a few feeding questions.....again.....

[sapphire_moon]

well my little female bp ate a small rat about..........1 month ago! she has refused since then.
Well about 4 days ago I set a fuzzy on top of her cage (for the corn) under her "heat" lamp (not much heat, more for day time/ night time) and she went crazy, going up and pushing up on the screen...

so I figured why not I had enough fuzzies, I gave her one, she took it quick and hard!
Well it was three days later, so I tried her with another fuzzy. She took that one to.
But she absolutly refuses the small rats!

I haven't tried her on adult mice yet (again).

After I gave her, her first small rat she went right into shed.
The rat was black and white.....she seems to be scared of the rats......crawling away and hiding when i put them into the cage.....

Do you think she could be fixiated on white furred mice....(maybe rats) or do you think it's the size???? Any opinions would be great......
I will be posting another thread on her behavior that I haven't seen discussed in the BP forum......thank you for any opinons or answers you can give me.

It is VERY much appreciated!

[Big Mike]

Could be the size or more likely the smell. I have heard that some snakes are picky about the color but I don't know about that. It's more likely that she is scared (confused) because it's a rat (or just not a mouse) rather than the size.

You could probably feed her adult mice for the time being and work on switching to rats.

[lilyskip]

i agree with big mike...she probably just has a stronger feeding response to mice than to rats.

[ohh_kristina]

try scenting rats with mice fur and such. the sooner you get it on rats, the better.

[sapphire_moon]

oh I know. thats what I DON'T get..........she DID eat a (one) rat. But has refused rats since then!

[mykee]

Don't give up, if you want her on rats, you're the boss. Don't offer her anything but rats. She takes it, or she goes hungry until the next time you try. Simple as that. Most people will just give in, and throw the snake a mouse after a few weeks and ask why the snake won't eat rats. Answer: because she gets a mouse if she refuses a rat. Stick with it, don't cave in, and you'll have a rat-eater in no time (well, not no time but you catch my drift). I would definitely not prolong the switch, as the older they get, the harder it gets. Good luck.

[sapphire_moon]

Yes but because she refused to eat before, she is about 6 months old, about (maybe under) 1.5ft, and I'm not sure of her weight right now (i've been trying to leave her alone). I don't really like the "strave" method of trying to get her to eat, she has had a rat before. Now she seems to be scared of them.

[mykee]

Well, if you don't like the 'tough love' approach, I can't really tell you of another method that works as well.

[Invictus]

Maybe she's scared of the way you are offering her the rats. One of our BPs (the male) will take anything dangled in his face. The female is more shy. We have to leave her in a dark closet in her enlosure with the rat, and she takes it like a champ. There are techniques other than the tough love technique. :)

[mykee]

Invictus, I agree there are other techniques, but if you don't want to do the whole trial-and-error route, which there are quite a few different methods that you could try, even at two methods a week, could take a long time with potentially no luck. In the same amount of time you could starve your BP into eating whatever it is you want. I realize that the starve technique is not for the easily stressed, nor is it for a snake that is malnourished, but it does work.

[mark129er]

My boa has started refusing f/t rats, I figure eventually she will get hungry enough and take one.

[sapphire_moon]

lets starve you and see if you get hungry enough to eat sh*t? sorry if that seems rough but ya know the tough love approach is tough....I don't do that crap, I would rather be feeding 5-10 mice a week than starve her for 2-4 months.....
We think we have found why she stopped eating. We gave her a rat, she went into shed, then we put her in a rubber maid with a damp towel to help her shed and we think that stressed her out on rats really bad. We just put our male bp in a rubber maid to help him shed, took him out to feed him and he refused! First time he's refused in 2 years, so we figured it was that they were getting stressed from being put in the rubbermaid.

A question you might want to ask when people say "my bp won't eat, why?" is......."have you done anything differently lately?"

[mykee]

Sapphire, glad you 'maybe' found out why your BP is not eating. Hope you rectify the situation. However, there was no need to be ignorant regarding starving your BP into eating what you want. Also, your analogy was moot. Your original comment,
"Let's starve you and see if you get hungry enough to eat sh*t?"
is incorrect, you see, I said that you could starve your ball into eating a rat, not the crass "sh*t" as you said. Rats are not sh*t, they are 100% nutritionally complete, and the accepted food source for ball pythons. So, if I could modify your crude, innacurate analogy to be somewhat more true, it would look a little more like this:
" Let's starve you and see if you get hungry enough to eat a 16 ounce medium-rare T-Bone, a baked potato (sour cream, chives and bacon bits, don't forget lots of butter), a side of garlic bread, a beer, mixed vegetables, and a fruit salad for desert (remember, 100% nutritionally complete?!) THEN my answer would be a RESOUNDING YES! YES! YES!! Anyways, good luck with your mouse-eater.

[sapphire_moon]

Yes I am glad I found out why she isn't eating to. Personally I don't starve anything in my care, the longest I go is 3 weeks. I do not find myself ignorant, and remember, if I am ignorant in one thing, then you are ignorant in something as well.....

As if I do happen to have questions I come either here or referance check other places. I am sorry that I don't agree with everything you say, but remember life's not fair, not everyone will agree with you.

Good Day.

[mykee]

Sapphire, I don't have a problem with people not agreeing with me. I post my advice here, and if it's taken great, if not, no skin off my back. It's the way you disagreed that rubbed me the wrong way. If you didn't like my advice, just ignore it, no need for a rude response.

[sapphire_moon]

it was not a rude responce, it was an extreme "analogy". Not meant to be taken rudely.

[elevation24]

I agree with mykee on his method. It worked for me, though I don't exactly consider it starving. My female, who is also about 6 months old, didn't eat for about 2 weeks and took a small rat (~50 grams) first try. She's gaining a lot more weight per feeding and I love seeing that noticeable lump in her. She also seems a lot more "satisfied" and is staying hidden away about 3 days to digest before she comes out hunting for more. On adult mice that were about 20 to 25 grams she was out and about by the next evening.

I plan on trying the same "technique" with my male when I get him switched very soon. After seeing how well this worked it's not even really worth it for me to try something else first.

[mykee]

Elevation; rat-feeders rule.

[elevation24]

Yes they do!! :)