Switched to rat pups and now hes not eating

[eferna]

I tried to feed my ball a rat pup last night. All he did was come around it inspect it and then move back into his hideout.
What can i do to get him on rat pups?

[Lisa]

feed a small mouse to get him in the mood, then a rat pup

[Pythonian]

yea get him in the mood.. i hear candles, soft music, roses, incense, and a warm bath helps ;)
Mike

[eferna]

You know whats funny, its like hes scared of the rat pup. Sodo you think he'll eat a small hopper and then a rat pup after?

[Lisa]

quite possibley, i know once some of our snakes are in feeding mode they'll eat anything

[Linds]

Try scenting your rat pup. Some scenting techniques include rubbing the rat pup all over a mouse, drudging the rat pup through dirty mouse bedding, or covering the rat pup with mouse hair. I would try this before feeding a mouse AND rat pup, as that then creates an overly large meal for your snakie. Hope this helped :)

[escm]

i just got my guy to eat his first ft rat pup the other day...i thawed the rat out and then held its head up to a light bulb for about 15-20 secs (not ON the blub just close enough to heat it up so my snake would see the head shape a little better) then put the rat in the feed bin with my snake and proceeded to jiggle the lil bugger around (the rat not the snake) kinda making it move like a pinky mice with the ocassional large jerky twitch. i also depressed the rats belly a few times to maybe make it look like he was breathing (i have NO clue if this would technically have any effect but he ended up eating the rat so i just thought id share just in case it might help you out at all.....good luck!)

p.s. - any jiggling of dinner must be done with tongs and not fingers hehe.

[eferna]

yeah i let my rat pup sit out under the lamp. I also held it with tongs, but my snake just got scared and went into the hole.