Problem feeder

[TimNA]

I have a Mojave female that used to be my biggest piggy. She would be hungry 24/7 & was feeding only on f/t. She went off feed for the winter & refused everything I offered her for roughly 4months. I made the mistake & offered her live to get her back on feed. Well now she refuses anything but live. Now she has upped her drama, she will hunt, redecorate her tub for days before feeding time just acting like she is starving.. When I do feed her she refuses.. So now I have to keep the rat for 3 -4 days & offer it again then she takes it. I figured she needed to be fed every 12-14 days, tried that & still will refuse then 3-4 days later she will take it.

My wife has been very strict with me & the snakes and she said from day one "no rats in the house". So now she's telling me to get rid of the snake which I really don't want to do.


So, the question is how can I get her back on f/t?

I stopped feeding her for almost 2 months & only offered f/t & she would refuse everytime.

Any ideas or hints would be great so I don't have to part with her.

Thanks!

[PitOnTheProwl]

First off what is her weight?
second off, how are you pepairing and presenting F/T?

[satomi325]

Try feeding Pre-killed rats first, then slowly transition back to f/t.

[TimNA]

Thanks for the replies! I Just weighed her today she is 1317 g & is 15 months old. As far as how I present the f/t I have tried numerous ways. Typical zombie dance around the end away from her to invoke interest then approach her, dangle by tail etc. I have left them in overnight. She will show interest for a few minutes, follow the prey & then just get head shy & gets as far away as she can.

I prepare them usually by thawing in water, but also do let them sit out to thaw at times.

prekill I tried it a few times with no luck but I will try again.

Thanks

[SRMD]

You thaw them in water, try offering them not wet, you can try the pre-scenting method... get your rodent and put it on a plate in the same room or even on top of your BP's cage and let it thaw out to room temp for 1 hour and get a hair/blow dryer and blow dry the scent of the rodent towards towards your BP's cage hopefully your BP will then come out.. while you are blowing the scent towards the cage it will also be heating the rodent up then try offering it and see what happens you should be feeding 10-15% of your BP's body weight.

[youbeyouibei]

Everything that's been offered thus far is great advice and I'll just add my two cents to the discussion. You could try braining a frozen/thawed rat; nasty as can be but sometimes it does the trick. It's pretty much what it sounds like: you split the skull enough to let blood and fluids out and that can sometimes stimulate a feeding response. Have you changed her substrate from one type to another? I made that mistake with a het albino female I had. The breeder I got her from kept her on aspen and I did too for quite a while. I switched my other animals over to paper, her included and thus ensued a 9+ month intermittent hunger strike until the light bulb clicked for me and I switched her back to aspen. She started eating again within a week. So long as she isn't losing weight and is otherwise in good health, time is on your side. Good luck, I know how frustrating that can be and hopefully your wife will come around as well. Mine was the same way when I started raising my own feeders and she's to the point now of "helping" take care of them so she can cuddle the pups while I clean the tubs and change the bedding, lol! It's not yet gotten to the point of naming them, but it might before too long. Good luck and hope they both come around for you; take care!

[RestlessRobie]

I will add one more trick that worked for me. I had a 3-4 month hunger strike with a you male BP. He was eating great then just refused for 3-4 months once he started loosing weight I got a little worried (he was only 290G) and Lgray recomended a live mouse hopper. Weill it worked great something about the way they move seems to stimulate a great feed response. He easily transitioned back to F/T and has been a gret eater since. So you might want to give that a try