Time for some tough love?

[EL Ziggy]

My yearling BredlI carpet has refused rats and chick's his last 2 meals but has eaten jumbo mice when offered. The last thing I want is for him to turn into a "mouser". I thought he had a pretty strong imprint on rats and I usually feed all of my snakes a diverse diet. Should I stop offering varied prey and give him rats exclusively for a while even if he goes on an extended food break? Eventually he'll have to eat what's offered right? Any thoughts?

[Andy_G]

Offer rats only and try scenting if the next few tries are unsuccessful. What you're going through is exactly why I advise against varied diets for many different species. For some it works well (bulls, boas, garters)...for others (carpets, balls, hognose are common ones...) it works until it doesn't and then comes the headaches. I'm sure you'll get him back on rats in no time.

[EL Ziggy]

Thanks Andy- I thought I was doing a good thing :). Besides my kings being a little picky when it comes to rats all my other snakes eat anything I give them. He's the first of my carpets to give me any feeding problems and this just started in the last couple of weeks. I've had him since March. I'll try scenting with mice the next few feedings and hopefully he'll get back on track.

[Andy_G]

I know Zig, they've done good for you and variety can't be bad when you have snakes that'll take it. Just sucks when this happens. Mix the possiblity of imprinting on mice and add that in with the time of year where males will fast and you get utter confusion as to exactly why he's done it...amirite? ;)

[SWDK]

I'd stick with offering rats or scented rats until it starts eating. Hopefully it won't take too many attempts and the snake won't loose any weight. Good luck EL.

[trailblazer295]

I've been going through this problem recently. I was alternating mice, rats and quail chicks. The mice and quail get struck right away and the rats were very hit and miss. Often she would just check it out and then move away. When left overnight it was still 50 50 of eaten or not. Decided now no more mice, it will be birds and rats only going forward. I had planned on giving her a varied rodent diet but seems rats are low on her desire level so that will have to end.

[EL Ziggy]

Thanks y'all. Sounds like this guy won't be getting any more mice anytime soon. He'll eat what's for dinner or go to bed without supper. It's his choice! :)

[SWDK]

Thanks y'all. Sounds like this guy won't be getting any more mice anytime soon. He'll eat what's for dinner or go to bed without supper. It's his choice! :)

Good plan. I think hunger should win in the end.

[Humble308]

[QUOTE=EL Ziggy;1010909 He'll eat what's for dinner or go to bed without supper. It's his choice! :)[/QUOTE]

Worked on me when I was a kid :D

Best of luck with him Zig, I just did a complete switch to rats myself...only my hoggie will still get mice.

[Albert Clark]

Hey EL, this happened to me with my male pied. I raised him on a varied diet also including chicks but never quail. He was a very good eater with the occaisional food strike that was for a couple of months at most. He always came back to feeding as this was before he was heavy enough to breed. As a sub adult he showed a desire for live mice when he would usually take f/t. I struggled with him for the longest trying to get him to take f/t anything as he got older. He refused. And refused. He eventually began to lose grams and it bothered me. I tried for the longest to bait and switch, offer rats really warmed, all f/t offerings were routinely refused. I was seriously trying only f/t and staying away from live offerings. To get him back on food during that two month hiatus i went with a live adult mouse which he took very quickly. Since that time i have tried in vain to get him to take f/t and he refuses. He's even recently refused live weanling rats. This guy just wants live mice and only recently took fresh killed mice. I say this to bring the point out that it is a work in progress. Consider being vigilant in your attempts but dont let "tough love" be your main objective. Monitor his weight, and keep his nutritional status in the forefront. At the end of the day the main thing is that they are eating on a regular basis. Then also, some animals will never switch. Someone once told me that these animals are captive, and thats stressful enough, so the least we can do is give them the food that they prefer rather than what we want them to have.

[EL Ziggy]

@ AL- You're right and I promise I won't let him starve, but if he gets stuck on mice he's gonna be one small Bredli :). These guys get pretty large and there's no way I'll be feeding him 6 or more jumbo mice per feeding when one large rat will do. It's fine if my kings do it but the carpets and bulls don't have that option. I love my critters and I try to give them the best care possible BUT only the strong survive around these parts. If they're given adequate shelter, fresh water and food then they should take advantage. Rats, mice, and birds are all part of their diet. I believe survival trumps preferences. Nature doesn't cater to primadonnas and neither do I. ;)

[MartinD]

Ziggy, I read somewhere about a guy who wanted to switch from mice to rats and how he did it was to get 1 mouse and 1 rat equal to the snakes normal meal, so if your snake is used to large mice say 100g, then use 1 mouse 50g and 1 rat 50g and he offered them both at the same time, making it look like the snake had killed 2 rodents and he ate both rodents. He did this around 2-3 times and then tried him with just a rat and he took it with no problems.

[EL Ziggy]

@ Martin- Thanks for the tip. I've actually used the 2 feeder approach to switch my kings to rats and it worked for a while but they'll both still refuse rats pretty consistently. I don't have any problems feeding them mice because it only takes 1-2 jumbo mice to make a meal for them. The difference is this carpet has been eating rats just fine since I got him in March. It's just been these last few feedings that he's refused them and would only take mice. So I'm not trying to switch him over to rats I'm try to switch him back to rats :). If he acts stubborn I'll try scenting and the 2 feeder trick. :)

[MartinD]

@ Ziggy, yeah understand mate

[Albert Clark]

@ AL- You're right and I promise I won't let him starve, but if he gets stuck on mice he's gonna be one small Bredli :). These guys get pretty large and there's no way I'll be feeding him 6 or more jumbo mice per feeding when one large rat will do. It's fine if my kings do it but the carpets and bulls don't have that option. I love my critters and I try to give them the best care possible BUT only the strong survive around these parts. If they're given adequate shelter, fresh water and food then they should take advantage. Rats, mice, and birds are all part of their diet. I believe survival trumps preferences. Nature doesn't cater to primadonnas and neither do I. ;) Cool EL. Gotcha. My pied male won't get nearly as long or large as your bredli for sure. What I do with him (my pied) is just feed him weekly instead of biweekly. He takes one or two large live mice. All the others are on biweekly schedules and get f/t rats. Good luck with him though.

[Aaron_S]

You people and your feeding issues... glad I strictly feed rats lol.

[Albert Clark]

It's truly the nature of the beast. I let my reptiles tell me so that there is a symbiotic relationship. That's why I started breeding mice, and it helps with the hatchlings.

[EL Ziggy]

@ Aaron- I'm not anthropomorphizing these critters but I do wonder if they have taste buds :). I just can't imagine feeding an animal only one thing it's entire life. They can obviously survive on rats exclusively but that just takes a little of the fun out of it for me. A little variety can't be a bad thing~until it is :).

[Andy_G]

A little variety can't be a bad thing~until it is :).

That's the spirit. ;)

[Aaron_S]

@ Aaron- I'm not anthropomorphizing these critters but I do wonder if they have taste buds :). I just can't imagine feeding an animal only one thing it's entire life. They can obviously survive on rats exclusively but that just takes a little of the fun out of it for me. A little variety can't be a bad thing~until it is :).

I don't believe they do. Their tongues are smooth.