Ok, my problem eaters won't eat live.....now what?

[rj1204]

On June 8, 2010 (just over a month ago), I bought 3 BP's from a local breeder. He feeds his BP's live, so I knew I would have to transition them over to F/T. The first one, a 1000g female pastel ate a small F/T rat 3 days after I got her and she has eaten 1 F/T small rat every week for the past 5 weeks. The other two are an 08' male bumble bee (700g) and 07 female pastel (1750g). I have offered them a F/T for two weeks after I acquired them and I backed off for the last 3 weeks to avoid stress and to let them get hungry. Today, I decided to feed them one live small rat each and start the transition next week to F/K and then F/T.

I bought small live rats and today, at 10pm CST, I put the small rat in each of their tubs. The bee curled up and wanted nothing to do with the rat. I watched for 5 minutes or so and he just kept getting into a smaller ball everytime the rat came near him. He was 700 grams when I got him and is still 700 grams.

The pastel female was 1750g when I got her 5 weeks ago. I tried to weigh her last week but she would not let me.......she was hissing and would not stay still for the life of her. I put the rat in just a bit ago and she just watched it. After 10 minutes, I took it out. She is alert and looking around but just didn't care for it.


Now I have the live rats. I have a spare 30 gallon tank I can put them in and I guess I can go buy the rats food tomorrow and try to feed my two non-eaters next week (live again). Do you guys have any advice?

On a side note, I just bought two normal females from the same breeder this past Saturday (4 days ago) and they both snatched the F/T rats 10 seconds after I put em in the tub. Thanks for any advice.

[55Ballin]

What are your temps and set-ups like? Often times balls will refuse because of husbandry/set-up issues. What are your temps, humidity, hides, etc?

[rj1204]

I have a 10 tub rack built out of melamine and each BP is in a 41q tub. The long sides and back are melamine so the front 18" is the only open part......so there is plenty of darkness. I have 8oz deli cups on pvc connectors as water dishes filled with 4-6oz of water. I have 3" (10 watt) belly heat about 8" from the back and it is hooked up to a Helix thermostat. The hot side is about 90-91 and the cool side is 79-80. The humidity is about 50-60%. They are in my office which is locked and nobody goes in there all day. I am in there to check on them and the temps around 7am and then home around 5pm to check on them and one last time around 11pm before I go to bed. No kids, dogs, or people are in there other then me.

My BP's have been in this set up for over a month and all of them seem to be very content. I waited 2-3 weeks to handle any of them. The bee is completely relaxed, very docile when handling. The pastel is very very tense and very alert when I do anything to her tub (change water). I have only changed her substrate once or twice due to urination and no feces yet. My 8 other BP's have been eating great and eating F/T at that (even though 1/2 of them were raised on live).

Thanks for any advice.

[Jeremy78]

Just wondering...

But if you bought 3 snakes off a breeder and 2 won't eat. Why would you go back and get 2 more?

First, contact the breeder and tell them you can't get them to eat. Ask what he/she would do.

Second. Kill the two rats you have and pop them into the hide with your two bps who aren't eating. If they don't have hides, gently put them beside them. Close them up and leave them in there for the night. Betcha they will be gone.

[rj1204]

I went STRAIGHT to F/T with all 3 BPs I bought from him. I was gonna just wait it out until they took F/T but decided to have them eat once for me with live, then go the F/K and then F/T route. I actually bought two more adult females from the same breeder and they ate F/T in their 1st week with me......so outta 5 BPs I bought from him, 3 took F/T within days. The breeder says all of them have been great live eaters except for the occasional refusal during shed. I will put the rats down toinight and leave them overnight.

[rabernet]

Contact this breeder and find out exactly how he had them set-up. He may have had them in smaller enclosures. He may have had them on a different bedding, etc.

Try to replicate how he had them set-up as best you can - then try again.

[DC Reptiles]

one thing I found out with my albino girl when I got her is that she was not content with her hide, I guess it was not big enough for her. so as soon as I got her a bigger hide, shes been pounding food left and right and putting on weight great. something simple but has worked wonders have you looked into that at all?

[rj1204]

I just contacted the breeder and he said that one of the pastels I bought from him is a mouse eater. So, hopefully that problem is solved......I will be stopping by Petco today to get one live mouse, then I will work on F/T once she starts eating.

As far as my 700g male bee, the breeder suggested I put a shoe box hide in. My set-up is almost exactly like his except he keeps his snake room in the mid-80's and uses back heat, not belly heat. I am going to get him a bigger hide today and next week, I am going to buy a weaned and small rat from the same place my breeder gets his rats from, Big Cheese Rodent Factory. Hopefully he will pick up on the same scent, color, etc. rat.......the rat I tried to feed him was multi-colored and the Big Cheese small rats I have bought so far (F/T) are all white.

Thanks for your replies, it really helps a lot. Any other suggestions are appreciated.

[rj1204]

Well, I got a mouse today and put it in with my 1700g girl. She was intrigued but didn't even strike or touch the mouse. After 5 minutes, I took it out. Her cage was a mess, no feces, just newspaper pushed all to one side, so I took her tub out, and weighed her in her tub so I wouldn't cause her more stress. I put a different clean tub in and transferred her to her new tub........as she slithered toward the back of her tub, she decided to go to the other end from where I was out really fast and flew out of her tub and dropped to the floor. It was a 4 foot drop and I have carpet, so I think she is ok. Now I'm sure she is that much more stressed. I know my scale is a little different from the breeder I got her from, but I am showing a 50g loss in the last 5 weeks I have had her.

Should I be worried? She is very tense and when I touch her, she kinda freaks out. I covered her tub with newspaper so she doesn't get bothered when I come in the room. I was just going to leave her alone and drop a live mouse in with her next Tuesday (feeding day). Should I wait until the Tuesday after that (11 days from now)? Should I put a hide in for her? The breeder I got her from did not have a hide and had her in the same size tub. He had back heat instead of belly heat.

I put my 700g bee in a 28q tub since that is what the breeder had him in and I put a shoe box hide in with him. I will try to feed him in a week or two when he settles down but he is the same weight as he was when I got him 5 weeks ago.

I had 3 girls that were either fairly aggressive or just not happy when I got them 5+ weeks ago also. After 1 week in my rack, they calmed down and now are handlable (still ferocious eaters which is great). Out of 10 BP's I have bought within the last 5 weeks, all have been eating and eating well except for these two. I am more concerned with the 1700g female that is now 1650g. Thanks for any advice.

[greghall]

Think your trying to rush them dont worry about feeding get your set up right then start to try to feed once a week if they dont eat dont stress,Breeders should have told you she was a mouser but they can be switched,I always feed live less proplems that way.