Rats are harder to digest than mice (even 2 mice), so yes, you need to give her more time to digest them. I think that will help a lot.Originally Posted by Hannahvh
Okay that's what I am hoping for! Maybe she's just acclimating and going on a little strike.
Her former owner fed her about once a week as well, but would feed her 2 mice instead of 1 small rat. She hasn't had a problem with the size, but maybe I'm feeding her too frequently! I was trying to fatten her up a bit as she is a little underweight, so maybe she's just taking a break. I'll space out her feedings a little more when she's off this strike.
I am a little more concerned about her being in her cold hide, though. She's still in there as of today, but hopefully she will just go to her warm hide once she is ready! If you have any ideas as to why she's not staying in her warm hide, that would be helpful! I can't think of anything as it is clean, right temps, and she liked it before. But again, maybe she's just being a little weirdo and trying to keep me guessing
Thank you for all your help so far!!
It makes sense now (to me) that she's staying in her cold hide...she is deliberately slowing down her digestion...if she was warmer, it would overwhelm her digestive
tract. Think of it as a traffic jam... I know it seems counter-intuitive, but I can remember giving a large rat to an adult BCI (boa) when she was only used to consuming
mediums at the most. She was more than big enough to take that size, but instead of staying warm, she went to the cool side to "slow it down": warmer temperatures
cause the excess still-undigested food to "spoil" & swell up in their stomach, so somehow they know to slow it down. This is exactly why it's so important that our snakes
have temperature choices when kept in captivity...it's not like a dog that can whine at the door to be let out.Just be observant, patient & support her choices...she
knows what she's doing. If we pay close enough attention, they manage to teach us.
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