Ok, I recently got a lovely little female YB ball at a show near my house. Paid a decent price for her, and I trust her breeder.

We gave her a week after she came home to settle in, then offered her a f/t hopper mouse, since she was still pretty small. She wanted nothing to do with it.

I understand sometimes they can take time to adjust, so we wait another week and try again. Again, she wants no part of it, even though I tried every single trick for feeding f/t I could find on here.

By the third week she's lost weight she can't afford to loose, and I cave in and drive 1 hour to the nearest shop that sells live mice that are small enough for her. I bought two.

When I offered her the first, she got very excited, since I knew she was hungry, but she seemed to have no idea what to do with that mouse. She coiled up, ready to strike, then stretched out toward the mouse. If the mouse moved, she'd jerk back and ball up. The mouse stayed still, and she'd stretch out towards it again, the mouse would move and she'd jerk away and ball up. I swear she was scared of it. After watching her from across the room for at least 10 minutes, she finally struck and coiled. I left the room so she could eat in peace.

40 minutes later I checked on her, and she still acts hungry, so I offer her the second mouse. Again, she acted like she had no idea what to do with that mouse. She'd butt it with her nose, pushing it around {It was a fuzzy and very small}. After at least 15 minutes she finally struck and coiled the second one. She looked like she'd swallowed a baseball bat, but at least she wasn't hungry. Sunday was feeding day again, and I had high hopes that having gotten her to eat, she would not be as likely to refuse, but she did. I did everything I could think of, and she wanted no part of that f/t hopper.

She's still very thin, and I'm at a loss as to what to do. I can't be driving an hour once a week to buy her live, but I don't know what else to try to convince her to take f/t. I've done everything I've found here, heating the head, running hot water over it, etc. etc. and she wants no part of it.

Stubborn little cuss.

So, if any of you have any suggestions as to what I may have overlooked, please let me know.

gale