Reptile & Amphibian Forums

FINALLY!!!! One of my boys finally ate.... I was so happy when he did I ran out into the kitchen and told my fiance. Now I just need for the other one to eat.... But I've been told before that some snakes are choosey on the mice they eat... They may choose not to eat because of color or because of the sex of thier prey..... Is this true and has anyone else had this experience???

By the way I wanted to say thank you to all that helped me with suggestions on how to get them to eat... And in the end the solution was raising the humidity and separating the two of them.... THANK YOU SO MUCH!!

>> But I've been told before that some snakes are choosey on the mice they eat... They may choose not to eat because of color or because of the sex of thier prey..... Is this true and has anyone else had this experience???

I don't know about gender, but I have found that color and size do matter to some. I had (still have her but she's changed) one BP that would only eat dark-colored rodents. I still have some adults that will only eat small rats. Anything larger seems to scare them. The trick is to try different things and try to figure out what works.
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Jay A. Martin
Jay Martin Reptiles

I thought that scent was the main method in what attracts the BP to strike. Although I did read the male/female and color does effect the way a BP reacts to it's prey.

By the way I'm making a 4 tier sweatbox rack for my snakes. I'll take some pics of my progress, I'm a part owner of a sheetmetal shop in the south bay.

I would think that scent is the number one factor. At least that's been my experience. After that, if it applies, color and size. Post your rack. Are you going to make it out of sheet metal?
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Jay A. Martin
Jay Martin Reptiles

Hi Jay,
I'm going to make the shell for the shelf out of aluminum and then I'll have it black anodized. The bins will be separated with pegboard so that I won't use the lids. I made brackets for the pegboards and the bins so that the bins are sort of suspended with just enough space on the bottom for the belly warmers.
I'm going to make it to resemble the boaphile / animal plastic design. I'll post the pics tonight before anodize then later this week after anodize and assembly.

Thanks, Mark

I agree that scent is probably their main factor when looking for food. When I bring in a bucket of rats, they all start peeking around looking for something to eat. But when I feed frozen thawed, if that rodent that's on the end of my tongs isn't as warm as my hand, they come clear out of their tubs and straight up pass the rat or mouse to get my hand. They are heat seeking missiles and if I'm not quick enough they'll tag me

And another thing I've noticed, when I've tried to get gerbil eaters to eat rats, I do the whole put the rat in gerbil bedding and let it get the gerbil scent on it and the snake will eat it ... not my snakes, they always seem to know that it's not a gerbil ... I wonder if the scent of the animal is too strong to mask, because the sense of smell with animals is so much keener than a humans, we really can't judge by our sense of smell.

I also have balls that will only eat a certain size animal. They will not eat anything over what I consider a small rat.

I would love to see pictures of your progress as you make your snake rack.

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gail

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My snakes went off feed for about three months.... I went about crazy worrying myself with the two of them. I know I'm not in the clear yet because my 2nd snake (my larger boy) still has yet to eat.... When they went off feed they were eating medium sized rats with no problem whatsoever... The smaller snake that ate last night POUNDED a mouse....

However, the second mouse that I have is female... And I housed the two rodents together.... THe thing is, is that I believe that the female mouse may be pregnant. Will this throw off my snake? She is also not a white mouse... She's a little brown one.

In case you're wondering.... My boys have only ever eaten live prey... I tried frozen once and ended up sitting there for what seemed like forever...

>>However, the second mouse that I have is female... And I housed the two rodents together.... THe thing is, is that I believe that the female mouse may be pregnant. Will this throw off my snake? She

I have wondered about this in the past, but it was just a passing thought.

Once you get them feeding consistently, you can start other options. Most of my snakes, male and female are not feeding at this point. I have eggs due in 6 days and it looks like I'm going to have another spread out season, so I expect my feeding to be up and down as well.
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Jay A. Martin
Jay Martin Reptiles

I know that my larger snake may or may not eat due to the breeding season. I'm just wondering if the three months that he's gone without eating is going to do anything to him... He just finished shedding... Does that mean he's losing more weight?

I've had my snakes for about 2 years and this is the first time that I've gone through this... I worry only because they are like my children. Before I moved to Oregon, I had a total of 17 different snakes and lizards. When I moved back, the only two that I took with me were my boys. My ex pretty much wiped out all the rest. I love my boys, and would love to breed them as I think that they are the most beautiful snakes in the world ( but then again I'm a lil prejudice)