Reptile & Amphibian Forums

In March I bought an adult pair of red bloods. The male was fine but the female was shipped with a scale rot infection on her belly. Really couldn't tell it was there because she was also in full shed. Finally have gotten that cleared up about a week ago but she still has no interest in feeding. I know she was hurting from the scale rot before, but how long should I wait before I need to either force feed her or spend more money at the vet for him/her to treat this problem. She has dropped a little weight due to the infection, honestly I believe she was a little fat when I received her so The loss dosen't seem too drastic. Really just glad and relieved one problem is gone. Just don't want a second to come about. Any help will be greatly appreciated!!! Thanks, Don

Not pic of big girl, can't get the stupid thing off

My young blood went off feed for about eight weeks this late winter. Before she went off feed, she was taking F/T small rats without hesitating. But, she wouldn't touch them when she wasn't feeding.

I finally resorted to a live rat, after trying several F/T without success. That's all it took to get her going again. After eating the first live one, she's been back on F/T ever since.

I know lots of folks will disagree with live feeding, but it sure seemed to work for my snake. Just exercise the usual cautions and don't leave the live rat alone with your snake. If you have no luck that way, you can always kill and freeze it for a later time.

Good luck!