Reptile & Amphibian Forums

So I have a pair of black pines and recently the female decided she doesnt like f/t fuzzies anymore. According to her card she has eaten 18 times without refusing, most recently on December 3rd. I tried feeding her a f/t on December 30th and she refused. I have since tried f/t about 7 time with no luck. So I decided to try a live fuzzy and she pounded it quick. So today I tried f/t and a live fuzzy. She quickly ate the live one then started on the f/t, got half way and spit it back out and now shows no interest in it.

As for the male he is just plain stubborn and wont eat anything but live.

Both are in 20L with aspen shavings and a heat source on one side.

I'm certainly not the most experienced here but...welcome to my world

It seems to me in my limited experience that, in general many snakes are more interested in live, therefore, when they start to shut down, for whatever reason, be it sex, brumation and wtf? etc. the extra stimulus of live pushes 'em over the edge. Once back in feeding mode, they might more likely take f/t.

...I feel your pain...its a pain in the ass, but so the price we pay

What method are you using to defrost your rodents? I have a female transpecos that was a pain to get feeding. She finally took some live pinks, then took f/t, but only if defrosted by a heat light. She wont take the ones defrosted in hot water that I prepare for the rest of the collection. If you are defrosting them in water, try removing hers and defrosting near a heat source light a heating pad, or the warm area near an electronic device. It may retain more natural scent and be more naturally warm for them. You can also offer off of tongs to get give the prey some movement.

Good luck!!
KevinM

That makes perfect sense Kevin. BUT, I used to always defrost in water, then started letting them thaw dry...never seemed to make much diff but I prefer "dry", less mess and sure makes more sense in terms of what we thing they would expect.

In my very limited experienc, PITA is PITA

No it doesnt make a difference to strong feeders who dont care, but for some it does. I used to believe that a defrosted rodent was a defrosted rodent. A buddy of mine turned me on to drying the dry defrost method vs. wet defrost method and it worked. Some snakes need brained pinks, some dont. I believe some do have preferences.

...I'm sure it makes a difference in some cases.

Just a thought, but could the fts have gone bad? Like, if they are from the same batch maybe there is something wrong with that batch now, and she senses it.

I only feed fresh killed so don't have much experience with ft but I've heard if you dry the thing with a hair blow dryer that helps.

I was actually thinking in the back of my mind that maybe they have went bad. This would explain why she refuses them and why she spit the one out after half way down. My cornsnake has no problem with them though. Maybe I should just buy a new bag and hope for the best.

As for thawing f/t I use water most the time since I’m not thawing out too many at a time, but I have also let them just sit out during the day. Either way prepared she USED to not care and ate them quickly.

I warm my feeders with room temps-takes forever, but if I am in a rush they go into ziplocks with hot water for about 20-30 mins I flip them every 5 or 10 mins to get them evenly defrosted. You can poke right through the bag with a thumb and middlefinger to the stomach area to make sure its not cold or icy but thawed and ready. The largest mice take the longest, but its faster then room temps, and less messy then soaking them in a tub-I dont like the urine smell that rises from the hot water when they are not bagged, and dripping water everwhere else is never fun.

Seems like every one has the PITA feeder, mine right now went 2 months without taking F/T-he was already slim when I purchased him pretty sure he was WC. Went for live and he had no clue what he was doing. He would miss the hoppers or they would just jump over him or break his crap mouth lock everytime.

Finally, I picked up live fuzzies-slow and easy, and now he is back to hoppers and getting his weight back up. I named him Saints because when he started eating again the team was still undefeated and his top head marking looks like their helmet logo.

A method I have used a few times is throw in a small live feeder to the PITA after they finish that have a f/t item of bigger size for them to grab-most the times they investigate/strike anything that moves after they get one down. It has worked for a couple of WC snakes that were pains for me.

Love that story about "Saints". Sweet! I haven't named any of my sakes after them, but I've been a fan forever, and it might change if theywin the Super Bowl.

reako45

Are both snakes in the same cage together? If so, I personally would separate them and have them live in their own cages. That fact alone could contribute to feeding troubles, or it may not, but something to consider. Sometimes snakes can get stressed with cagemates.

My black pine was very inconsistent in her first year/year and a half of eating, until I found out what she wanted. She wanted me to wiggle the food in front of her. So, when I started doing that, she eats the mice each and every time, no problem. Give that a try.

Also, I have found out with some of my snakes in my collection, if you thaw out mice, and they tend to cool off some and lose their warmness from the hot water they were thawed in by the time they are fed to the snakes, I had a few snakes recently not eat them at first. Before this happened, there was no problem ever with them. I then just placed the same mice back in the hot water for a few seconds, warming them up, and then the snakes took them instantly. There were several instances where these snakes did this same exact thing, so that led me to believe that they were preferring the food to be as warm as it could be. That may be something to think about in your situation as well.

For those snakes now, I feed them first before any of my others.

Take care and good luck.
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Genesis 1:1