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My female licorice stick black ratsnake stopped eating about mid-december. I figured it was just seasonal changes so I turned off the heat to her cage beginning of january and left her alone. I plugged her heat back in about 2 weeks later and she ate a brained f/t pink. Then stopped again so I cooled her again for about 3 more weeks and now she wont even take a brained f/t pink. She's lost a LOT of weight and i'm getting worried about her. She's almost 2 years old now... i'm gonna try tonight to feed her back in her old tank with a brained pink. (i just recently put her in a bigger tank during her quasi brumation cycle.. may have been a mistake)

Any other ideas?
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-Chris

The reason mainstream thought is thought of as a stream is because it's so shallow. -George Carlin

A fool doesn't learn. A smart man learns from his mistakes. A wise man learns from the mistakes of others. Which one are you?

My Website
N. American Rat/Corn snake care sheet I wrote
Information on substrates

Current snakes:
0.1 Licorice Stick Black Rat (Lola)
1.0 Black Rat (Frankie)
0.1 Texas Bairdi (Rosa)
0.1 Blue Beauty (Brunhilde)
1.0 Green Tree Python (Monty)

Do you sometimes try to feed her in a smaller container? If not, give that a try. Most of my snakes are feeding great again after eating smaller meals less often most of the winter. I have one texas rat that's about the age of your white-side who has never been a good eater. I actually saved him from my friend's freezer...he was a hatchling, not eating & super scrawny. I raised him on decapitated pinks, then moved up to fuzzies eventually. He still skips lots of meals and is growing very slowly. I usually have to put him in a small tupperware container with his prey and leave them alone for awhile. Today I put him in there with 2 pinkies...one whole and one decapitated. After a couple of hours, he had eaten them...his first meal in a few weeks (he DID just complete a shed cycle).
Good luck. It would SUCK to lose a licorice stick. Keep offering food every few days. Brain, decapitate, whatever it takes. I like to cut the head off a pink and leave both body and head in the container after sqeezing the head a little with my hemostats, oozing the brain-matter out the neck a bit (yum!). You might try that, brain one, and leave one whole. Put all 3 in a container and hope that once the feeding starts it keeps going. Good luck again. Duffy

she's never been that great of an eater... i have to feed her turn off the lights and cover the tank before she'll eat... but never had a problem before.

i'm gonna try and feed her in a smaller container tonight before i hit the sack and hang a big blanket over it all. if this doesnt work tomorrow ill try a live fuzz
-----
-Chris

The reason mainstream thought is thought of as a stream is because it's so shallow. -George Carlin

A fool doesn't learn. A smart man learns from his mistakes. A wise man learns from the mistakes of others. Which one are you?

My Website
N. American Rat/Corn snake care sheet I wrote
Information on substrates

Current snakes:
0.1 Licorice Stick Black Rat (Lola)
1.0 Black Rat (Frankie)
0.1 Texas Bairdi (Rosa)
0.1 Blue Beauty (Brunhilde)
1.0 Green Tree Python (Monty)

My yearling male licorice stopped eating for about 2 months, then took a few small pinkies and fuzzies when I started offering them and leaving him alone. He just recently shed and I put a big bush tree in there in front of his heat pad. He loves hiding under it and when he stays there, he stays warm so I figured that'd kick his metabolism up. Well just this weekend he pounded a fuzzy and a small adult mouse, so I'd say he's getting back in the swing of things. Good luck getting yours started up again.

It might be an idea to try a Rat pink, my male
Blonde trans pecos,who is now well over 2 years old, stubbornly refuses to eat anything else, his girlfriend is 4 times his size, and is the dustbin of my collection.
Good luck

Well last night I put her in a small sterilite with 2 rat pinks, 1 mouse pink, and I found a pink mouse that was broken in two in the freezer so I brained it and put the juices on the other three and left the head there as well...well she didn't eat anything but she did shed (she hasnt shed since about november, I figured it was due to not eating thus not growing). So she's back in her cage and i'm gonna either try tonight or tomorrow night.. not sure which one yet, however. any ideas if i should let her rest a day?
-----
-Chris

The reason mainstream thought is thought of as a stream is because it's so shallow. -George Carlin

A fool doesn't learn. A smart man learns from his mistakes. A wise man learns from the mistakes of others. Which one are you?

My Website
N. American Rat/Corn snake care sheet I wrote
Information on substrates

Current snakes:
0.1 Licorice Stick Black Rat (Lola)
1.0 Black Rat (Frankie)
0.1 Texas Bairdi (Rosa)
0.1 Blue Beauty (Brunhilde)
1.0 Green Tree Python (Monty)