Those Old Problem Feeder Blues

[Prognathodon]

This is not a request for assistance, more of a whinge.

My husband's orange ghost, Kiyohime, is our resident problem feeder. She was born in September of 2014, and we got her a year later. For a while she was eating live, but I think she got nipped and was acting fearful of rodents for quite a while. We got her switched to f/t, but she still doesn't like vicious attack mousies (that get laid in her enclosure without fanfare) and would. not. eat. rats. She was willing to eat day-old chicks, but had a regurge after a couple.

She's been eating maybe once per month, medium mice. From a high of 485 grams she's down to 415 grams. She's currently in a tub in our homebuilt rack with the other BPs, who can be a little flaky about eating, but are 1100-ish gram girls, so no worries about them. Handled very little, food offered every two weeks, left in her tub overnight.

I'd gotten some frozen day-old rabbit kits for my carpet pythons and the boa, so I weighed the pros and cons: nutrition content shouldn't be a problem, might be different enough from mice to be acceptable, she could fixate on rabbits, but I'm ok with keeping a stock on hand. So I found a small one, and after thawing and warming it up last night, I snuck it into her tub.

No bunny, but a nice lump and a "What?!?" look when I opened the tub this morning. Hopefully we can get a repeat performance in 10 days. Even if she never catches up to the big girls, I'd like to get her back to *some* growth.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[JodanOrNoDan]

This is interesting. I was tempted to try to feed rabbit with one of my pain in the butt feeders and got talked out of it. I was told over and over they will not eat rabbit and it was a waste of time. Guess you pretty much dispelled that myth. Please keep updated as to if this continues to work.

[tttaylorrr]

i'll join the whinge train.
Yellow, my resident problem feeder, is turning three come november. he doesn't strike the prey anymore, either. i make it dance for a few seconds so he sees it and i just leave it, then he waits for me to turn out the lights and leave him alone. i honestly don't know when this started, but there was a time when he was just over 2 years old where i was so frustrated with his picky-ness i just started tossing the rat in and walking away. after a month or so of this i guess he realized that's how he liked it to be; it was never consistent but he would eat every now and then.
he's eaten the past 4 (FOUR!) times with no fuss and it's been amazing! i've been surprised and excited every time i see no rat and happy snek. i guess i'm just going to have to get used to his winter fast but him coming out of it this year has been very reassuring.

[Prognathodon]

We've got several snakes that don't appreciate zombie dances and won't strike off the tongs, but for the most part will eat reliably if you put it in the enclosure and leave them to it. I can live with that.

And then there's my spotted python, who isn't exactly a problem feeder, but you have to do it *her* way. The most reliable way to get her to eat is to warm up her mouse, squeeze to get some fresh blood, and hold the mouse nose-to-nose with her while she's in/on your hand (no need for tongs). And you may have to get the mouse damp and smooth the whiskers back, as she doesn't like her snoot tickled. Now don't move, and eventually she'll slowly open up and take the mouse. While she's eating on your left hand, update python feeding records on iPad with your right hand. Typing it out makes it seem really ridiculous, but it works for us. And she's such a sweetheart I'm willing to play her silly game.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk