He finally ate again!

[GotBalls?]

well....Jester finally stopped being such a jerk :p

I actually ended up changing to a different kind of enclosure that is taller and added some nice Arbutus branches which he loves to climb around on. He seems much happier there, and today actually was quiet and not his over active self so I decided to give feeding a go again and he was all over it. He struck once but bounced off it, but wasn't deterred at all this time by his lack of skills and struck again a few minutes later, dragged it back into his hide and after about 15 mins was looking for more! If I wasn't on my way out I would have prepared another one to give to him, I'll definately give him another one in a couple days as the rat fuzzies I have right now are a bit on the small side.\

It's such a relief when they finally eat again. It's been over a month since his last meal but he doesn't seem to have lost much weight and seems like a happy, healthy ball python to me!

I'm slowly learning the ways of the BP.. I was wasting too many feeders before because I was trying to feed him every day until he ate...what a waste.. now I wait a week between any refusals.. less waste and it seemed to work!

Thanks to everyone for all thier help.

Nicole

[sapphire_moon]

Congrats! It is a reliefe when they eat again! Both my bp's have been off feed since November 25th, stopped eating on the same day! And in 2 weeks they will have been off feed for 2 months.
I think something was/is wrong with the mice/rats I was feeding. They would sniff it, get into striking position, flicker their tongue off of it, pull back like they were slapped, and start all over again. If I moved the mouse/rat they would follow it around, so I know they wanted it. Thats why I started breeding my own rats.

[mykee]

Sapphire, I can't stress enough how breeding your own feeders takes such a load off your wallet, your mind and any questions you would of had regarding the 'quality' of the food going into your snakes.

[sapphire_moon]

Oh I know, I would rather feed him 2-3 small rats a week than 1 large rat that might have something wrong with it. We have one female that looks like a walking well orange she is so big around, she looks like she is going to explode! I can't wait! Mykee do you think the day old rats are big enough for a corn that is eating mice fuzzies? I'm not sure how big they are when they are born.

Sorry this is so off topic!

[Auskan]

Sapphire, I just asked this same question on another thread, when my mama rat unexpectedly gave birth last week to 6 pups. (I had just adopted her and had no idea she was pregnant). Anyway, I weighed the pups & they weighed approximately the same as the mouse fuzzies I have in the freezer, however when I asked why they couldn't be used instead of the fuzzies for a small cornsnake, the responses I got were that rat pups are higher in fat & lower in fibre. It would probably be ok once in a while, but I got the impression most people wouldn't consider them an overall substitution.

P.S. As newborns the rat pups ranged from 6-10g. I am weighing them every other day to get an idea of growth in rats & they each gain approximately 2g with each weighing (1g per day). Also, they develop very quickly. Within 3-4 days they had gone from being little pink squirmy things, to it being quite obvious what their final coloration will be like. Also, they are easy to sex from birth so if you decide you need to feed off the males first, that is very easy to do.

[sapphire_moon]

Where is this thread?

[Auskan]

http://www.ssnakess.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&postid=271743#post271743