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The Following 6 Users Say Thank You to 55fingers For This Useful Post:
Albert Clark (02-05-2022),Bogertophis (02-05-2022),EL-Ziggy (02-06-2022),Erie_herps (02-05-2022),Homebody (02-05-2022),Luvyna (02-05-2022)
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Did you try re-heating the prey for Ralph? And do you use a blow-dryer, right before offering? That might be what he needs (more heat), even if the others don't.
Last edited by Bogertophis; 02-05-2022 at 01:39 PM.
Rudeness is the weak man's imitation of strength.
Eric Hoffer (1902 - 1983)
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The Following 3 Users Say Thank You to Bogertophis For This Useful Post:
55fingers (02-05-2022),Albert Clark (02-05-2022),Homebody (02-05-2022)
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Re: Feeding time
Originally Posted by Bogertophis
Did you try re-heating the prey for Ralph? And do you use a blow-dryer, right before offering? That might be what he needs (more heat), even if the others don't.
Yes, unfortunately tried that. I always blow dry prey until they are very warm, and continuously reheat throughout offering. He hasn't eaten for a few weeks now so he may just be on a hunger strike. That being said he was out and about as he always is when he's looking for food I never usually refreeze my rats but I decided to try and see what condition it's in when refrozen and make a judgement off that, didn't want to waste such a big rat. Hopefully some day my carpet will be big enough to be the resident food disposal lol
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Re: Feeding time
Aww your snakes are very cute! Kisara's big pupils are indeed adorable haha, my BP's eyes get big like that as well when he gets fed.
For Ralph I agree with Bogertophis that it's likely that the rat was not warm enough. My BP is also like that sometimes - he'll be very eager to eat, but if I don't warm up the rat enough he doesn't recognize it as food when I offer it to him. However, he will always take the rat if I remove it, heat it up adequately, and try feeding him again.
A larger rat like the one in your photo is also harder to heat up all the way, especially with a hair dryer. I'd recommend thawing it for 3-4 hrs outside of the fridge, then heating it in a container of warm water (the hottest water that will come out of the tap) for 10 mins, changing the water, waiting another 10 mins, and then offer it. That way the internal temperature of the rat will be warm as well as the external temperature.
If your BP hasn't eaten for a while, maybe try a smaller rat next time since that will be easier to thoroughly heat up and may be easier for him to eat.
Last edited by Luvyna; 02-05-2022 at 06:41 PM.
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The Following 3 Users Say Thank You to Luvyna For This Useful Post:
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Re: Feeding time
Originally Posted by Luvyna
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A larger rat like the one in your photo is also harder to heat up all the way, especially with a hair dryer. I'd recommend thawing it for 3-4 hrs outside of the fridge, then heating it in a container of warm water (the hottest water that will come out of the tap) for 10 mins, changing the water, waiting another 10 mins, and then offer it. That way the internal temperature of the rat will be warm as well as the external temperature.
If your BP hasn't eaten for a while, maybe try a smaller rat next time since that will be easier to thoroughly heat up and may be easier for him to eat.
Excellent points! I don't have any rat-eating snakes any more, & I sure don't miss thawing rats, especially those larger than "small"- their fur is very thick, so it "insulates" their body, making it much harder to THAW them. If you don't really feel them deeply with your fingers, it's easy to miss it if they aren't fully thawed internally...I wonder if that could be the OP's problem here? Combined with how fast they cool off, if, as you suggested [Luvyna], only the quick heat from a blow-dryer was relied upon too heavily to get the job done.
I also agree that I'd try feeding smaller rats- male BPs seem to accept them more reliably. Plus they're easier to warm. It just doesn't pay to try to make up for missed meals by giving meals that are bigger than the snake wants anyway.
Rudeness is the weak man's imitation of strength.
Eric Hoffer (1902 - 1983)
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The Following 3 Users Say Thank You to Bogertophis For This Useful Post:
55fingers (02-08-2022),Albert Clark (02-05-2022),Luvyna (02-05-2022)
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Re: Feeding time
Another couple of things to try. Firstly, check all the temperatures throughout the enclosure including the humidity percentages. Skip the next scheduled feeding and just overall increase the feeding interval going forward by one week. Secondly, place a small amount of cypress mulch in his hide for now, enough to cover the base of the hide. Don’t attempt to feed him for at least three days plus the previous time factor after the cypress mulch is in place. Then, before feeding him next, scent the thawed rat with litter from a enclosure that has live rats or mice.
Last edited by Albert Clark; 02-05-2022 at 07:10 PM.
Stay in peace and not pieces.
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The Following 2 Users Say Thank You to Albert Clark For This Useful Post:
55fingers (02-08-2022),Bogertophis (02-05-2022)
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Re: Feeding time
Originally Posted by 55fingers
Yes, unfortunately tried that. I always blow dry prey until they are very warm, and continuously reheat throughout offering. He hasn't eaten for a few weeks now so he may just be on a hunger strike. That being said he was out and about as he always is when he's looking for food I never usually refreeze my rats but I decided to try and see what condition it's in when refrozen and make a judgement off that, didn't want to waste such a big rat. Hopefully some day my carpet will be big enough to be the resident food disposal lol
Yep ..
My first call is checking temps ( especially surface temps ) with a digital temp gun or digital thermometer
Then try the hairdryer method of feeding
I’ll send it to you by pm
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro
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The Following User Says Thank You to Zincubus For This Useful Post:
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His temps and humidity have been perfect. I thawed the rats for about 4 hours as well, always feel the stomach and head to make sure it's thawed all the way too. And I warmed them by hairdryer several times while offering, every minute or so.
I feed him a medium rat every 2 weeks, it hasn't caused any problems yet but certainly if he continues not to eat I'd try something smaller.
He's always been a good eater so I honestly think this was a one-off where he wasn't in the mood. Unless he continues I'm not really concerned at all, but I don't expect him to. Even now he's been out and about looking for food again lol.
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