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I have a pair of Blacktail's that I got from BT in early August as non-feeder's. On the 12th of August I decided to try and feed them, the male ate two live pink mice right away and the female ate one. The male has never looked back and will eat mice pinks,fuzzies, rat pinks, minnows etc. The female however has refused all offerings since that first meal. I have tries pinky mice both live and f/t,minnows,goldfish, scented pinks with tuna,chicken blood,minnows,lizard,frog,split brained pinks etc. She has no interest at all. I decided on October 12 that two months was a long enough fast and decided to assist her. I should mention that when I got the female she weighed 20 grams and as of Oct 12 she weighed 19 grams so she was still in very good condition. Well I held her squirming in my hand as I gently pried open her mouth with the end of the weanling rat tail 3inches long 3/16 thick at the base and got about 1/2 inch down her throat, I then froze and waited, she didn't move at all. After about two minutes I slowly lowered her down into her shoe box and set her down, she promptly spit up the tail. On the second try when I set her down in her shoe box she didn't move at all, in fact she didn't move for over two hours, she just lay there in her box sitting on the TV tray with the rat tail dangling out of her mouth. I watched two, hour long TV shows and she didn't move at all. So I picked her up box and all and put her back in the rack, I checked on her every half hour or so and she would be just lying still with the tail hanging out of her mouth. The next morning the tail was gone and she didn't regurgitate it. I tried this again last week with a small rat tail 4 inches long and 3/8 inch thick at the base ( I figured this would be the bulk of a small snake) and again she just sat still with the tail hanging out of her mouth, but; this time as I checked in on her, I could see that she was slowly swallowing the tail over several hours and in the morning the tail was all gone. She still refuses all other food items so far, but; at least she is getting some bulk in her. For the small rat tail equals 4 or 5 pink mice. I am sure that a she would swallow a pinky this same way, but; I haven't tried that yet the rat tails are just the right shape and this method has worked for me in the past with stubborn feeder's, just thought some of you might like this story. Jack

WOW.....I have heard people doing the tails as well. At least she is getting some food in her stomach. I hope she gets to eating normally for you....Brett

I am sure that she will come around eventually as she is for the most part very docile, she doesn't strike, try to bite,hiss, or even tail rattle much and settles down very quickly when handled. She just won't eat on her own yet. As of today she weighs 21 grams and the male is at 39 grams, his starting weight was 22 grams and he is in blue so he didn't want his mice today.