Coils rat but does not eat it

[towelie4365]

So I've had a problem, mainly with my albino male, to where he will seem very hungry and grab the rat right away and coil it (aggressively), but 30 minutes later the rat is still sitting in his cage and he doesn't seem interested. At that point, I'll reheat the rat, and he grabs it right away again without hesitation, only to find it still there 30 minutes later. It seems like he just can't figure out how to actually consume the rat and loses interest. I've left it longer too without success, so I generally try a few times until he eats it (or doesn't). He has fed relatively consistently for me, sometimes it takes once, others it takes several times.

Maybe he just wants a smaller meal? I'll weigh the rat and him and see if its within range.
What would cause him to take it and not eat it?

Cool side has been 78-82, warm spot 90-94, humidity is in 60's.

[SnowShredder]

I would try a smaller rat. Are you leaving the room after he strikes and leaving the lights dimmed/off? I've had to do that before for certain snakes, some get distracted by outside movement and seem to "forget" they have a rat to eat, and pay closer attention to say, my shadow.

[Ginevive]

Another idea could be to cover the cage/tank with a towel or blanket as soon as the snake strikes and coils. This prevents outside distractions. I have had mine get distracted by me or a cat walking by, and lose interest in the rat.

[towelie4365]

Not a bad idea, except I leave the room after he takes it, also no other distractions. So a dark room is better? I do leave the light on, and generally feed at night

[kc261]

I had a little girl that was a very difficult feeder. She would strike & coil, but then not eat her prey. I tried both live & f/t, and it didn't seem to make much difference. A few things that did at least seem to help:
- I think security was her big issue. A small, perfectly tight hide was a must. The room needed to be dark & quiet. If she happened to need her cage cleaned on feeding day, I learned to skip feeding her. There was no chance she'd eat after having been messed around with that day.
- She seemed more likely to eat smaller prey items than appropriately sized ones.
- For a while, it seemed like if I got the head of a f/t mouse SUPER hot before offering it to her, she was more likely to eat it. My theory was that the excitement of striking & coiling was so scary to her that she was too scared to eat immediately afterwards, and by the time she was feeling braver, the mouse had gotten too cold. Having the head really hot might have allowed it to stay warm enough long enough to encourage her to eat it.

[towelie4365]

Okay, looks like I'll just have to keep tinkering with it until he eats. I've pretty much tried everything before that's been given as advice: his hides are tight, I've shut the lights off, I've given smaller rats, I've left him alone the day of, I've heated the rat a bit extra... I haven't found something that works 100% of the time

The weird thing to me is that he will take the rat the instant it is in the cage. I've even gone to remove the rat to heat it back up and he'll grab it back the second I start removing it... He is the best at taking the rat, but the worst at actually eating it

[4theSNAKElady]

Maybe he just likes to give out hugs?

[MarkS]

I've got one that does that too, but he'll always swallow live prey after he's killed it. I don't know if it's because he needs to stay wrapped around it longer or what? Maybe try tugging on the rat a bit while he wraps it up so he has to fight for it a bit?

[towelie4365]

I've got one that does that too, but he'll always swallow live prey after he's killed it. I don't know if it's because he needs to stay wrapped around it longer or what? Maybe try tugging on the rat a bit while he wraps it up so he has to fight for it a bit?

Unfortunately I've tried that too, to no success.