Brought home a severely underweight BP baby. Please help me get her back on track

[Bogertophis]

I can remember hearing that our local Petco had told someone they could just feed a snake crickets too. I don't know if it was genuine ignorance,
or because they had an incentive to make a sale & just told the buyer what they wanted to hear. Many people say they object to feeding "cute little rodents"
but there's no excuse to mislead buyers to make a sale...it's horrible for the snakes & makes me want to scream.

[AbsoluteApril]

Him and his TWO co-workers came to the concensus that I needed crickets, or something cricket sized, because they "can't eat anything bigger than the distance between their eyes."

yeah that is (or used to be) a rule for feeding insects to lizards
those poor employees, they probably don't even realize they are giving bad information

[Sunnieskys]

Sunnieskies I got mine a month ago from Petco in Burbank and they said pinkies and pinkies only as it “cant be given anything bigger than its head”. The poor baby was so underweight is was scary to look at it at first

Our protocol does not state pinkies anywhere. What a bunch of blank blanks!

[Spoons]

She didn't eat

I thought for sure she would, because she had her head poking out of her hot hide when I got home from work for the first time since I brought her home. Of course when she saw movement she hid again. She's really shy. Room has been dark and quiet, all shades drawn, etc. Warmed the fuzzy really well and scented the tank (let it warm under the CHE for a few). Offered it... Absolutely no interest. When I moved it closer she shifted away and hid her face underneath her body. Didn't even look twice. I left it in her warm hide with her but I'm not too confident that she'll take it.



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[Bogertophis]

She didn't eat

I thought for sure she would, because she had her head poking out of her hot hide when I got home from work for the first time since I brought her home. Of course when she saw movement she hid again. She's really shy. Room has been dark and quiet, all shades drawn, etc. Warmed the fuzzy really well and scented the tank (let it warm under the CHE for a few). Offered it... Absolutely no interest. When I moved it closer she shifted away and hid her face underneath her body. Didn't even look twice. I left it in her warm hide with her but I'm not too confident that she'll take it.



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Just today? For a shy snake, it's always better to offer late night, right before you go to bed...lights out & don't peek until morning.

[Spoons]

Would it be that different of a response if it's night out? I mean, absolutely *no* interest whatsoever. In fact she seemed afraid of it. Could there be that big of a turnaround in a few hours? Happy to try again later if so, it's just been so dark in the room (cloudy too) it's almost as though it is evening already

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[Bogertophis]

Would it be that different of a response if it's night out? I mean, absolutely *no* interest whatsoever. In fact she seemed afraid of it. Could there be that big of a turnaround in a few hours? Happy to try again later if so, it's just been so dark in the room (cloudy too) it's almost as though it is evening already

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You never know, it might be. Little things can tip the balance & she needs all the help she can get from you.

[Alter-Echo]

If all else fails try live, I have a snake that went on a fast and refused to eat for over half a year till I gave in and started feeding her live... she never did go back to frozen after that.

[Bogertophis]

If all else fails try live, I have a snake that went on a fast and refused to eat for over half a year till I gave in and started feeding her live... she never did go back to frozen after that.

I don't doubt you, but THIS snake cannot afford such a fast.

[Zincubus]

Would it be that different of a response if it's night out? I mean, absolutely *no* interest whatsoever. In fact she seemed afraid of it. Could there be that big of a turnaround in a few hours? Happy to try again later if so, it's just been so dark in the room (cloudy too) it's almost as though it is evening already

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I kinda presumed that many of not most snakes are nocturnal and as such they will be programmed to come alive and eat in the evenings ...




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