She thinks she's a venomous snake!

[Bettacreek]

Ok, so, well, I'm sure she doesn't, however, she doesn't tag and constrict her mouse. She'll tag it quickly and back off and wait. Then I have to get the mouse, dangle it again, and she'll do the same thing. I've gone as far as leaving it there for 10 minutes and she either sits there or crawls around like the mouse doesn't exist. How can I get her to eat "right"?

[JTR]

My guess is that she views it as a threat, has she had positive feeding responses from this method before? I had the same problem for a while, so i ended up using live once or twice and then switched him back over to f/t. and never had a problem since. thats my $.02

[Bettacreek]

Actually, I have two girls who haven't fed yet since I've gotten them. The last time they ate was 9/21, and they were shipped to me on 9/24. I know that it is common for them to go off feeding for a while, but the two that haven't eaten yet had shown response to live mice. The other girl that came with them ate two weaner mice. So, wait another 5-7 days and try again? These are live mice, they were eating F/T, but I wanted to entice them into eating with the lives, then using F/T after they settled in and started eating regularly.

[JTR]

The only thing I can think of is stress, especially if they were just shipped. Lots of people talk about bps going off feed for a while, but it has yet to happen to me, knock on wood. What are you keeping them in? do you have hides? and correct temps and everything. As long as your husbandry is good then I dont know what else there is to do besides wait...I know thats easier to say than do. Hopefully a member who has a little more experience than me will chime in too.
hope this helps

[skm0308]

If they were already on FT I'd stick with FT, no need to entice them into feeding with live. If they strike without constricting that is a defensive behavior, the live mice may seem threatening to them. Once in a while when I feed my live eaters and they're about to go into shed they'll just strike and that tells me they have no interest in eating. Wait another week then offer FT and see what happens.

[Bettacreek]

Ok, thanks! I figured I should entice them because of shipping. I assumed it was better to get them eating with live then to make them wait. However, I guess I'm making it worse because they're threatened by live mice. Thanks, I'll try next week with F/T.