Feeding live?

[scalrtn]

My snake was exhibiting similar behavior. After 6 months of being a ferocious eater, he suddenly stopped, and went 2 months without eating....would show interest, but would never strike. He'd been on f/t rat pups, but I finally tried going with a small f/t mouse, and also thawed yet another rat pup. He showed interest in the mouse, but wouldn't strike. So I left it on top of his hide (which has a hole in the top of it). Within about 30 minutes, the mouse was gone, so I left the rat pup as well. It disappeared soon after I left it. I kept using this approach for a few weeks with success. On one attempt, the rat was there for about 2 hours, so I removed the rat, and cracked its skull with a pair of pliers (some blood came out of the mouse's mouth/nose - this is one of the methods keepers often recommend).... Put the rat back in on top of hide, and it was gone in about an hour.

Just a few days ago (an interval of about 10 days from the prior feed), I warmed up another pup, and made sure it was around 100 degrees F with a temp gun. I always scent the room off the feeder rats with a blow-dryer for about 30 seconds, and this time, the snake came out of his hide, and after a few wiggles of the rat with forceps in front of the snake, he hit it hard, and down it went.

I think some of this earlier behavior might be attributed to colder temperatures and lower relative humidity (pretty brutal winter everywhere on East coast this year). In Georgia where I live, it's starting to warm up again, and I'm sure my snake is getting back into his normal groove. Trying to feed it too often when it's behaving this way might be discouraging it too, so you might want to try attempts at intervals of a few weeks minimum. Above everything though, make sure the feeder is real warm/not hot and be sure to try leaving it outside the snake's hide if he doesn't go for it initially. (and walk away and leave him alone with it !)