First feed in a new home

[timely.grace]

Alright, guys, I have come to you for some advice! (don't wanna keep pestering my poor breeder's cell phone with texts lol)

My boyfriend and I brought our 2 balls home on December 9th. Their last meal had been on November 28th. They're 6 months old and between 160-170g.
We did pretty well at leaving them alone for the first week (caved a couple times and handled them for a few mins, longer on the day our power went out and their tub temp dropped quite a bit). Attempted to feed them some f/t rat fuzzies on the 18th with no success. They both showed signs of being interested in eating, they just never took that step. I know that's nothing to be too concerned about, but it bummed me out. So this last week, we've left them completely alone. No handling at all and tried feeding them again last night to no avail

I'd even tried snipping the backs of the necks of the rats so they'd get the scent a bit more. Again, they showed a lot of interest, but didn't go for it. The fuzzies don't seem too big at all, so what could be the issue? Anything else we should try/how long should we wait to try again?

I'm not sure of any other variables that can affect their eating, but our temps are always good. Usually between 87 and 90.

[SylverTears]

What are your BPs living in? Do They have nice, secure hides?
One trick you can try is cutting open the head of the prey item, is called Braining. I would personally just keep trying and one day they will accept it, like I did with my piebald BP named Handsome. Also, If they were previously fed live they may need some time to make the switch.

[The Serpent Merchant]

What were they eating for the breeder? Some BP's just won't eat frozen rodents. For these BP's you will need to feed fresh killed or live rodents.

What type of hides do you have in the cages?

Are they being caged together?

Where are you feeding them?

What is the temperature of the room that their tub(s) are in?

Do you have a thermostat for the heat pads on the tubs?

[SylverTears]

P.S only attempt to feed them once a week as more then that will be stressful on the animal.

[Zombie]

87-90 on hot side, what are cold side/ambient temps?
What do you use to heat them?
what do you use to measure temps?
What size enclosure are they in?
What's in their enclosures (ie, hides, water bowels, sticks, vines, etc)? << may be easier to snap a pic of the set up.
How do you heat up the rats?
Do they appear to be starting a shed?

Answers to these questions will help us pinpoint the cause of food refusal

[Zombie]

Haha, we were all typing at the same time

[timely.grace]

LOL. Okay so I'll just use some bullet points to address the posts.

- they have previously eaten f/t with the breeder
- cold side/ambient temps are for the most part around 75-77
- they're in shallow (I believe 27L) tubs
- substrate right now is paper towel
- each of them have a hide on both sides (paper towel roll and a halved empty oatmeal box...this hide isn't tight around them or anything)
- water dish
- we have their heating pads hooked up to light dimmers and use a bios probe thermometer to measure the temps
- their last shed was around their last meal, so a month ago. No signs of them beginning a shed.
- I just use super hot tap water to thaw the rats
- they aren't caged together

Think that answers most questions LOL

[aalomon]

Where they on rats or mice before? Sometimes a live item with kick start their appetite and then you can put them right back on f/t.

However, Im thinking its a security issue. The tub also seem huge. If I converted right, those are 28qt tubs. I usually move up my guys to 28qt when they are 600-700g. Also, you DO want the hides to be tight. Preferably they are able to touch three sides of the hide when they are curled up.

[timely.grace]

Maybe I will take a picture tomorrow and try and post it for you guys. It doesn't SEEM like it's too big.
I can understand how they may feel a bit insecure. They do squeeze themselves into paper towel rolls, after all
They explore their tubs a LOT, though. I've been taking that as a good sign. The male has also already pooped/peed (within the first week of being here) so I was super optimistic that at least he was settling in well.

[Noz]

Exploration during the day is a sign of stress. If they are exploring at night that's fine as they are nocturnal. I say make the whole tub more secure - make sure 3 walls of the tub are covered and also make the hides tight and small. Get some man-made foliage in there, also, to give them more dark spaces.
Do this and try feeding again in a week.

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London, UK
1.0 bumblebee (Hachi-C)
0.1 normal (Kali)