His Feeding Response Gets Worse Every Week

[beaglegod]

Well I have to admit, Plissken's feeding response has gotten progresively weaker.

First week he didnt take but a minute to strike and coil around a F/T mouse.
Second week he struck quickly and dragged the mouse into his hide to eat.
Third week he took a while longer to finaly start eating.
Fourth week I thought he wasnt gonna eat at all, it wasnt till I TURNED ALL LIGHTS OFF AND LEFT HIM ALONE THAT HE FINALY ATE.

Fourth week it took even longer for him to get started.
Fifth week he finaly turned down food all together, sniffed it forever, and went into his hide,uninterested.

Man this is rough,it realy sucks when the BP doesnt eat :cry:

[Marla]

It may be that he just doesn't want to be a once a week eater. Try giving him 8 or 9 days before trying again after he eats next and see if he doesn't have a better response.

[Wizill]

some say that once a week isn't even that important, just so long as they go no longer than 10 days without a nice sized meal as young snakes. when they grow to be adults, they can go even longer. just look at it this way beagle... you've seen plissken eat, so you know he's not starving. the odds are not against you to say that he's perfectly healthy, bp's eat when THEY want too if nothing (husbandry, infections, ect...) is preventing them from being hungry.


and btw, if you're upset after one missed meal... you've got one hell of a road ahead of you(i've wasted almost 50 dollars and counting on bubba)...

[beaglegod]

Yeah I guess you guys are right, I need to adjust my thinking and stop equating not eating with there being a problem. He did eat his mouse by the way, after the lights were out, when I came back to check on him it was gone. But as Marla stated he may have responded better if I had given him an xtra day or two, since he hasnt been cruising his cage looking for food.

[RPlank]

Something else you might want to consider is that since he is taking F/T, he may have adjusted his feeding response. Since he knows it is dead, why should he use excess energy in a stalk/strike/coil? He can eat it at his leisure, when he feels safest, like in the middle of the night when no one is watching. Sucks for the keeper, since we all like to watch them eat, but I'd say it speaks well of him making the adjustment to F/T. Just a thought.

[Marla]

I'm glad he ate, Paul, and Randy may be right that this reflects his adjustment to f/t. He brought up a good point.

Bear in mind how much slower Plissken's metabolism is than yours and it won't hurt him to try a new feeding schedule and see if he responds better. Waiting an extra day to eat for him is more analogous to waiting an extra 10 or 20 minutes to eat for us than it is to our skipping a meal or a day's worth of meals.