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Silk normally fasts over the winter from October/November until March/April. This year she is really determined not to eat her 3X size rats, although she occasionally would eat a small rat that our ball python, Hurley stuck his nose up at. So this year she had three small rats during her fast interval. But she is bound and determined not to eat her 3X rats. I've done everything to make mealtime appealing to her. Heated blankets, washed and rinsed rats, chicken broth; you name it. I've tried leaving her with it, feeding her in her cage and out of the cage, chasing her with it, hitting her (lightly) with it on the snout, zombie rat dance, everything. Nothing. Silk sticks her head under herself and refuses it all. She's only interested, and not all the time, in small rats. I don't want to try and feed live. Her cage temps are 90-95 in her hot spot under the ceramic heater above her uth. The cold side is 80 degrees. Air temp is 80 degrees. She migrates between these two temps and is sometimes in between both. Humidity is 60-65%.
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Re: She's being stubborn this year
Try rubbing a mouse all over the head of your f/t 3X rat. Sometimes it'll work. -
Re: She's being stubborn this year
Not every creature needs "supersized" food; personally I'd feed her small rats for a while...her appetite will probably pick up again in a few months. (I sure wouldn't feed live either)Comment
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Re: She's being stubborn this year
Okay. We have no pet store and although do have a feed store here they don't do anything with rats or mice. The nearest place to get a mouse is forty miles away and we have no transportation. So I took one of the bal pythons small rats, heated it up, and did the same thing to Silk's 3X rat. I rubbed the small rat all over the big one. I tried for twenty minutes to get her to eat it. No luck. Left her with it (supervised!) for a half hour. Still no luck. She just used it as a chin rest. Finally, since Hurly didn't eat his rat (he's in shed, duh) I tried feeding her the smaller rat. No luck so after ten minutes I left her with both rats nicely reheated. After about fifteen minutes, Silk went over, shoved the big rat away, and ate the smaller rat veeeery sloooowly. And to think that last year the vet told me to feed her rabbits. Aaaagh!Comment
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Re: She's being stubborn this year
How old is this snake? At some point it's normal for the metabolism of mature snakes to slow down...it's also possible there is something going wrong with her health-wise, but I do think it's too early to worry.
Sometimes the more often you try to feed a snake, the more stressed they feel & less like eating; I'd leave her alone for a couple weeks & try again. How often have you been offering food? and what is her
normal interval for feeding? (again, if she is an older snake, it may be time to lengthen the time between meals) Relax...Comment
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Re: She's being stubborn this year
Silk is going to be eight years old this year. Since she normally starts eating this time of year, I try at two week intervals. I won't be feeding her again til two more weeks from yesterday. The vet had been worried that 3X rats were too fatty for her and thought rabbits would be leaner, but I think Miss Silk has chosen her own style of diet for now. I'll probably take her into the vet in May if a he's still eating small rats-maybe a vitamin injection will perk her up. Or not. This just isn't what she normally does. As soon as I think things are one way with her, she changes them on me. That's a snake for you.Comment
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Re: She's being stubborn this year
To be honest, I agree with the vet about jumbo ("3X") rats. When I kept a large BCI I never fed her jumbo rats even when she was 7.5' long; she did fine on med. to lg. & her weight looked good, as was her appetite.
I fed her about every 2-3+ weeks (not a rigid schedule, shorter interval when she was younger, longer interval in cooler seasons) and I kept her until she was 12 years old. (-she now lives with friends) Over-feeding
does them no favors. Maybe your snake knows best?Comment
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Re: She's being stubborn this year
I too would avoid anything XL or jumbo because the fat content. Like Noelle said, mediums and larges should be fine for any boa unless you got some monster 10'+ guy, then its on to rabbits.Comment
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