Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I got a retic about 3 weeks ago from Bob Clark. She took a small rat a few days after i got her, then she just refused to eat. About 10 days later, she took 4 mice, then about a week later i tried feeding her again and she is just striking her food when i try to present it to her on forcepts. Then i knock the rat out and let it spaz on the floor of the tank and she just looks at it, sometimes smelling it but not eating it. Sometimes she kills the prey then moves on without eating it. She has been in her blue stage now for about a week and a half. Her eyes clear up about 2 days ago. How long should i expect before the shed. The humidity is fine. I mist her twice a day and I put warm water in her bowl. When i put her in the water she likes to curl up in it and lie there all night long. I just want her to shed b/c im not sure if thats the reason she is not taking her food readily.

Any other ideas

i have had some females stay in blue for up to 1-2 weeks...

instead of telling her when to eat, you should let her tell you when she wants to eat... they will give you that look and you will know they are hungry... you will save lots of frozen rats that way... hope that helps!
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Reticulatus.Net

I've noticed with my retic that things happen a lot slower than with boas, ball pythons, etc. For some reason mine took 3 weeks to shed and was in blue for about a week of that. Came out of blue and a full 5 days passed before I found shed piled up around my scratching posts.

He also eats rather slowly--a prekilled rat can be given to him and he'll hold it, suffocating it, for all of 10 minutes before swallowing it over another 10 minutes. It isn't even a large rat--less than body diameter--and it still takes forever. I can feed my boas in the same time it takes him to eat, and have them back in their cages before it's his turn to go.