I Need a game plan

[Skeet]

I've had jezzy for a month and a half and she's eaten once. two weeks after I got her she ate a live rat right away. i waited a week and left her alone then tried a frozen thaw, and nothing. waited two days and gave her a live rat. Nothing. She kept going up to rat and smeling it, like she was gonna recoil and bite, but then she'd jerk away and go climb or go curl up in a hide, but she kept coming back and doing it. I was afraid the rat might bite her, so eventualy i killed it and put it back in the tank in another hide.
Ok..so now it's been another week and i need a game plan.
I want her eating frozen thaws.....should i try one tonight or wait another week and make her really hungry?

[Princess Erica]

Personally, I'd wait another week. They can go a ridiculous amount of time without food, and there's no point in wasting rats. If she's not eating, I wouldn't try offering but once a week, she might be getting stressed out by the whole situation.

I'm guessing she didn't eat it when you killed it and put it in another hide?

[robitza]

Don't feed live. Jezzy might suffer an injury. I have seen my males go months without eating don't worry about it.

[Skeet]

nope, she only ate that one time................ok, i'm gonna try a frozen thaw tonight if it doesn't work i'll try again in a week....i don't want to feed live ever again after the last time, it was really stressful on all three of us.

[Princess Erica]

Are you feeding in the enclosure? If so, you might want to try offering her the dead rat when she's in a hide. I find this is, by far, the best way for me to feed my guy. I'll drag the VERY warm rat across the hole of his hide a couple times, wait until I see his head poking out to know he's got the scent, and then drag it across again. He'll usually hit it the instant he sees something to grab onto.

When I was taking him out of his hides, I had to do a big elaborate rat dance, and then half the time he seemed scared of the rat. This way, I think it's more a "natural" hunt, as BPs tend to ambush rodents from inside a burrow in the wild.

If that doesn't work, try putting the rat in there and leaving the two of them alone for a couple hours. If it's still in there after like 3-4 hours, it's probably safe to take it out.

Make sure your rat is the right temp, that seems to really be the key to making F/T work in the beginning.

There are a couple more things you can try if these don't work, but really... DON'T STRESS! She'll eat when she's hungry.

[Skeet]

Thanks for the tips...btw whats the right temp and how do u heat it up?