Killed, but not eaten?

[Ronniex2]

Good morning all,

I had a feeding issue yesterday with my BP, she struck,wrapped, squeezed, and killed the small rat, but did not eat it.? I left her inthe tube after the normal 10 – 15 mins I leave her in there. She has eatenpre-killed before but only once. She did the killing here but did not want toeat.
I always feed her live rats, from long tongs, in a separate feedingtube -not in her enclosure. She just refused a meal almost 2 weeks ago due toher shed- normally she eats either way but she refused last attempt- she had a goodshed one solid piece- then I offered therat yesterday that she did not eat.
My question is how long should I wait before offering her anew meal?
Is this normal?
Why would she do this if she wasn’t going to eat it- I could’veused it for my other snake lol-
Should I be worried?

[Stewart_Reptiles]

Normal well it depends on the age, size, husbandry etc

First thing feed in the enclosure, less stress on the animal, less disturbance which mean more likely to eat, and in the event the animal strikes and kill but does not eat right away (which is often due to being disturb) you can leave the dead prey overnight.

For a snake that is not eating consistently you want to offer no sooner then 7 days later.

Also do not use tongs with live rats, it is stressful and painful to the rat and the last thing you want when feeding live is a stressed rat that is in pain.

[Ronniex2]

she is 2yr old around 1300gs,
i am guessing she is at that size now but i do have her in a glass terrium as she is my prized possetion and want her on display in her lil corner of my living room .. she has never given me an issue with the switch .. i just didnt want to have that feeding response every time i go in to get her.but i will try feeding her in her enclaoure next time.. see if that makes a diff.. thanks for you time and help.

[Stewart_Reptiles]

At this size she could go off feed for MONTHS so as far as that goes just make sure your husbandry is optimum, temps humidity etc.

Offer smaller preys, small rat weekly and even every other week if it persist.

as for this

i just didnt want to have that feeding response every time i go in to get her.

This is one of the most persistent internet myth, what is not is that feeding a snake in feed mode witch can start hours before feeding and last hours after feeding put you at a greater risks to get tagged.

[cchardwick]

For me it happens but not very often, I'd say maybe 1 in 500 feedings. Most of the time I'll open up the tub and if they haven't eaten the rat I'll close it up for another 15 minutes and they will almost always eat it. I do have a few that wrap and kill and release and need more time alone to eat it, this it typically after feeding live and going back to check on them 5 minutes later.

Your snake may be a shy eater, you may want to cover the tote or leave the room for 15 minutes and come back and check on it. I'm pretty sure that most of my snakes that don't eat frozen thawed are actually distracted by a big ol snake dude looking at them (me) LOL. I think that's why live works so well, they don't even see me when I drop a live rodent in the tub, no distractions.