another failed feeding

[gmcclurelssu]

well, lennie has proven to be especially picky. tried feeding last night and just wouldn't take it, although he showed considerably more interest in the rat then he has in the past. it was a medium f/t, and i thawed right on top of his tank. as soon as the sent got in the air he poked his head out and started prowling, but when the time came he just looked at it, smelled it and turned away. i just found where my local pet store moved to, so i'm thinking about trying a slightly smaller, live rat tomorrow. any suggestions for going about this?

[daniel1983]

Trying to feed every day is probably stressing the snake out......

Give it a break. Let it settle down......Feed next week after a week of no handling.

[gmcclurelssu]

thats kinda what i figured, at soonest i was going to wait till tomorrow, mostly to get some feedback from other members before i go ahead with something, but a few extra days wouldn't hurt.

[Evilme5229]

I have a couple of suggestions since I recently experienced a similar situation. What worked for me was this.

Make sure the temps are right. That was my first problem. My second problem is that my bp was suspected to have parasites in his tummy. Therefore, my vet gave him some medicine and about a week he ate. My guy was warm to the touch before I attempted to feed him. I then got an extra container that was pretty big for him but not too big that its a new home. Placed newspaper at the bottom of the container. I then made sure he stayed warm in his container. I left him in there for about 3-4 hours for him to get comfortable. Sick the mouse/rat in there and sit and watch.

If he still refuses to eat. I would wait probably another week or two before I would call your herp vet. But remember its not uncommon for a bp to go off feed. If he is starting to loose weight its when you should start to be more concerned.

[starmom]

Hi there~ most of us have experienced a stubborn eater... I have! It would be really helpful if you told us a bit about the environment set-up, how old the snake is, how long you've had the snake; stuff like that.

Also, I only give medium rats (80g) to my breeder females, everyone else gets a 55g small rat every 7 days. It could be that the size of prey you are offering is just perceived as being too big by your snake!

I have one little gal who was upset from shipping and even though she weighs almost 200g, she gets a little rat fuzzy every 5 days because she is scared of bigger prey. My hope is that when she gets a bit more weight on her she'll go up in prey size to a pup, then weanling, then small.....

[gmcclurelssu]

as far as i know temps and humidity should still be good (as of the last thread i made concerning my enclosure). i don't think the rats i have been trying to feed are to big just because they are the same size he was being feed at the pet store. if i had to guess, i think the stress from moving, having an inadequate tank for a little while, and winter turned him off feed. i still need to get a scale, so i'm not sure if he has lost any weight yet. my train of thought was having either a couple large mice or a small rat presented live might be enough to get him eating again, and then hopefully get him back on the f/t medium rats.

[FL0OD]

that will be the trick. some ball just will not eat frozen stuff. i think what you suggested is your bet. wait a week and try again with something live.

[West Coast Jungle]

The main reason BP's dont eat is husbandry, that includes temps without a digital thermometer on hot and cool it's all guessing, not good!(if they get even a little cool many wont eat), security is stronger than hunger to most BP's (if the tanks to big or is glass with lots of activity or large hides they wont eat) and humidity 50%. Even if you have all that spot on perfect many BP's wont eat frozen or prekilled ever. Live is always going to get you your best feeding response.

Also if you are moving her to feed that may freak her out.

How old is she and how has she eaten in the past? Has she ever eaten for you? Many petsore people will say whatever you want to hear to make a sale "Yeah she'll eat frozen thawed".

Feeding frozen thawed is something established snakes maybe conditioned to eat. In my experience some will never switch and some finicky snakes will only eat mice or rats but not both. I would wait a week with husbandry perfect and try again with a live rat pup or weanling rat.

[gmcclurelssu]

The main reason BP's dont eat is husbandry, that includes temps without a digital thermometer on hot and cool it's all guessing, not good!(if they get even a little cool many wont eat), security is stronger than hunger to most BP's (if the tanks to big or is glass with lots of activity or large hides they wont eat) and humidity 50%. Even if you have all that spot on perfect many BP's wont eat frozen or prekilled ever. Live is always going to get you your best feeding response.

Also if you are moving her to feed that may freak her out.

How old is she and how has she eaten in the past? Has she ever eaten for you? Many petsore people will say whatever you want to hear to make a sale "Yeah she'll eat frozen thawed".

Feeding frozen thawed is something established snakes maybe conditioned to eat. In my experience some will never switch and some finicky snakes will only eat mice or rats but not both. I would wait a week with husbandry perfect and try again with a live rat pup or weanling rat.

according to the pet store, he was eating before i bought him, so who knows what the deal is. they usually feed snakes out of the enclosures, but when i tried that, Lennie was more interested in getting out than eating, and he shows more interest in the food while in the tank. looks like feeding day will be monday, so i'll let everyone know how it turns out