Off feed for the first time.

[snakedude56]

So Ceasar has refused his rats for about two weeks. I tryed mice and he dosn't want anything to do with them either so I think he's just not hungry. His set up is immaculate so a husbandry problem is pretty much out of the question. How long do your guys's BP's stay off of feed? The weather has pretty muched changed for the year. No more warm days just the cold wet ones.

[Adam_Wysocki]

So Ceasar has refused his rats for about two weeks. I tryed mice and he dosn't want anything to do with them either so I think he's just not hungry. His set up is immaculate so a husbandry problem is pretty much out of the question. How long do your guys's BP's stay off of feed? The weather has pretty muched changed for the year. No more warm days just the cold wet ones.

Mine eat every time they are offered food, all year long. What are your temps and what is the light cycle like in the room?

-adam

[Freakie_frog]

Like Adam said your temps shouldn't drop (unless your breeding and in a cool down time) durning the winter the olny change should be the light cycle. They should be right on 24/7

[kurgan]

Monty skips food probably about 1 in 8 weeks (although I don't offer when he is in shed as he never eats) and went on a 3 week fast once last year. Two weeks is not a long time and you shoudln't sweat it - just keep offering his normal food at his normal time.

[ErikH]

My Monty went off his feed twice--once before a shed, and once for no reason that I could detect. In both cases he went right back on his normal feeding schedule after one week. Double check your temps and such, and just try again after a week.

[snakedude56]

I use an accurite digital thermometer and his temps are between 91-94 hotside and 79-83 cool side. I have a small heater as my heat source for everyones cool sides. I turn the lights off at around 10-10:30 each night and on week days I turn them on at 7:30 just before I leave for school. on the weekends I turn them on at around 10 in the morning but the same time at night. He almost seems to be afraid of the prey item, mouse or rat, big or small. He may have been bit by a prey item in the past with his previous owner/s but never with me. He also refuses anything thats not alive. I'm quite stumped, and I may have to take him to the vet if he persists.

[Adam_Wysocki]

I use an accurite digital thermometer and his temps are between 91-94 hotside and 79-83 cool side. I have a small heater as my heat source for everyones cool sides. I turn the lights off at around 10-10:30 each night and on week days I turn them on at 7:30 just before I leave for school. on the weekends I turn them on at around 10 in the morning but the same time at night. He almost seems to be afraid of the prey item, mouse or rat, big or small. He may have been bit by a prey item in the past with his previous owner/s but never with me. He also refuses anything thats not alive. I'm quite stumped, and I may have to take him to the vet if he persists.

Stablize the cool side temps so that they are above 80 and make sure humidity is above 50% ... 24x7 ... 14 hours of light, 10 hours of dark, 7 days a week ... give him/her a couple weeks to adjust to the changes .... also, loosely crumpled balls of newspaper filling the cage will help.

He/she is not "afraid" of the rodents ... just stressed due to something ... temps, light, humidity, etc ... figure out the problem, fix it ... WHAM, instant eater again.

-adam

[Ginevive]

I would definately not think about trying mice anymore, since he has already shown that he sees rats as food. I had a puzzle with my female, Ginger; she was eating right along the line, once a week, then she stopped for no apparent reason this past September. Maybe it had to do w/ the fact that it was (is) autumn, and the day/night cycle is definately shorter now in my part of the country, and the room that my rack is in gets natural light/darkness... I just held off for two whole weeks, and then offered her food, and bam. Now I feed her every 8-10 days with no problems, and plan on getting her into a breeding pattern (I am using some ideas from Adam's awesome breeding calendar on his site; thanks Adam!) soon when I feel my pastel male is ready (he is in shed at the moment. I don't feed in shed.)

[snakedude56]

Thanks for the advice everyone I'm going to try the newspaper ball trick and adjust the light schedule a bit and hopefully he will be eating again soon.

[elocina]

My ball had that problem about 2 months ago, he refused food for almost a month. I jsut left him alone, didn't handle him for 2 weeks then when i was ready to try again, I let the mouse run around in the feeding tank for about 30 minutes, took him out and put karma in there and he instantly perked up, looking for hte mouse so i gave it to him and he ate, then he's been on a regular schedule