Quote Originally Posted by Bogertophis View Post
Shouldn't be scared of dead hoppers...was it only this time? Because snakes know (can feel) they're going into shed before we can see it, & many snakes act afraid of food when they don't want to eat because of their impending shed. Hopefully this will self-correct once he sheds. I wouldn't bother offering food when he's in blue...snakes don't eat in the wild when in blue, & it's totally not necessary even if they have "room service". Better not to push food on snakes...just be patient, they usually know what they're doing, & there's nothing wrong with growing slowly- in fact, it's better for them.
I offered him hoppers 4 weeks in a row, and each time he responded with hissing, striking, and trying desperately to get away. He's normally very calm, very easy to handle, these were the only situations I saw him behave this way which definitely looked like fear to me. When I offered him fuzzies again, he didn't display the same behavior and ate readily. I did assume he refused to eat the first time (this was early November when it all started) because he was in blue, but he continued to show this behavior with hoppers for 3 weeks after shedding then ate the fuzzies without a problem when I offered them, so I figured it wasn't that. Thankfully my ball python Tonks is a garbage disposal who will eat anything, any day, any time, so the hoppers didn't go to waste!

I think I'm spoiled because my other 3 snakes - 2 ball pythons and a corn snake - all eat no matter if they're in blue or not, so I always offer food regardless. Totoro is the only snake that has refused food, and he's my sweet little guy so I worry about him, and I sometimes wonder if it's because he's my only snake that's not a wild type. I know there's theories that fancy morphs can be difficult eaters, and he's definitely got a lot of special genetics going on. I definitely don't agree with power feeding and that's never my goal, I was just shocked at how HUGE his siblings were in the video and felt like maybe his growth was being delayed with the refusal to eat, and now at least he's growing. But he definitely needs to start eating hoppers soon, he's almost too big for them already!