Reptile & Amphibian Forums

well i have a blue beauty and shes about 2 months old maybe a little more shes only 1 ft 6-8 inches,, and i feel shes a picky eater, ill explain how this is.... well first off i am up at college and there is a good reptile petstore that i go to and she was eating pinkies very good started out at two then brought her up to 3 and 4, the problem started developing when i couldnt get sizes bigger than pinkies because i wanted to upgrade her instead of just giving her a lot of pinkies, which she would eat very good and fine and leave a big lump, but the times i got her fuzzies the couple times they were available, she was going through her blue phase of her shed and shes never eaten during then. then she would shed, and when i would go they would have no fuzzies, so the last feeding i had to go with 4 pinkies... now she is just beginning her blue phase again, and i got the fuzzies and she wont eat them... i dunno if im just frustrated or not but im getting annoyed because i want to upgrade her because she doesnt kill very good yet at all she just grabs the pinkies and swallows them so i want to upgrade her sizable and so she can get better at killing... and i knkow i should feed her f/t buut she always refuses them... so im gettin annoyed and want her to grow properly and feed her properly, what do you people all think about this situation? Am I rambling on and just frustrated or do you believe i have reason for concern?

First of all, wanting your snake to be a better "killer" is an arrogant reason to switch. You should be there for your snake not vise versa. And the reason your snake doesn't constrict pinkies is because it is smart enough to realise that they are no threat and he doesn't need to waste precious energy in constricting them.
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1.0 Ball Python "Wilson" (Castaway)
1. Orange Albino Black Ratsnake "Chunk" (Goonies)
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well i actually do say that not to be arrogant and for the benefit of my snake because i didnt know if as he gets older he will have already "learned" from prior experience the way to kill prey. i did not want him to be like a said "a bad killer" and then get bit when the bigger prey fights back that was the reason for me saying that, i may have said it in an awkward way but the reason for my thought is soley based on the premise that in the future he will not be injured or scarred during a feeding

>>soley based on the premise that in the future he will not be injured or scarred during a feeding

I knew someone once who had a Boa constrictor since it was a baby. He'd had the snake for over 10 years and always fed it live, then one day a feeding went wrong. He fed the snake a live rat which it bit and constricted but apparently didn't have a good hold on the rat. The rat was able to twist around and bite the snake completely through the snake's cranium, killing it. So, you can see that a live prey feeding can go horribly wrong.

The main thing I'd be concerned about is determining why your snake continues to refuse F/T mice. If you're offering food too close to the shed cycle that could easily be the case as many snakes will refuse for up to a week before and after the initial 'blue' part of the shed cycle. The other possibility is some environmental parameter may be off in your husbandry. Perhaps it's too cool, or too hot, or maybe you're handling the snake too much.

It could be many things, but what I find surprising is that any Orthriophis sp. would be a such a finicky eater. My experience with my own Taiwans and Blues and other Taiwan and Blue owners I know has led me to the conclusion that these snakes are mostly eating machines and will take just about anything, just about any time. My Taiwans will eat jumbo rats, medium rats, and quail and baby chicks [all F/T] without any undue trouble. My Blues [which are still late '04 juvies], have taken F/T pinkies, fuzzies, and now eat two pinkie rats each feeding.

I would say definetely switch to F/T and examine all aspects of your husbandry. If the husbandry is right, and it still refuses F/T outside of a shed cycle, try other tricks like braining the pinky/fuzzy, also tease feeding. Keep in mind that some of these snakes are kind of high-strung and may show a defensive reaction by open-mouth striking at the offered prey several times before biting and beginning to consume. The aforementioned scenario is how my Blues eat, although when my Taiwans were juvies they pretty much struck and constricted immediately, eating without difficulty. On the other hand the juvie Blues have never constricted their prey.
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Matt Campbell
25 years herp keeping experience
Full-time zookeeper
Personal collection - 21 snakes (9 genera), 20 lizards (4 genera), 6 chelonians (2 genera)

Since your new blue does not like to eat while in shed, buy a few fuzzies when you are able to get them. Kill them and freeze them. When it's time to feed try thawing one out and feeding it to your blue thawed which is better in the long run anyway. Hopefully it will take thawed which they usually do and you will be on the right track. Good luck. Randy W.

I didn't see before that she had refused frozen thawed. Wait a couple weeks before feeding her and then put a thawed one in her cage over night (all night) and see if she will take it. You might need to make it a thawed pinkie first since it's what she has been feeding on. It's very unusual for a blue not to change over to thawed. Randy

I don't think what you're experiencing is that unusual regarding the snakes's preference for smaller prey items. I have 2 Blues and 5 Taiwans and they often unwilling to take what I consider a suitable sized food item. I've kept pythons in the past and the formula for picking a mouse/rat/rabbit that's near in size to the the thickest point of the snakes body doesn't seem to apply to Blues and Taiwans IMHO. My male Blue and largest male Taiwan are over 8 feet in length and perectly capable of eating a jumbo rat, but they do so reluctantly. They just seem to do better on multiple small and medium rat sizes. Maybe this is how they're built to eat in the wild? In any event, feeding is very expensive for my group: $90/week Spring-Fall.

BTW, I feed frozen wherever possible, but my female Blue and largest female Taiwan both refuse pre-killed rodents. Don't know why they're like that, but I accommodate them. You may run into a situation like this, but in most instances making the switch to frozen is easy and highly advisable. Also it has the advantage of usually being cheaper.

yeah i have tried to switch i know its a lot better for the snake but ill try again probally the next feeding after she sheds. in the past it hasnt worked but ill try again... i love her though shes a great snake i love the look of em

The problem should be as simple as your snake doesn't want to eat while in shed. Most of mine won't, and I don't offer any food if I can tell they are in blue. I've had some eat while in shed, but my blues have always refused. This leads to a problem as I get them rats, so I end up giving another blue the rat. He should take fuzzies just fine while not in shed.
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well she just shed and i introduced a thawed fuzzy to her she refused but i put it in her cage and im gonna leave it in over night ill see what happens i hope she takes it

shes still refusing thawed its been 2 weeks now im gonna try tomorrow so ill see what happens