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I'm looking for advice for 2 03 Northern Pines that I have. Both had fed for me only 3-4 times last year. I was told that they had fed appx 10-12 times when I purchased them. They came from a reputable breeder that posts on here frequently. I cooled them down for 8 weeks with the hope they would have a stronger feeding response afterwards. It's been 3 weeks since they were warmed back up. One has fed once, the other not at all. I have 7 other 2003 pines that are more then twice the size of these now. I'm keeping them in Rubbermaid sweater boxes at 80-82 degrees on paper towel. They also have a hide box. I have been working with Pits for about 15 years now and have never had any that were so problematic as far as feeding goes. I have been trying frozen thawed fuzzy mice. I have attempted to feed them in their containers as well as a small deli cup. Live fuzzys are not that accessible for me here. Any other ideas? Thanks

stghj

I had tried rat pinkies when I first got the snake with out much luck. I have since been trying mouse fuzzies.

This may or may not be of any use to you so take what you need and leave the rest.

I have a pair of deppei deppei, I bought them both at the same time and now due to not wanting to eat one is extremely bigger than the other one. The male (max) will eat readily and jumps at his food, the other (Lucrecia) is the fussiest snake i have ever come across. With her i have to feed her one large pinkie (as if the mouse is even slightly too big she won´t take it) every 4-5 days which has been pre-killed and thawed and then i heat it up in boiling water in a galvanized tin can. I think by doing this it takes some of the mousey smell away and gives the mouse a more natural thermal look. Also i have changed her housing and added much smaller houses (Small inverted plant pots with holes cut only in the top) at 3 points in the tank to make her feel safer. Once i had changed her housing she seemed to be much more confident in her living space so after 1 week i tried a mouse and nothing, she just moved quickly away from the mouse. So next step i put the mouse into her house with her and covered the top of the pot with a stone only leaving sufficient space for air to get in but as not to let her out. After 2 hours of leaving her alone, i returned and she had eaten the mouse. I have continued with this method and have had great results.

I hope this is of some use to you, if not i hope you have good results with your pits

Andy

If it makes you feel any better, I have two southern pines, an '01 and an '02. To this day neither has ever eaten anything but a live rat.I've tried everything to switch them to even fresh-killed but no luck. Also, since my entire breeding colony of rodents (rats and mice) decided to go on a breeding strike about three months ago, the '02 hasn't even eaten this year since brumation. When I first got the '01 it took me forever to figure out what she would eat. She actually did eat a mouse once, but she gurged it the next day. Everybody always telss me they've never heard of a picky pinesnake. P-shaw!
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