Here are the events from the last few months: March: Ender goes through his yearly "I want a girlfriend" phase and refuses to eat anything for a while; like 6 weeks. April-May: Start feeding him again, he's big but not huge, one *live* adult mouse per week in feeding tank. May-June: Ender goes blue. Doesn't eat for two weeks. (Normal behavior up until now). I decide to take the his shedding/fasting oppurtunity to teach him to eat F/T mice, cause I'm sick of buying live ones, and he will be moving on to rats soon which are harder for me to get live. Don't get me started on my picky eater. June Wk 4: Ender finishes shed. Remove from tank and the little SOB strikes my hand. No big deal, I leave him sit there for a minute ti realize that he can't eat it. Wriggle him off into feeding tank and fed 1 adult F/T mouse. (Is it me or are the F/T mice smaller than the live ones? IDK...) July Wk 1: Go to take him out again. Same as above. Little bastard. July Wk 2: Repeat. Soooo.... not sure where i went wrong here. Maybe he's hungrier than what I'm feeding him and I should graduate to the rats early? He seems kinda thin though. Or maybe two mice per feeding? Or he's used to "hunting" his food and is attacking me instead? What kills me is that he used to be so docile - I would let people who'd have never touches a snake before hold him. He bit me once when he was 1 yr old cause I scared him. Now he's actively seeking to shut me down! So yeah tank setup (if anyone thinks it matters): 30 gal, aspen, warm side 87 F, 2 hides, huge bowl of water
Hi, Firstly, f/t's are usually slightly smaller as there is no blood circulating. He has been used to his food moving, moving fingers = 1 mouse...lol It's also most likely that your fingers are warmer than the mouse, they detect prey by heat as well as smell etc. Try popping mouse in hot water to get it's temperature up, just before feeding. It also may be a good idea to feed with tongs, that way seperates food from fingers. He could well be hungry if the mice are smaller so try feeding 2 and see what happens. I had a corn that was so lazy, he would open his mouth and wait till I put the mouse head in, then he would happily eat it.
haha, my Butters is like that! not exactly, but similar anyway. I just lower the (F/T) mouse into her feeding container, and she daintily accepts it from my hand. my boyfriend would roll his eyes and say that she's lame. but i think it's adorable
I would recommend increasing the size of his food. If he is striking it's for a reason. Either he is afraid of something, or thinking Arby's. Are you handling the mouse before the snake? Getting the smell on your hands can trigger the response. If so, try washing your hands before picking him up. If that's not it, try the rats. He'll get better nutrition if nothing else. Jeff
