Retic feeding vs. space

[DavetheIcon]

Hi all, I have an 18 month old Albino Lavender Tiger (female) that's about 8-9 ft long. She has always been a solid eater and was taking F/T jumbo rats with no problems once every 7-10 days. I upped her food to one jumbo and one medium (which she ate), but that was about 4 weeks ago and she hasn't eaten since. When I hold her her stomach growls and she's not impacted on the other end (no bulge). She has no mites, humidity is good, temp is a little low on the floor of the cage (in the process of adding flex watt). She doesn't seem to be ill and is very active, but when I try to feed her she shies away from the food. I don't force it and leave it but she won't take it. The tank I have her in is a little small for her (I have an AP one on order and will be building her one with my next check. Could she be cramped and not want to eat? Is she still not hungry from the expanded meal? Looking for suggestions as these rats aren't cheap. Have a great day!

[sattva]

Has she been pooping at all?
She will need heat to digest her food...
What are your temps?
What size is her habitat now?

[DavetheIcon]

She pooped about 2 1/2 weeks ago. Warm side of cage is about 80 81 on bottom (hence the flexwatt tape). Cold end is about 74ish. Cage size is 18 tall x 20 wide x 4 ft long. Building a bigger enclosure next paycheck while I wait for AP to send theirs. temps have been like that for a while and she was eating fine but things can change I guess. Just stumped about it.

[sattva]

She pooped about 2 1/2 weeks ago. Warm side of cage is about 80 81 on bottom (hence the flexwatt tape). Cold end is about 74ish. Cage size is 18 tall x 20 wide x 4 ft long. Building a bigger enclosure next paycheck while I wait for AP to send theirs. temps have been like that for a while and she was eating fine but things can change I guess. Just stumped about it.
There seems to be a zillion reasons a snake won't eat and I don't know if her feel cramped is one or not... 9 foot snake in a 4 foot cage might be the problem... But you sound like you're on top of it... I wouldn't worry to much... They can go a long time without food... As long as she not lose weight real fast you'll be alright...
You might just have to keep trying... And if your worry about wasting the meal, you'll have to get more snakes... That way if one doesn't eat you just give it to someone who will...
PS... You'll want to get those temps up... cold side 79* and the hot 90 to 95....

[GyGbeetle]

When my snakes don't eat, I will try and jiggle the rat around, boop their heads, irritate them until they coil the rat. I'm not suggesting this will work with your large girl, but maybe you should give her some sort of incentive.

How often are you attempting to feed her? It may be too soon between attempts, and she's getting stressed.

I also think the temps are too low on her hot side, but that's odd that your temps haven't changed, just her eating habits. Maybe she's just decided she's had enough.

I don't think the larger feed would interrupt her eating. My retics would eat every day if you offered it. Retics have a very high metabolism, and can handle larger prey sizes than you'd expect. Try getting that flexwatt, and increasing her temps, and then try feeding her again and see if she takes it.

[SnakeyJay]

I'd say it's the temp being too low as well, get it sorted as soon as you can...

If the temps are too low then their metabolism is either slow or pretty much shut down, so be careful of feeding large meals while the temps are low... It can basically rot in their stomach before it's digested which can and has killed snakes in the past.

As for the viv size, far too small obviously... with how fast retics grow you always want to have the next enclosure ready to go.