Anyone else have this problem when feeding?

[Peter Williams]

I have an 07 het albino male from Corey Woods. He has been a great feeder ever since I got him. Or so I thought. Last night I fed, and when I opened his tub he flew at the f/t rat, and contricted it in mid air handing from my hemostats. Good feeder in my opinion. But hes developing an odd behaviour. He will be as willing to strike and constrict as ever, any time of the day, any day of the week, but once hes done constricting, he doesn't eat it! I find the rat in his tub the next morning! He's been doing this for the last 4 weeks or so. Because of this I always feed him last, as soon as he strikes, I leave the room and turn out the lights for at least an hour or two. But he still doesn't eat it, any other suggestions?

(Oh and just a side note, many of you may know Corey only feeds mice. I sucessfully converted the snake some time ago and he was eating f/t rat pups sucessfully for a long time. It has only been in the last few weeks hes been developing this behaviour)

[Peter Williams]

Ah I see, I guess not.

[dr del]

Hi,

Have you tried heating it back up and offering it to him again? Do you do anything in your feeding routin that might make him feel insecure? (removing hides/snake etc)

Do you feed on a regular schedule or is the feeding interval staggered?

Have you tried asking Corey if he has any advice based around his feeding routine?


dr del

[Peter Williams]

Hi,

Have you tried heating it back up and offering it to him again? Do you do anything in your feeding routin that might make him feel insecure? (removing hides/snake etc)

Do you feed on a regular schedule or is the feeding interval staggered?

Have you tried asking Corey if he has any advice based around his feeding routine?


dr del

Yes I've tried reheating it, but he never takes it and it just goes to my pig of a normal male. The feeding is precisely every 7 days. Hides in, feed in the enclosure. No I have not talked to Corey as of yet.

[starmom]

I'm wondering what size enclosure you have him in and also wondering if the prey is too big and so he is striking the intruder but not hungry enough to eat.

Also, I too would suggest to heat it back up. My axanthic really likes his prey hot~ much hotter than any of my other snakes!

[Peter Williams]

hes in a 27qt sterilite. Hes eating an appropriately sized meal, a large weaned rat.

[bsd13]

One of my snakes does almost the same thing and I figured out if I grab the mouse with the tongs right after he constricts, heat it up under the lamp for 20-30 seconds and do it again he'll usually take it the 2nd time. Though once it did take 3 tries

[blaise]

One of my snakes does almost the same thing and I figured out if I grab the mouse with the tongs right after he constricts, heat it up under the lamp for 20-30 seconds and do it again he'll usually take it the 2nd time. Though once it did take 3 tries

My snake has done something similar a few times. Like the above poster I re-warmed the mouse and offered it again and he took it.

There have also been a couple of times when he will strike and constrict and sometimes even "mouth" it a little, but then just leave it and nothing I do induces him to eat it. The first time I think it might have been because it was the second mouse I had offered him during that feeding and he maybe he decided he didn't want another one after all. Second time he was going into shed and I didn't realize it until the next day when I saw his blue eyes. He constricted--maybe out of instinct?--but didn't eat. Of course, each of these times he ate normally at his next feeding so it wasn't an ongoing problem.

So basically the snake strikes, constricts, but then doesn't eat, and has been doing this for 4 weeks? Sounds like he wants to eat but maybe it is something related to the prey itself that is turning him off? Size, temp, smell, I don't know. I should also add that I'm a pretty new snake owner and don't have much experience so I'm totally guessing here

[autumn75]

Have you considered offering him a mouse instead and see if his response is different? I know you said you successfully converted him to rats, but maybe he's wanting a mouse again?

[blaise]

Have you considered offering him a mouse instead and see if his response is different? I know you said you successfully converted him to rats, but maybe he's wanting a mouse again?

Sounds like a good idea to me. Seems like it would be worth a try to see what the response is.