Hi,

Well, we tried to get Spectre to eat an adult mouse again today. We really thought he might eat this time because he's been out searching and searching quite frequently every day and night for the last week. The last grown mouse he ate was on March 5th, he refused an adult mouse on the 12th, and then he had two fuzzies on the 15thth because we couldn't stand it and caved in and gave him what he wanted . We're trying to wait him out now, but he's worrying us to death.

We tried in the feeding box with no luck. He just ends up trying to get out of the box the whole time or laying in a coil as far away from the mouse as he can get. Then I thought maybe he isn't comfortable with the dark blue feeding box, and we tried him in a lighter color one like he used to eat out of when he was very small...still no luck. We put him back in his tank and left the mouse in there...after several hours, the mouse is still there. How long can he be so stubborn without hurting himself? Does he really like the fuzzies that much more, that he won't eat a mouse even when he's hungry? My husband says he wants the fuzzies because eating them is like eating popcorn...easy to pop into his mouth and swallow without any real effort...

My daughter and I are very frustrated that he won't eat! He teases us too...he'll show some interest in the mouse when we check on him, and then slither away as if to say,"Neener neener...I won't eat until you give me what I want....FUZZIES!" Right now, he's curled up in his log with the mouse just inside there with him (I placed it there)...He's just looking at it. *sigh* How long should I leave it in his tank? Overnight? Or will it spoil before morning?

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~Juliane~

going a few weeks without food isn't going to hurt him. this is Blizzard's second week without food. he usually doesn't go much longer then that before he gets hungry again. its frustrating I know. i was going crazy some time ago because my rosy boa didn't eat anything for 4 months straight. now he goes a week without eating and then the next week he eats. its weird but as long as they don't lose alot of weight its okay.

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yes i am a she ^_^

~My Babies~

1 Rosy Boa (male) Chaos
1 Snow Corn (male) Blizzard
1 Anertherystic Corn (male) Bullet
1 Senegal Parrot (male) Shadow
2 dogs (male) Spot and Bear

April?? Do you mean March? If you meant April I would be worried!! But if you did mean March there really is nothing to worry about - snakes can go for a long time without food, and in the wild they are opportunist feeders, meaning they often have to go without food for months.

If he starts losing weight then there are a few tricks you can try to get him to feed, but for now, a couple of weeks is nothing to stress about - try having several snakes not eat for at least 6 months every year!!

Couple of questions - how big is Spectre/how old? Is he definately male? I'm guessing if you are trying him on adult mice that it's likely he is at sexual maturity and therefore will be wanting to breed, and will go off his food. Our male corns are off their food at the moment, because it's breeding season, and their minds are on something else - they have not eaten for several weeks, but we know the reason why they are not eating and know we have nothing to worry about. If there was a chance that he was ill or something was wrong with him then you would have reason to be concerned, but I would give him a few more weeks before you start to stress yourself out,.

If you find that he wants to eats fuzzies then feed him fuzzies - he may not feel ready for mice or may just not want them. Feed him what he wants to eat - some snakes are harder to convert to diff. food items than others.

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"If you know everything you may as well blow your brains out because the reason for existence is to learn more everyday." - Mark O'Shea, 2004

Oops, yes, I meant March...I'm getting ahead of myself.


He's 32 inches...maybe...he wouldn't quite stretch straight for me to measure, but I think that's pretty close. I don't know his age, but he was only 10 inches long last July when we got him. We actually have no idea if he's male or female...we just say "he" because we don't like to say "it".


You don't think that would be like letting my kids eat nothing but choloate cake, as Merlin said in another post?

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~Juliane~

LOL I hope it's not quite April yet.. less time for me to do my dissertation!!

Firstly, if he is around or over a year in age, and is male, as I said it is likely that he is off his food due to reaching sexual maturity,. This is quite common and nothing to worry about, but even so it's only been a couple of weeks - really nothing to be concerned about.

Also, no it wouldn't be like letting your kids eat only chocolate! -It's all the same food,. he will decide when he wants to move onto mice. Are the fuzzies mice or rats?? - if they are rats he may prefer the taste of rats and you may have difficulty in feeding mice,. if they are mice then just feed him them if that's what he will eat, and increase the amount. Try mice again in a few weeks/months, or weaner rats if the fuzzies are rats.

Can you post a pic of him next to something, to show his size? Also try and get a pic of his underside, so we can see his tail and tail length - or can you give a rough measurement of his tail? (from his vent to the tip of his tail),. Also look at the tail by the vent,. does it go slightly thicker and then taper off or is it all slim and more consistent in size? - these aren't definate ways of telling sex but it may give you an idea.

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"If you know everything you may as well blow your brains out because the reason for existence is to learn more everyday." - Mark O'Shea, 2004

LOL! Juliane! He isn't going to starve in a couple of weeks! Snakes can go for months without eating. 10 days is nothing to them! I wouldn't give in yet. If after another week or two he still won't take the mouse there is something else you might try. Give 1 fuzzy and have the big mouse at the ready. As he is swallowing the fuzzy, using a pair of tongs feed the head of the mouse right in behind the fuzzy so that he just continues swallowing. Maybe this will get across to him that the big mouse is food too!

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Merlin,
What's Life Without A Little Magic!

Isn't that cheating!? =)

LOL Whatever works!

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Merlin,
What's Life Without A Little Magic!

LOL Who cares as long as our darlings eat??

Juliane, is it possible that Spectre is due a shed? Or he may just not be hungry - you said he ate a mouse on 5th March then refused his next meal, probably because he wasn't hungry yet, then ate again on the 15th - give it time.

Also, do you keep records? - we keep feeding and shedding records for all of our snakes, and this helps us notice any patterns as well as keep a check on everyone - difficult to do with 27 snakes!! If you keep a feeding record you'll often see a pattern emerging - our male hognose for example was a terrible feeder before he went into brumation this year, and a regular pattern for him was to eat one week and then not eat for one-two weeks, then eat again. We grew to realise that this was normal for him and so know not to worry when he doesn't eat. We can also keep a track of when the snakes are in shed so we know not to feed them that week or the week before.

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"If you know everything you may as well blow your brains out because the reason for existence is to learn more everyday." - Mark O'Shea, 2004

Sort of, but it often works!! The timing has to be just right... as the front legs are well inside the mouth, you have to be warming up the mouse, hold it by the front shoulders in the feeding tongs and push it's nose right up against the rear-end of the pinkie being swallowed.
If you wait too long, the snake's mouth will close too far over the back end of the first food item. Sometimes they get a bit irritated and try to back away, but you just have to try to keep the nose of the mouse against the one being swallowed. Once they bite down on it and have it caught in their hooked teeth, they'll usually keep swallowing.

It worked with my little Monty when I was trying to convert him to F/T and again when I tried to convert him to rat pinkies!!

Juliane, try not to worry too much. Check the temps in the cage, but if everything looks ok, he might just not feel like eating right now. (like Rachel said, he could be feeling the mating season)

If you don't have one already, get a tempgun!! (I think they are about $25-35 at Radio Shack or you can order them over the internet.) This will allow you to see how warm the food is you're feeding. Monty won't eat if the food isn't at least 107F !
He'll nose it, push it as though saying "I can smell the food, maybe it's under this cold thing!" Then he'll back off and wait as if to see if it might crawl out from under that thing!
But if I warm it up (with my blowdryer) to just the right temp, he snaps it right out of the feeding tongs! This last feeding, he struck so hard and fast that I screamed and threw the pinkie over my shoulder! Oooops! I wasn't expecting him to be THAT eager!!

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Andrea