Snake only wants mice after long fast

[VooDooDoc]

So my ball was off feed from Oct to to end of April. In a desp attempt to get her to eat I fed her a single mouse which she ate. Followed that up a week later with 2 mice. Then a week later 2 more mice. So satisfied she was eating again I went back to rats last week which she refused.

At this point should I give up and call her a mouser or try to wait her out on rats. Maybe her hunger strike was not the normal off feed in the winter behavior and she just wants mice.

Before the hunger strike she had been eating f/t rats for about a year since switching from live mice.

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[Capray]

Try scenting a rat in dirty mouse bedding, try a scented small live rat. If she takes it, scent a f/t rat next time. Just slowly go back, and she proably won't notice.

[VooDooDoc]

Unfortunately thats not practical. Only one snake so I dont keep mice/rats. I really dont want to go down the live road again if I can help it. It was hard enough to get rid of the last live one she refused. The kids thought they got a new pet.

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[VooDooDoc]

I know some folks on here have snakes that only eat mice. How many/often would you feed a ~2 year old, 1300gram female?

[BLM94]

Balls normally follow a weekly schedule their entire lives, maybe pushing to 10 days if they start packing on excess weight in old age

[Centexsnakes]

My male Joey is about that weight and he eats five mice every 7 days, hope you get her back to rats, mice hurt the wallet, lol

[don15681]

if the snake ate rats before, then you offer mice. and now will only take mice over rats. means the snake likes them better than rats ( no brainer). if this is a snake that you plan on breeding. feed it what it likes and does well on (mice). if it's just a pet and getting to breeding size isn't a concern, wait the snake out. the snake prefers mice over rats and not going to eat rats until it's really hungry. a lot of my big females made the switch themselves. meaning once they got larger (over 3000 grams) they lost interest in mice after feeding on them their entire life, and now won't take them any more. now they are slamming rats that they wasn't interested in before.

[VooDooDoc]

I waited her out for like 7 months. How long should I really have waited? Yes she is a pet so I dont care how big she gets only that she is healthy and happy.

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[VooDooDoc]

My male Joey is about that weight and he eats five mice every 7 days, hope you get her back to rats, mice hurt the wallet, lol

Do you feed live or F/T? Feed them all at once?

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[sho220]

Unfortunately thats not practical. Only one snake so I dont keep mice/rats. I really dont want to go down the live road again if I can help it. It was hard enough to get rid of the last live one she refused. The kids thought they got a new pet.

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You can get used mouse bedding at pet stores. I've had a few picky eaters over the years and I would go to Petco and get a rat and ask them to throw some mouse bedding in the box with the rat. Usually worked pretty well...