike.

[gncz73]

thats what i was thinking but there have been no changes to her tub or the racks temps and all of them in the rack uint are fine

[daniel1983]

that does sound very odd. Is she dropping weight? If so, how much?

[gncz73]

no weight loss as of yet nothing real big any way the whole time she has not eaten shes loss around 50 grams and that in 5 months

[Adam_Wysocki]

thats what i was thinking but there have been no changes to her tub or the racks temps and all of them in the rack uint are fine

I agree that it's probably stress related ... even though the temps and rack has not changed, she has .... just in my experience, girls the size you describe seem to go through a phase much like human adolescents. I call it "teenage angst" ... they are more easily stress all of a sudden, pickier eaters, sometimes aggressive .... and then one day they are back to normal.

I'd try changing some things up with her ... different size hides, new position in the rack, try going a little cooler with her temps (only a degree or two), try a different substrate for a little while. Change can be a good thing when you're having problems, it gets them "curious" and keeps them interested in things. At least that's what I've seen with my own collection.

Hope this helps and keep us posted.

-adam