My little lady is 7 months old and a little over 200 g. Up til now eating a live rat pup or small adult mouse once a week. She’s had a great appetite with live feeders but I’m trying to transition her, first to fresh-killed and then to F/T. This was suggested to me so she can first get used to a feeder that is dead but still similar texture and smell to live before switching to F/T.
Once per week for the last two weeks, I have offered her a fresh-killed small adult mouse that had been euthanized about ten mins before at the feeder store. Warmed the body temp back up to living temp with a hairdryer, and offered her the mouse. Both times, she came right out, struck the mouse and coiled around it with her normal feeding response. However, on both occasions she then left the mouse after about ten minutes and returned to her hide. This last time, I even reheated the mouse a second time and offered it to her again. She struck it AGAIN, and left it again.
I don’t know what to try next or how to troubleshoot this. She seems hungry, and not too stressed to be interested in the meal. Husbandry is in order, too. What might be the problem? The size, temp, color, and presumably texture of mouse I’m offering hasn’t changed so I don’t know why she doesn’t want it. Should I keep offering her fresh killed mice each week? I don’t want to revert back to live and risk reinforcing her feeding habit but I also don’t want her to go hungry.
Thanks for hanging in there for a long-winded post!