I've had her for 4 years and she's always been a champ at eating. This summer she trailed off and is now completely refusing food. I've tried f/t mice, live mice and live small rats. She has been acting interested and then doesn't eat. Last time I tried though(Monday) she just seemed really pissed, she "skunked" (If you've had this happen, you know what I'm taking about but none of my other snakes have ever done this and I don't know what it acutally is..?) and was striking at me. She smelled the mouse and was interested and I left it in with her overnight and it was still there on Tuesday. Is it normal for females to quit eating for any reason? She hasn't lost too much weight so I'm not freaking out but I'd like to get her eating again.. Any suggestions or insight would be great. Thanks in advance!
Kat
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Adult Female Not Eating
Replies (2)
She may be getting ready to brumate. If she still hasn't eaten by the time it is cool enough to brumate, go ahead and brumate her. Hopefully she will have her appetite back when she wakes up.
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-David Harrison-
.1 Snow Corn "Hope"
1. Striped Anery Corn "V" or "5".....Has two names
1. Orange Albino Black Ratsnake "Chunk" (Goonies)
.1 Orange Albino Black Ratsnake "Peaches"
.1 Ball Python "Rocky Ballboa" (Didn't name her!)
0.0.1 Crested Gecko "The Crested Gecko"
"Have you ever tried simply turning off the T.V., sitting down with your kids... and hitting them?"
It might be worth taking her to see a vet just in case something's wrong with her. However keep trying other foods - maybe chicks or even eggs to see if something else strikes her fancy. I recently posted about a ratsnake I have who, last year, for reasons completely unknown to me, stopped eating his weekly medium rat. After a few weeks I waved a pinkie at him and he snapped it up. Since it's totally unreasonable to feed a 5 foot ratsnake on pinkies, I scented small rats, mice, and chicks with pinkies or did a bait and switch with a pinkie. Now he takes chicks without scenting, but still needs a bait and switch approach to get him to take adult rodents.
Billy
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