BP wont take hamsters...feeding too soon?

[ch312]

i have a 24" BP tht has been on mice for the few months that ive had it. today i got given 15 dwarf hamsters so i tried to feed one to my snake. the snake struck 3 times but didnt bite down like usual. so i continued to try but the hamster scared the snake by walking on it.

i tried rubbing the hamster on some of my mice but the snake still wasnt interested. i just fed her a small mouse (wanted to get rid of a male) 3 days ago but it was half the size of her normal mice so i figured she would eat again. the hamsters are larger around than adult mice but shorter. maybe too fat for my snake?

any reasoning for false striking? could i just be trying to feed her too soon? any ideas to make this work?

[Nate]

why are you feeding hamsters? rats and mice are all that's necessary...and they're quite a bit cheaper.

[waltah!]

BP's can also imprint on hamsters like they do with guinea pigs I believe. Once you start feeding them hamsters then you may have a big problem switching back to mice or rats. Hamsters are also very fatty. Rats have the most nutritional value.

[rabernet]

Sounds like she was defensive striking, not feed striking. Did you just take these hamsters because they would be free food for you? You may be stuck with 15 hamsters (plus their future babies) if she has no interest in them.

Personally, I'd stick with mice and rats.

[LadyOhh]

Keep it on mice, and wait a week before trying again.

Unless you have some husbandry issues, I would suggest that.

[West Coast Jungle]

Don't know why you are trying hamsters? If they are not feeding it is usually a husbandry issue not food source. Stick to what they were eating before or you may start a new problem.

[771subliminal]

i thought about feeding these too i found a guy that has em for $2 each and i dont have to worry about them out growing my bp when they dont want to eat, but then id have to switch them over again on feed and i HATED doing that from mice to rats....altho my pastel just ate the rat like he didnt care what he was eating....

[Ophiuchus]

I've had this problem with mine. You do not want to get your snake stuck on hamsters.

[ch312]

i took them because they were free and came with 2 cages. actually only wanted the cages but i had to take the hamsters too. ive just started breeding mice...

at first everything was like normal until the strikes when she didnt bite down. she got all prepared for the strikes like normal each time. the hamster has no fear of the snake and my snake got very scared after the hamster started walking on her. so i killed a hamster and rubbed a mouse on it but the snake was still afraid of it.

ill try again tonight as she has refused food early on in the day before so it might just be that. i have 8 or 9 females and the rest are males. im sure theres going to be babies sometime in the near future unless i decide to CO2 and freeze them until i find someone who will take them.

would it be ok to feed a hamster every 2nd or 3rd feeding to prevent her from getting hooked on them? hopefully there wont be any problems when i switch to rats later this year...

[Brimstone111888]

i took them because they were free and came with 2 cages. actually only wanted the cages but i had to take the hamsters too. ive just started breeding mice...

at first everything was like normal until the strikes when she didnt bite down. she got all prepared for the strikes like normal each time. the hamster has no fear of the snake and my snake got very scared after the hamster started walking on her. so i killed a hamster and rubbed a mouse on it but the snake was still afraid of it.

ill try again tonight as she has refused food early on in the day before so it might just be that. i have 8 or 9 females and the rest are males. im sure theres going to be babies sometime in the near future unless i decide to CO2 and freeze them until i find someone who will take them.

would it be ok to feed a hamster every 2nd or 3rd feeding to prevent her from getting hooked on them? hopefully there wont be any problems when i switch to rats later this year...

Don't feed hamsters. Alternating prey is just going to give you more trouble.