Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Last feed was the begining of January,,,,,,,,,, did have a first feed June,,,,,,, but nothing since. She is 943 empty right now and everything else is normal. Thinking about trying a gerbil or should I wait and keep offering a rat weekly till she is ready. All other snakes have started.

This has worked for me on babies and adults.Take a adult rat preferably frozen thawed and remove the tail.Gently put the large end first(this is important as the fine hairs growing towards the tip of the tail make it hard to spit out)into the snakes mouth and push it down about 1.5 inches, put the snake down in its cage and leave it.Nine times out of ten the snake will swallow this small meal.wait a few days and offer food items again.I used this method getting a pair of pastels switched over to rats from mice.It may take several rat tails but at least the snake is not fasting.Terry

Have you tried a live one? mine fasted for 6 weeks tried a new thing each week, ate the live one almost before i set it down in the cage, then he ate f/t from then on
-----
A.J.
1.0.0- Amel Motley Corn- Valentine (R.I.P 5/20/05)
0.1.0- Snow Corn- Artica
1.0.0- Normal Corn- Ember
1.0.0- Ball Python- G.T.

You didn't say whether you were feeding live or dead. My female just got started eating again this week after nothing since Sept. last year. Try a live small rat. Between 70 and maybe 95 grams in weight. If it doesn't work I'd go with a gerbil once then go to small or medium rats afterwards. JMO. Good luck.

Quig

it will eat again.......

......some of mine still haven't eaten yet for months.....males mostly........some just started...females mostly started.........

........they eat mice mostly again like always........(some rat,gerbil,chinese etc etc)......

.....

??? and I thought African soft furred rats were going to end all this???.......

LOL..(actually I tried a male with ASFR..he didn't eat them live or dead.....some others didn't eat them live either)....

??? wonder what I am to do with at least 100 ASFR 's now???.......

hhhmmmmmmmmm
-----
JYReptiles

Scales-N-Tails Reptiles ltd........Pa

Hi There

I am currently having grief getting my male to eat too. He is fed on thawed out jumbo mice or weaner rats usually, although he is only interested if i actually dangle the thing in front of his hide as though it was alive. When he seems to have lost his appetite a bit i find that squeezing the nose or even crushing the head under some paper after heating the prey up in a plastic bag submerged in hot water helps, I guess the heat & the aroma of freshly squeezed brain is like strawberry's and cream to a ball python.

I am really against trying to force something down his neck though, I have found that by stressing out a snake does not help them. In fact it puts them off more.

I spoke to a guy who is really experienced with dealing with problem feeders and he suggested getting a box that is about 50cm x 30cm x 15cm and filling it with straw (and a bowl of water of course), putting the snake inside and letting it stay more or less undistubed for a couple of weeks. The snake will tunnel through the straw and feel very secure, then introduce a rat (dead or alive) and wait for the srtike. Continue to do this untill it feeds regularly and then introduce back into the larger viv. The box should obviously aslo have the proper hot/cold ends.

Thanks for the replies,,,,,,,, I feed all my snakes live. I tried the gerbil/live and she did not go for it. She was 1,060 grams at the start of her fast in january and is now 940 grams, she still looks and acts normal and healthy so maybe I will just relax and wait till she is ready. Thanks again to everyone who replied.