Trouble Feeder

[maausen]

I have some fake plants and stuff. She takes the rat under the plants and eats it. They figure it out. May have to fix stuff after as some of the decorations may get shifted a bit. No biggie.

Gotcha. This might be a dumb question, but what if the rodent runs into the hide?

[Newbie39]

Gotcha. This might be a dumb question, but what if the rodent runs into the hide?

Ah. Just noticed you mentioned you feed live. I feed f/t.


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[Godzilla78]

Just put the rodent in there and wait. Usually within minutes or even seconds, I hear a THUMP, as the snake strikes and constricts the poor little rat! If the snake doesn;t attack the rat within 5 minutes, it is not hungry, or is stressed out for some reason.

Feeding live is SO EASY it is feeding pre-killed that is difficult for many snakes.

[JodanOrNoDan]

Just put the rodent in there and wait. Usually within minutes or even seconds, I hear a THUMP, as the snake strikes and constricts the poor little rat! If the snake doesn;t attack the rat within 5 minutes, it is not hungry, or is stressed out for some reason.

Feeding live is SO EASY it is feeding pre-killed that is difficult for many snakes.

This is generally correct but it really depends on the animal. My most extreme example is a male I have that is too tame. He will only eat FT rats. Runs from live. Has never eaten live.

I do not recommend the following but it is a qwerk of this particular animal and it took me a long time to figure it out because it is so abnormal and against everything we are taught. This boy does not strike. He will only eat if I hand feed him and hold the rat so that it touches his nose. He just casually takes it into his mouth then wraps it. Strange animal. No other animal I have has ever acted like this. I keep waiting for him to get riled up one day and tag me but it has been years and I have never seen this guy get excited once.

[Prognathodon]

This boy does not strike. He will only eat if I hand feed him and hold the rat so that it touches his nose. He just casually takes it into his mouth then wraps it. Strange animal. No other animal I have has ever acted like this. I keep waiting for him to get riled up one day and tag me but it has been years and I have never seen this guy get excited once.

My spotted python is like your boy, except that sometimes she will strike when I offer prey to her in her enclosure. But if she doesn’t after one offer I get her out and we do the silly-snek hand-feeding routine.



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[JodanOrNoDan]

My spotted python is like your boy, except that sometimes she will strike when I offer prey to her in her enclosure. But if she doesn’t after one offer I get her out and we do the silly-snek hand-feeding routine.

I'm glad to hear I don't have the only oddball.

[maausen]

Is this normal? I finally got my boy to eat on Thanksgiving night after a 5 month fast. He did not take it from my tongs but I decided to leave it in the cage over night and put a dark towel over the entire cage.

I have now offered twice in the last month but both times he has not eaten. Any ideas what is going on? Just normal male and seasonal type thing?