She didn't eat!! I put her in a feeding box,wiggled a medium rat in front of her(oh why do they need to smell soo strong!) and she just rattled at it.I tried to leave it,but she didn't take any notice of it.Then I put the rat inside her terrarium and then I put Nikita back in;still nothing!How long can I leave the rat inside her cage? And what shall I do?? As Nikita is 7-10 years old and was always fed live and people told me she will be ok in eating f/t I thought ok,I take her in.But now I feel a bit desperate really;what am I going to do if she never eats f/t? Am I a bad snake keeper if I'm not able to feed live? I wouldn't have taken the hobby if I had to feed live!Some European websites say that you need to be able to feed live if you want to be a snake keeper Am I not worthy having that hobby?Please help me,I don't know what to do.Does she need more time to adjust?
Thanks for your help!And again,how long can I leave the rat inside the terrarium?

how long have you had her? she might still need a little time to adjust.
you could also try to leave her in a plastic tub or something with holes in it for a while
hope this helps

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MY PALS
0.1.0 BALL PYTHON-JERRI
0.1.0 AMEL. CORN-BAYBE
1.0.0 GHOST CORN-BOSS
0.0.1 BLUE TONGUED SKINK-DOUGLAS
2.1.0 CATS-POJO, CHEDDAR, SAMMIE

Jackie, was the rat still good and warm when you put it in her feeding tub? Sometimes mine will not eat if it is not warm enough or if I am standing there watching them, lol.

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MARSHA

:D I'm smiling because I have no idea whats going on!

yeah whenever I look at baybe while she's eating she will stop and look at me until I leave, but boss will eat no matter what's going on around his tank

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MY PALS
0.1.0 BALL PYTHON-JERRI
0.1.0 AMEL. CORN-BAYBE
1.0.0 GHOST CORN-BOSS
0.0.1 BLUE TONGUED SKINK-DOUGLAS
2.1.0 CATS-POJO, CHEDDAR, SAMMIE

Don't worry too much yet, Jacky. Spectre went a whole month once without eating anything at all because he was stubborn. You haven't really had Nikita that long, so be patient. Offer her f/t again in a week and maybe she'll be hungry enough to take it then. That's what we did with Spectre for the month he wouldn't eat...we just put him back in his enclosure and offered again the next week. By the time he finally ate, I was beginning to be sure he never would! Just make sure the prey is warm enough when it's offered. Spectre prefers his wet, so even though I now thaw the mice in plastic bags in warm water, I make sure I dip his in water just before I give it to him. The other snakes don't seem to have a preference of wet or dry...

...maybe you could try with Nikita to see if she likes them better wet. I think they smell stronger wet, which may be why Spectre prefers them that way, I don't know.


No, you're not a bad keeper if you won't feed live...it's much better to feed f/t as live can cause serious injury or even be deadly for the snake. Like you, if I had to feed live, I wouldn't have any snakes.

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~Juliane~

Thanks so much guys for your answers! Guess what;she ate!!!! As I told you,I put the rat inside her terrarium before I put Nikita in;that way she won't see that the rat came through the sliding door.But so far,she never bit me!
I have a theory why she didn't eat in the box: 1.It was a white box which she didn't know and also the smell of it was unknown to her.2.As I only had her since 12.July,and she was in shed half of that time,she didn't have enough time to settle in and only feels secure in her terrarium,otherwise she wouldn't have eaten in it,right? I think a snake who isn't feeling 'happy' or secure enough doesn't eat,true??
Anyway I'm soo happy that she ate tonight and I apologoize for my 'panic attack' earlier .Now I learned always to wait a bit longer to see what happens next!
Now another question; I bought a 'feeding box' today at IKEA,well it's actually a plastic container for storage,but I might have chosen the wrong size;it's about 50cmx25cmx30cm high;she actually fit inside quite well with her over 5' size.Can I ask you what sizes feeding boxxes you use for 5 footers and what kind the box is? Thanks a lot
Oh,and another thing:as the rat was out of the hot/warm water for at least 15min.,I don't think it was warm anymore,so I guess Nikita will from now on gladly take any temp rats,I would think.How can I teach her to eat in a box??

LMAO!!! I was just going to get on here and calm you down with my "she'll eat for you when she's ready" and F?T is better than live because" but I guess I can save it for another time.

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Answers are great. But I prefer questions!

Visit me at www.jaysreptiles.com

LMAO,too Jay!!But thanks anyway!(It's almost a rhyme,lol!)
Oh Jay,another thing; I guess you got some 5-6 footers,right?How big are your feeding boxes?
And for all of you who could and would never feed live,like I do: there are really some snakes out there who will NEVER change to f/t!! I think from now on I'll stick to baby snakes,lol! I think I was just lucky that she changed from live to f/t !
And by the way,next weekend I can borrow a camera!!!! Then you probably get another 'panic attack' from me when I can't get the pics on HC,LOL! As I said many times before,when it comes to computer I'm a dummy,lol!

Anyone?I'd like to know how big the feeding box needs to be for a 5-6' snake and how I can get her used to it: Thank you,I appreciate your tipps very much

Well, I don't know about a 5 - 6 foot snake. Spectre is only about 3 feet, and the others are much smaller. We feed them all now in a 10 gallon tank with a screen lid (37.85 liters, which is 50.8 centimeters long X 26.67 centimeters wide X 31.75 centimeters high) , and they eat fine.

I DO know that Spectre refused to eat in any kind of plastic container. I'm not sure why, but he hates them. Maybe because he lives in a glass tank, he wanted to eat in a glass one, I don't know. He refused his food for a month before I figured out he hated the plastic one, and the minute I put him in the glass one, he ate. It's strange because I know a lot of people use the plastic tubs for feeding, but I've always told my daughter Spectre has a unique personality.

The other snakes have always eaten in glass tank, so I don't know if they'd mind plastic or not.

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~Juliane~