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The baby female that I removed the mulch chip from her throat is still not eating. Im not sure but I think she may have more mulch in her throat that isnt visible to remove..I have now tryed a couple different sized hoppers and rat pups even a gerbil nothin.. Tonight I decided to put a P/K hopper in with the snake in a smaller container over night to see what happens hopefully she will eat if not im good friends with the petstore owner and I know he will give me another female if I asked the thing is I like this girl as I do all my snakes and would like to keep her but she is starting to become alittle bit thin so im worried.. What would you all do????
Jbugg

I assume there is more to this story below but I'll make an attempt at piecing together what happened myself.

Relax. If you removed the obstruction and you know she has ate in the past...then you can relax.

Watch for signs of infection (just in case you didn't remove everything)...excess salivation, funky-cottage-cheese-like discharge, wheezing, mucous or snot looking discharge, blowing bubbles. If you notice any of these things bring her to the vet as soon as you can. Chances are you did miss something and it has caused an infection of some sort.

But, in the meantime....relax. You are stressing out. And this causes both her and me to stress out. We don't like that. I can't eat when I'm stressed and she can't drive...or something like that.

- Her throat and/or mouth may be sore for her ordeal. Give her time to feel a little better.

- The experience alone would be enough to stress out a small ball. First she gets something lodged in her throat and then someoen comes along and yanks it out and all of this happened (I assume) when she was trying to eat. So....eat = pain. That sucks. Give her time to chill out and she'll forget about the whole ordeal.

- If she was feeding when this happened she may associate the experience with whatever prey you offered her. I have a female that loved rats...live, dead, brown, white, spots...she didn't care. As far as she was concerned if it was a rat then why wasn't it in her belly? One day she "miscalculated" and grabbed the rat in a way that allowed it to nip her. She had never been bit by any of her prey before and this was a very minor bite, but it was enough to scare her into backing off. She then went into a fast that lasted about nine months!(this was also the middle of July...no cycling going on) It sucked. She shrank. I cried(a lot). I finally got her to try a f/t mouse with hesitation. Then a live mouse. She took it. So I tried a very small rat f/t. No dice...she flicked her tongue once and recoiled like the thing bit her then slunk to the back of her rack. Okay...gave her a week and tried again. And again. And again. Finally, I have her eating rats again but not without going through a very lengthy period of time where I was scenting every rat I offered her with mice.

Moral of the story...they are a lot smarter (and dumber) than we give them credit for.

She'll eat when she is ready. Be persistent, but remember to be patient also...give her a few days in between feeding attempts. Eventually, she will come around...sometimes the ones that start out as the pickiest feeders are the ones that turn into your garbage disposals.
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I removed the mulch chip then 2 days later tryed to feed, nothin and then been trying every couple days for almost 3 weeks now.. Its obvious she has eaten at one time or another because of the mulch chip.. But im just having no luck.. She was unuseally more active/agressive then useal tonight so I feel that she is hungry just not eating.. Im mainly concerned because she is gettin to a unhealthy wieght. And she is very young this meal im trying to get her to eat is most likely only her second meal. It seems like her throat is a tiny bit puffy tonight but that just could be a sign of tude because she doesnt seem to be happy today. I dunno I guess time will tell if I cant get her to feed in the next day or two im just going to have to go get another in place.. She was sold to me as guarnteed feeding so there shouldnt be any questions why im returning. Plus I notified the guy the same day I got the snake after I got home about the mulch chip.
Jbugg

Ok after her not eating the hopper last night I have decided to take her back and try to get another female that will eat.. Wish me luck hopefully this guy will do me right.
Jbugg