Hey all,

I picked up a 4 month old MBK at a local expo in September, and the breeder told me she was eating 1 F/T pinky mouse every 4-5 days. For the first couple feedings, she ate on that schedule with no problem. A couple weeks ago, however, I began having trouble getting her to eat. I live in Canada, so it's starting to get cold now, and I'm thinking I may need to add a heat lamp to her set-up, and maybe that's gonna be the answer to my problem. She's currently in a 10 gal with a heat mat. Her temps are low 70s on the cool side and 85-90 on the warm side.

I offer her 1 F/T pinky mouse every 5 days. I thaw the mouse in a container of room temperature water, and then blowdry it for a few seconds outside her cage so that she gets the scent (this works for my ball python every time). She always looks excited and will poke her head out of her hide or substrate to investigate, her tongue flicking like crazy. I use feeding tongs to dangle the mouse in front of her, about an inch from her head. Sometimes she comes out farther to sniff it, sometimes she backs off like she's afraid of it, sometimes she just completely ignores it. She rarely strikes.

Is this just normal food refusal? I'm particularly confused because she seems so interested when she smells me warming the pinky up with the hair dryer, but then acts afraid or disinterested when it's right in front of her. What should I be doing to get her eating regularly? And at what point should I be concerned about this?

Thanks for any help!