Okay, so this will be long, but bear with me...

Here's the email that I sent to the breeder that I bought my bp from. Take a look:



I purchased an '09 normal female from you at the ERAS fall show and sale [October 2, 2010]. After the first week of having her, I offered her a thawed weanling rat. She took it very readily. She weighed 600g then. I tried the next week, but no luck. About 3 weeks after bringing her home, I moved her tank into my room where it is a lot warmer. I kept trying to feed her, but still no luck. About the 5th week after she ate for the first time, she seemed interested in the rat I offered; poking her nose at it for about 20 minutes, but no take. Only last night [November 25,2010] (7th week- weighs 568g) she finally took the rat. I just left it in her tank by her, turned off all the lights, and left the room for about 20 minutes. I came back and it was gone. I thawed another one, but she never took it.

I have Sezy in a 35G tank. It is 92 x 46.5 x 32 cm in dimensions. To me, the tank seems oddly narrow, but perhaps that is because it's quite tall (46.5cm). I have two hides in the tank, one on each side, and a fake plant over one of them. A water dish, large enough for her to crawl into it or whatnot. I am using aspen bedding as her substrate. I have covered the back and both sides of the tank in black paper, and the screen with tin foil to keep in the humidity. Her humidity is at around 55-65%. Her UTH is at 92F. Her cool side, using a CHE, I have measured at around 80-86F. "




Okay, so now she last ate on Thursday the 11, one weanling rat. She shed for the first time for me on the 8th. Very good shed, no problem whatsoever. I tried tonight, (23rd) feeding her a thawed weanling rat. This time, she seemed terrified of it. I left it in her tank with her, like I did the other times. She immediately left that side of the tank and went to the other. I picked up the rat, and tried to offer it to her again, but she started hissing at it like crazy. So I immediately took it out, and now I'm just leaving her.

Boy, she's driving me crazy! Is there something I'm doing wrong? Should I try bigger prey/different colour or what else? We can't exactly have live rats in Alberta, so if that's the case, what should I offer instead for live?


Also, she hasn't pooped since I fed her on November 25....