Is She Tagging Her Prey?

[Nixon]

Okay, Medusa, a female ball python, a little more than a year old has been doing strange things with her prey lately. Beforehand, I'd like to say that she doesn't like frozen thawed mice/rats AT ALL. I have tried every way possible but she just doesn't take it. I have to feed her live, and I do watch her. Also, she has eaten rats before.

So, what's happening is that Medusa had finished shedding 2 weeks ago. She hadn't eaten that week making it about 3 weeks without eating. I know that's fine. Snakes can do that. But now it's going onto about a month without feeding because I've been trying to feed her small live rats after she's fully shed and, well, she seems interested... in a weird way... Basically, she strikes at the rat, either misses or... tags it? I swear that's what she's doing. Like it's an enemy or something. She strikes, seems to bite it but then lets go and recoils to do it again. I've tried multiple rats, checked for sicknesses - nothing. She does the same for all of them. I have four rats in a cage, cuddled up, because she won't take any of them.

I cleaned her cage a few days ago to make sure it wasn't the smell. I tried feeding her in her tank - same thing. I tried feeding her in a separate - same thing. I've tried doing it at night - same thing. I've tried doing it with the heat lamp on - same thing. With the heat lamp off - same thing.

She has a clean cage, clean water except when the rat kicks a bunch of cypress into it, a hot side, a cold side, hiding spots for both ends and I mist her a couple times everyday.

*Grabs snake* Speak to me, woman.
Snake: *flickers tongue*

She seems healthy. No eye caps, nothing wrong with her mouth. No weird shapes on her body. No burns or bruises. She's pooped out everything that was in her. I just don't get it.

And - it doesn't seem like she sees them as an enemy. She acts like it's prey and she wants food but then when it comes down to striking she only tags. She'll wait in her little hiding spot, coiled, waiting for the rat to pass by in some stealth attack. If she was threatened she would only do that when it showed up and maybe I'd hear a hiss.

I'm just so confused. She's the only snake big enough to have rats so I can't give them to any of my two other snakes. She's always been super picky but she hadn't turned down food like this before. It's strange. I hope somebody knows what might be going on or can help.

Thanks.

[Nitewolfie]

I dont know much, so forgive me if im wrong. It sounds like a defensive strike to me, and maybe going on a fast? It's weird if she does since i read that they (usually) go on fasts from November to May or April. I cant remember for sure but i think it was April.
If she hasn't eatten within 3-6 months, or losing too much weight you may want to take her to a vet if you can.

Sorry I'm not able to help, hopefully someone comes who knows more soon. Good luck!

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[John1982]

Medusa had finished shedding 2 weeks ago. She hadn't eaten that week making it about 3 weeks without eating. I know that's fine. Snakes can do that. But now it's going onto about a month without feeding because I've been trying to feed her small live rats after she's fully shed...

I cleaned her cage a few days ago to make sure it wasn't the smell. I tried feeding her in her tank - same thing. I tried feeding her in a separate - same thing. I've tried doing it at night - same thing. I've tried doing it with the heat lamp on - same thing. With the heat lamp off - same thing.

That's a lot of stuff thrown her way in just 2 weeks. If your snake refuses a meal it's easier, on both of you, to just wait until the next scheduled feeding day to attempt again. Bombarding her is only going to compound the problem - if there even is one. It sounds like your girl is completely out of feed mode and purely defensive towards rodents now. Sometimes offering a smaller meal will get them back on food earlier but not always. Sometimes a different prey type will too but a lot of folks don't like to switch around once they're on rats. The main thing is to not panic and throw all these different options at them too fast or you're likely to just extend the fast.

If I were in that situation, with a snake that only fed on live and I wasn't breeding my own rodents, I would personally ditch the rats and get an adult male mouse. This will prevent the rodent from outgrowing your snake should the fast last more than a couple weeks while also minimizing your extra care for rodents. Once the mouse is finally taken I'd wait a full week, maybe even two, and get a freshly weaned rat to repeat the process. I'd also keep a handful of the dirty bedding the mouse was in and toss that in with the rat to get a bit of scent transfer too.