Quote Originally Posted by pretends2bnormal View Post
That's certainly an awful position to be in and I can definitely sympathize. Before I finally got my spider BP off live, I felt pretty bad about it too. I don't have as much issue feeding live nor sourcing it, but he has a wobble and had gotten a close call with one before he swapped; a claw or glancing bite (never figured out which) right behind an eye; surface damage to a scale or two, but too close for comfort with his aim being subpar.

It is a serious choice to rehome or keep, and I think that as long as you're willing to keep trying and work with him it wouldn't be selfish as long as he's still in good health. If it goes beyond your ability to keep him healthy despite efforts to work with him, that's the line I'd draw.

Would you mind giving a bit of a refresher about the details?

I've seen bits and pieces, but feel like I'm missing a few things.

How big is he and what is his age?

How many refusals have you pushed before giving in and doing live? (I.e. if he refused 3 f/t rats week after week, you then gave live week 4)

Is he on mice because you can't source live rats or because he refuses live rats?

What's his enclosure like? Dimensions, tub vs PVC vs glass, etc. What temps do you use? I know I've seen some variation in different STP communities where individuals respond stronger the differences in temperature more than other species.

Does he have hides or deep substrate?

Have you ever tried feeding f/t chicks? Or just mice/rats?

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Thanks for the reply...

He's about 2 1/2 years old. He's around 1,100 grams right now and looking a bit thin since his most recent 300 gram poop/pee.

I'll typically wait around 4 weeks to offer live. So usually 4 offers of F/T before offering live.

I've tried both mice and rats when offering F/T. He's never taken a rat. He'll VERY occasionally take ONE F/T mouse (only about 21-23 grams) and only ONE.

I feed live mice because I can't find rats within a reasonable driving distance.

He's in a 3 foot Neodeshas enclosure. He's been in there since he graduated quarantine about 15 months ago. I've played with temps a bit, but haven't seen any difference in behavior or feeding with different temps. His hot spot is 87-88 and his cool side is around 79-80 with an ambient in the 84 range. He's got enough substrate to burrow, but hardly ever does. He's got 2 RBI hides that fit him well. He usually pushes all the substrate out of the hides and lays on the bare enclosure bottom inside his hides.

I've only tried mice and rats.


Thanks again for the reply. Im open to just about any ideas.