Feeding issues

[Megz]

i dont understand this snake. Like she is clearly hungry she comes slithering right out of her hide the minute she smells the rat. I fed her the live and she ate it right away. I go to feed her the frozen and she acts as if she is scared of it. she comes out and then she will stick her tongue out a bunch and then back away and not move. I don't understand if its my preparation or maybe she doesn't like that I'm holding it up or time of year. but i have all these frozen rats and am at school so don't have the ability to get her a live one every week. its been 12days since she ate last and she still isn't eating same freaking routine every time. I don't understand if I'm doing something wrong or what to do at this point. Any suggestions She use to eat so well and then all of a sudden nope. on and off with her ugh

her bad happens all started in september and she has been like this on and off ever since. she's a year and a half old by the way

[Crazymonkee]

Some will only take live. I have 4 that will eat anything... my first normal female will only eat live. Sometimes they don't alwagree with what we want them to do. I'd keep offering your f/t and get live whenever you can.
Have you tried getting the f/t really warm and just leaving it in her enclosure?

[Megz]

what's odd is she use to eat frozen no problem and she goes back onto frozen its just on and off with her. i typically dethaw in warm water then put it in hot water (from the tap) to heat it up offer it; usually she eats it this way, if not ill blast it with a hair dryer which then seems to work. Now she is going back to her kind of scared of it routine. Usually i hold it up by the tail and she will take it. I tried doing the leaving it in the warm side hide, method, but that never worked. tonight I'm trying to just leave it in the tank lying outside her hide and hoping she takes it. Any other methods? I'm very open to suggestions and/or to try new methods.

What i worry is whether she will starve herself if she doesn't have live. like if i were to keep offering frozen at some point will she eat it or are bp's really that picky that they would starve themselves?

[Crazymonkee]

Some people will say no they won't starve themselves, I believe otherwise after having my picky white live mouse only eater!! She went 2 months as a hatchling when I first got her because people said wait her out, she'll eat. Well she was loosing weight noticeably so I finally went with live and never looked back. Even now when my supplier of live was out I got all 5 f/t that week, she wanted nothing to do with it, the other 4 ate no problem.
That's why I started breeding my own

[Megz]

Some people will say no they won't starve themselves, I believe otherwise after having my picky white live mouse only eater!! She went 2 months as a hatchling when I first got her because people said wait her out, she'll eat. Well she was loosing weight noticeably so I finally went with live and never looked back. Even now when my supplier of live was out I got all 5 f/t that week, she wanted nothing to do with it, the other 4 ate no problem.
That's why I started breeding my own

crud, of course i get one of the picky ones hopefully it turns around. how do you prepare your f/t for your other ones?

[Crazymonkee]

crud, of course i get one of the picky ones hopefully it turns around. how do you prepare your f/t for your other ones?

My first girl definitely broke me in fast with the pickiness issue
I do it the way do, with the water then the hot tap water, fortunately I don't deal with it often lol
Now my hognoses are on f/t pinkies and those I just thaw in frig for a couple hours then hit them with blow dryer for a minute.

[Megz]

I heard one way to do it is drop the rat (after thawed) into boiling water for 2 seconds (literally one dip in and out). Is that a method that anyone else uses, i have never used it just something i heard but am willing to try it. I just want to get some opinions on it first because I know your not suppose to cook them

[Andys-Python]

I heard one way to do it is drop the rat (after thawed) into boiling water for 2 seconds (literally one dip in and out). Is that a method that anyone else uses, i have never used it just something i heard but am willing to try it. I just want to get some opinions on it first because I know your not suppose to cook them

Personally, I wouldn't use boiling water. You run the risk of it being too hot. I use hot water from the tap and let the rodent soak for several minutes so it holds the heat. I then hold the rodent to make sure its not too hot before offering it to the snake.
I've found that if I hold the rat by the body with tongs and move it around like a live rodent, it helps. Also I tap the enclosure with the tongs as I move the rodent. This seems to stimulate interest. I also play 'catch me if you can' with the rodent. I never let the snake get upclose and personal with its food. I make the snake strike.
With the age, size and weight of your snake, I wouldn't worry too much. She has lots of reserves and should eat when she feels everything is right.
On my smaller neonates, I put them in an incubator at 87F with 80% Humidity and a hide. This usually works getting THEM to eat.
This time of year MOST of my adult BPs are fasting.

[Megz]

Personally, I wouldn't use boiling water. You run the risk of it being too hot. I use hot water from the tap and let the rodent soak for several minutes so it holds the heat. I then hold the rodent to make sure its not too hot before offering it to the snake.
I've found that if I hold the rat by the body with tongs and move it around like a live rodent, it helps. Also I tap the enclosure with the tongs as I move the rodent. This seems to stimulate interest. I also play 'catch me if you can' with the rodent. I never let the snake get upclose and personal with its food. I make the snake strike.
With the age, size and weight of your snake, I wouldn't worry too much. She has lots of reserves and should eat when she feels everything is right.
On my smaller neonates, I put them in an incubator at 87F with 80% Humidity and a hide. This usually works getting THEM to eat.
This time of year MOST of my adult BPs are fasting.

Thanks I'll definitely try that Do you move into a separate enclosure for feeding or the same enclosure they sleep in?

[Andys-Python]

I feed in the same enclosure they live in. Less stress on the snakes.