Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I have a few adult BP's i pickwed up from a small reptile show a month back and cannot seem to get them to start feeding. I know everyone is gonna say that they are WC and im stupid for not really worrying about it. I just am asking for the sake of the snakes what is the best way to get them feeding as they seem to be pretty well acclimated. I have had a few other snakes feed on frozen thawed left in overnight. But it is not working for them. What can i do to help entice them to eat a few meals since i have a feeling they will go on winter fast. Thanks alot everyone. I do understand if you have to bash me about the whole WC thing but I am asking for help and not criticism about my decision.

Thanks to everyone who replies
Aaron

Just because they are not eating doesn't mean they are wild-collected. During this time of year, many males go off feed. There are times when captive animals go off feed that should be of concern. If they are having health problems, they certainly may go off feed. You did not indicate the sex of the animals in question. How is their weight and are they active? Also, have you had a fecal done to check for parasites? Have you tried live prey? I prefer to feed frozen thawed, but sometimes live prey does kick them into a good feeding response. I have had captive bred do this also. Good luck.

Rich,
They are females with ok body weight not skinny, i wouldnt know if they are active since i sleep at night and as far as i know they are in the same spots when i wake up. They are about 1000 grams each and i have tried live to no avail. They have defacated since i got them and they were not runny so i dont think parasites are the issue. On the downside lets say they are wild collected females and they just arent eating because they are wild caught any tips on getting WC feeding cause even if they are CB which i am not sure of if there is a method to get i wild caught eating it will definately get a CB eating.

Thanks
Aaron

My little one is not WC, but I had a heck of a time getting it to eat. Went 3 weeks wouldn't touch the FT. I tried thawing in water, heating with a hair dryer, etc. Took it to the pet store and it took a live right away. So I thought it was not eating because the prey was not live. Then I discovered by accident that I just wasn't getting it warm enough. It wasn't enough for me to just thaw in water. One day I thought I'd try laying the FT food on the top of the tank's light fixture for a few minutes. Then I dropped the mouse in the tank and my BP took it right away. No problems since then.

Not sure if that's helpful or not.

Tigergenesis,
thanks for the info but i have already tried live with them and i cant figure out the problem. I think i might have to try going with a method of geting WC to eat since if it can get a WC to eat it could get a CB to eat, but i think they might be WC since they didnt cost to much money.

Thanks Anyway

I have two adult wc BPs and both of them refused all sorts of things until I went to f/t gerbils left overnight. After two years I was able, after she bred this year, to get the female to take russian dwarf hamsters and then scented rats. As soon as she got back to her heaviest weight and added a couple grams she quit eating again for me. Sigh. The male was taking scented rats but then went to just f/t gerbils. Finally last week he took a dwarf hamster (prekilled)
Worst is that both snakes can now take 3 gerbils a feeding and gerbils are so relatively slow to reproduce and expensive to buy. But it sure helped my pair.
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Sonya

Sonya Thank you that was very helpful i will definately try feeding them P/k gerbils i get from a pet shop near my house. i think only 2 bux per gerbil. if they take those i will start ordering them off rodent pro.

Aaron

P.S did the female breed the same year you got her? thanks alot

Aaron, I don't want to rain on your parade, but gerbils might not be the answer. You are only guessing that they are WC and not CB. If you're wrong, you'll have a BP that is stuck eating nothing but gerbils. I don;t know how long you've had them, but I wouldn't worry too much yet. I have had many balls come in to my house that are CB that haven't eaten for up to 4 months. I would just wait it out, and use gerbils as a last resort. They seem to have good weight on them, give it a shot. Good luck.

If you guys and gals want your bp to eat put them in a brown bag with the dead rat over night. Mine would only take live and I wanted to switch to prekilled, they would take the prekilled when I put it in the cage. When I rried the bag it worked and now I've been doing it for several months. Give it a try nothing to lose.

Get a pet gerbil or 5.

Put the FT mice/rats in the used litter for a little while, brush then off and give to the balls.

If they are WC then they should take them without much hessitation.

Also you can try and slice open the skulls so the brains with exposed. The smell of the blood is a good trigger.