Ugh..help?

[Reed12321]

I have an albino female that is 83 grams. She was hatched on Oct. 5th so she's about 2 months old at this point. The breeder that I bought her from fed her live, but there's no way that I can feed live, so I have to feed f/t. The third day that I had her, I put a f/t fuzzy in her tank and an hour or 2 later it was devoured. She didn't strike at it, but I walked away and checked about 2 hours later and it was gone. This occurred on Nov. 18th.

Tomorrow will be 3 weeks from the time that she has eaten, and she's starting to lose weight. After her first meal with me, she jumped up to 92 grams, and then she pooped and dropped down a little bit. I can't seem to get her even interested in the f/t mice anymore. I dangle them in front of her face and she turns away from it. I leave it outside of her hide and it goes untouched the whole night. Luckily, my little guy Akeda is a garbage disposal and will eat the mouse the following morning.

Husbandry is all good; UTH is at 91, Ambient temps at 88 and 83, and humidity is at 60% and I don't bother her. The only thing that I can think of that would stress her out is the mite treatment that I've been giving her. I've been spraying her down with a 30:1 distilled water to NIX Cream rinse because it has permetherin in it. I got this solution from my other breeder (of whom I trust WAY more than the first one) and sunday she received her last treatment.

What can I do to entice her to eat? I don't have mouse shavings so I can't rub the f/t down with mice scent, and it's extremely hard to find rat pups where I live in NH.

[Daybreaker]

Why cannot you feed live? How many times have you tried to feed her since getting her?

[Reed12321]

Why cannot you feed live? How many times have you tried to feed her since getting her?

I have no way of housing live mice. I also have a cat. The closest pet store to me is about 40 minutes away so it's way easier to stock up on frozen mice/rats. Secondly, I'm a teacher/dorm parent at a boarding school, and it's already iffy that I have a cat and 2 snakes in my apartment. IF dorm parents have pets, its usually only 1. Because my boss really likes me, she lets me have snakes (she just loves watching me feed Akeda since he'll eat all the time).

I have tried feeding her once per week ever since she ate. She was eating on Tuesdays, but since she stopped eating, I gave the mice to Akeda and subsequently, his feeding days switched to Tuesdays/Wednesdays so that he can eat whatever Cleo won't eat.

[Stewart_Reptiles]

Feeding a snake is about feeding what works regardless of what YOU want to feed.

While BP can go a while without food this is not really the case with an animal that size so you need to do what you have to do until this animal feeds with consistency, later on when she does you can attempt to switch again.

Anyone owning a snake MUST be prepared to feed live if necessary.

[BumbleB]

Yeah sorry to say but if f/t isn't working at the moment you should try live for the sake of the snake. I drove an hour and a half round trip for months until most of my snakes either switched to frozen or grew enough to a rat size that I could find closer to my home. It sucked but it had to be done at the time

[Sauzo]

Same here. I have to drive about 1 hour round trip every 3-4 days to get Dot a live pinkie rat as that's the closest place to me that has them that small all the time. And I guess im in the minority as I prefer to feed fresh killed vs frozen as I see it as home cooked meal vs tv dinner I cant wait till Dot grows big enough to eat small rats as my normal supplier who I buy medium rats for my red tail boa is much closer but the smallest she has is small rats.

[Fireproof]

Agree with the above advice. Make the sacrifice and drive to get the live food weekly for now. After a few good meals and a good eating habit is forming, you can try to transition to F/T again.

Also - it wouldn't cost much to buy a small critter keeper and some mice food and keep a few alone for a few weeks if you prefer.

[Reed12321]

Agree with the above advice. Make the sacrifice and drive to get the live food weekly for now. After a few good meals and a good eating habit is forming, you can try to transition to F/T again.

Also - it wouldn't cost much to buy a small critter keeper and some mice food and keep a few alone for a few weeks if you prefer.

The thing is that I'd have to clean up after them, and it's just more animal husbandry on top of a cat and 2 snakes. I did read that you can provoke a snake to eat if you dip the f/t in chicken broth. Does anyone have any experience with that? Does it work? It's just so puzzling that this snake ate a f/t for me the first time I tried to feed it, and won't eat another one. Then again...it is a BP. I'll try the chicken broth trick tomorrow if someone thinks that it'll give me a 50/50 chance. If not, I'll be able to go to a pet store and get some live mice on wednesday.

[aalomon]

You could also try craigslist to see if theres anyone closer to you that breeds feeder rodents. You have to be a little more careful with that site, but depending on where you are there are usually some breeders listing extra feeders.

[angllady2]

I'm not sure why no one has pointed this out yet, but are you making sure the f/t is good and warm before you offer it? Ball pythons hunt by heat. If you aren't getting her attention first, then heating the food up really nice and hot and then offering it, I'm not surprised she won't eat. The whole " drop in a thawed rodent and wait ", is the reason why most pet shop snakes won't eat.

Take her hide out first, heat the food up really good and hot, grasp it with tongs and offer it. Chances are, she'll hit it hard and fast if you do it correctly.

While it would be a little bit of extra trouble to get a small plastic critter keeper and fix it up to hold a couple of mice, if heating the prey doesn't work you have no choice. A baby this small cannot go without food for long. It lacks the metabolism to deal with long periods of fasting. You will do permanent damage if you don't feed soon. You can buy three or maybe four mice at one time, feed them lightly and offer one every 5 days to a week. That will keep the number of trips to the store to a minimum.

Gale