What do you do if your corn, who is plenty big enough to eat small mice, is so darn picky that he won't eat them because he'd rather have fuzzies or pinkies instead? Spectre has twice totally refused to eat a mouse only to guzzle down a few pinkies or fuzzies when we offer them to him because we know he loves them. He was reluctant when he made the transition from small tidbits to big ones as he grew, and even now when if he DOES eat a grown mouse he takes forever to decide to eat it because he spends eons making sure there are no fuzzies or pinkies around first. What are we supposed to do? Buy nests of fuzzies for him? *sigh* It's frustrating when he won't eat a mouse when he's supposed to, and I hate wasting them. If we try to let him wait (after a refusal) until the next week's feeding time, he ends up looking so forlorn that we break down and give him some of the smaller snakes' fuzzies! I swear he looks miserable on purpose to make us feel guilty! He lays right out in front of the tank, where he never ever does any other time, just looking at us through the glass like "Come on guys, I know you have fuzzies. Feed me!"

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~Juliane~

LOL,,,,been there, done that !!! You have to let him know who's boss. After 2 or 3 times of missing a meal he will get the hint and forget all about fuzzies.

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Ken
"Some people spend an entire lifetime wondering if they made a difference in the world. But, the Marines don't have that problem." -- Ronald Reagan

Im having the same problem with Nero my striped black king, he will eat small fuzzies but not his mouse, I only tried him with the fuzzies as he didnt eat for about 4 months and he took them no problem, I have tried mice in between he just wont take them, so last feed I moved him up again to weeners to see how he went, he ate just one of them out of 2, I am now going to try him with a mouse and see how he goes with it, but im not going back to fuzzies unless he goes on a full hunger strike again

Yes Juliane its "Tough Love" time! You are allowing your snake to train you.
You have got to get him eating the larger items or it will bankrupt you feeding fuzzies to a 5 ft cornsnake!
You just have to more stubborn than the snake.
Do you allow your children to tell you they will only eat chocolate cake for dinner?

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Merlin,
What's Life Without A Little Magic!

Yeah! What Merlin says!

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Some think they can. Some wish they could. Some do.

So fuzzies are the "chocolate cake" of the reptile world? *laugh* I had no idea....no, I wouldn't let my children eat nothing but chocolate cake, or my rabbit and hamster eat nothing but yogurt treats, or my dog nothing but people food...so I guess I should put my foot down and so no to Spectre too...Do fuzzies really taste that much better to a snake? Or is it just that it takes less work to swallow them?

Donna, did your snake really go four months without eating just because he couldn't have fuzzies? My gosh, snakes can be stubborn! Four months is a long time! How did you stand it??? I only hope I can be strong enough to let him go without eating if necessary. It's so hard though...I really think Spectre knows exactly what he's doing when he makes me feel so guilty and horrible!

What's the longest I should let him refuse to eat before breaking down and giving him what he wants? I don't want to endanger him...

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~Juliane~

I don't know that they necessarily "taste" better (never tasted one myself!) but snakes can be very bad about imprinting on one particular food item and not being to willing to change.
A week's time is miniscule when it comes to a feeding period. I know it makes you crazy but due to the difference in a snake's metabolism they aren't going to starve to death in a few weeks. My Male ball python routinely goes about 6 months in the winter without eating! I would just be solid and not give in. Missing a few feedings isn't going to hurt your snake and will be better for it in the long run.

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Merlin,
What's Life Without A Little Magic!

Yep, 4 months, and he refused his mouse again last night, we have got to leaving it in his cage to see if that helped, and a no no, will try him again next week.. we must bin about 6 mice a week with the none eaters, we get the odd one every week and the more stubborn ones.

we had 5 none eaters last night, out of 18

Me neither

My son was the same way for a long time...didn't want to try new stuff...only wanted a few old favorites. But he's grown into being more adventurous...maybe Spectre will follow suit...


Ok, I'll do my best to be strong

I was wondering...how big are rat pups compared to grown mice? I was wondering if he might like rats better... Or should I just stick with offering adult mice?

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~Juliane~

The rat pups I get from RodentPro are about the same size as a large adult mouse. However the rats have more meat on them for the size.You could always give it a try. Let him go a couple of weeks so that he is good and hungry.

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Merlin,
What's Life Without A Little Magic!