Multiple feeding strikes missed on multiple BP's

[Weremey59]

Hello,

I was feeding my BP's a couple days ago and I had an interesting feeding experience. Four of my five snakes finally connected and ate their rats however each snake took probably 6-12 attempts . They would hit the tub wall or just straight out miss. This may not seem unusual but all four of them did it. For a couple of them I had to come back an hour later to try again because they got scared and began to run away. What ended up working was I laid the rodents head on the tub floor and had the body dangling up. Doing it this way they all connected the first attempt but what would cause them to miss so much? They have never done this before (at least not to this extent) It was hilarious to watch Haha.

Thanks

Grant

[Bogertophis]

BPs use a heat-signature more than vision to hit their prey...so I'm just guessing, but maybe the rodents weren't warmed up enough?

[Zincubus]

Yey it's hairdryer time !!
Dim lighting ... have a hairdryer plugged in close .. warm the head of the rodent 10 seconds then offer instantly whilst still warm .



Mine only strike from within their hides so you're lucky !





Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Weremey59]

Ya they were pretty warm still. I feed them in almost no light but they kept missing to the left every time. My one guy wont strike at anything no matter what. I just leave it in his tub and it's gone 10 mins later. I just thought it was weird because it was all of them not just one.

[Zincubus]

My albinos are rubbish at judging ..


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Weremey59]

Makes you laugh how they possibly fed themselves in the wild Haha. A couple of mine probably would have starved by now haha

[Jbabycsx]

Mine missed for the first time today but it’s because I laid the mouse down in the bottom of his tub. I usually use tongs and he never misses. He’s a bottomless pit so he quickly struck again and nailed it.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Zincubus]

Makes you laugh how they possibly fed themselves in the wild Haha. A couple of mine probably would have starved by now haha

That's sooo true !

When I had 24 snakes I used to drop feed as many as possible to save time so I fed the Kings , Corns , Boas , Retic and Burm food on card so they could help themselves and sooooo many times I'd see them sliding OVER the top of the warm mouse/rat .. supposedly searching


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Bogertophis]

That's sooo true !

When I had 24 snakes I used to drop feed as many as possible to save time so I fed the Kings , Corns , Boas , Retic and Burm food on card so they could help themselves and sooooo many times I'd see them sliding OVER the top of the warm mouse/rat .. supposedly searching


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Snakes don't see well & don't rely on vision to identify, though they do go after motion...& when we're feeding f/t, that cuts way down on the available scent also.
I can't speak for Burms & Retics, as I have no experience with them, but I've kept many of all the others & then some (other kinds too), and I have no difficulty
feeding any of them on f/t offered with a slight jiggle from tongs. That's all, no heating up with hairdryer needed. I can see where yours would miss a rat or mouse
just laying there...as I said, due to the reduced scent and the lack of motion.

I think another HUGE factor with feeding success in wild snakes though is HUNGER. They haven't had regular food deliveries as our pets do...believe me, they are
MOTIVATED not to miss.

[Weremey59]

That was my thought to. Being captive bred probably would make them lazy in feeding. Imagine you were in a cage and someone always dropped a steak dinner into your cage. You probably wouldnt be as good at finding food anymore.