Intimidated by size of prey???

[leakyfawcet]

I have a BP I bought a year ago this month, that seems to be intimidated by medium sized rats (the size he should be eating). He is a little over 3 ft and well over 400 grams. I know this because my digital scale that maxes out at 400 grams. It said overload last time I weighed him which was about 3 months ago. He has taken medium sized rats in the past with ease, but recently seems to be shying away from them. Slippy has never been attacked or bitten by a rat, so I know the reason for this isn't because of a traumatizing event.

My question is ...Has anybody else noticed similar behavior with their snakes??

[mainbutter]

something else could be stressing him out.. size of the tank/tub/whatever housing you use, temperatures being off, humidity being off, hides not being to the snake's liking, anything like that might cause general insecurity and cause the snake to be intimidated by large prey.

Sorry if that isn't much help, just what I could think of.

[FatBoy]

Yes...have a few, but all will take a smaller sized prey a little more often.

[m00kfu]

I would say a medium sized rat is a little big for something just over 3 feet. When I hear medium rat, I think of a rat around 150 grams.

[leakyfawcet]

I know that medium sized isn't really a good description. I do know that the medium sized rats I speak of are not thicker than the thickest part of the snake. He also has a habit of exclusively hunting from the entrance of his hides.

I was also wondering if anyone noticed this, but sometimes when Slippy refuses a meal he will come out of his hide and act as if he is trying to escape from his enclosure. All the while totally ignoring the prey.

[HypoPita]

I know that medium sized isn't really a good description. I do know that the medium sized rats I speak of are not thicker than the thickest part of the snake. He also has a habit of exclusively hunting from the entrance of his hides.

I was also wondering if anyone noticed this, but sometimes when Slippy refuses a meal he will come out of his hide and act as if he is trying to escape from his enclosure. All the while totally ignoring the prey.

My girl did that for two months. Turns out, if it acknowledged that she was there, came up to her, or touched her, she would freak and run away. What I did to break her of this was I would put her hide (which is an over turned kitty litter box) inside the feeding bin, have a heat pad underneath there, already warmed up, and I would scent the room. Then I would put her in the bin and close it - waiting until she went fully in the hide, then I'd place the rat ontop of the hide. It gave her the security she needed to safely stalk and attack her prey.

Wow, I completely forgot something. I took her to the vet, got her checked out, and they gave her an appetite stimulator. Worked WONDERS, but none the less, she still would freak if the food touched her. So Id say try the first..and if it doesn't work, I may suggest going to the vet if it lasts too long.

[leakyfawcet]

Thank you for the input I will try that method if this persists.

[Argentra]

One of my girls has been refusing to take anything larger than a large adult mouse (not jumbos) for about 6 months now. She just doesn't like large prey. I accommodate her since it's more important for them to eat.