Live versus Frozen

[vetwannabe]

My 4 yr old amel girl, Daphne, has developed a weird behavior pattern lately. She isn't feeding quite like normal. Here's the history:
For the past year or two I have been feeding her an f/t adult every 2 weeks. (the pet store i originally got her from had me feeding strictly live every 2 wks for 2 yrs previous to my *enlightening*). Up until now she has fed well every time with no regurg. About two months ago, i decided to try to feed every 10 days, but it has totally backfired! She is eating much less than normal.
in Feb. she wouldn't take the first f/t mouse, then she wouldn't take the second f/t mouse 7 days later either. I tried a live mouse the next week and she took it. In march, she wouldn't take the first f/t mouse or the second f/t mouse, and on the third feeding i tried a live mouse again and she took it.
I must confess that i do not yet own my own personal copy of Kathy Love's Cornsnake Manual, and so cannot look this up in the manual. The problem isn't severe yet, but i would like to find out before i feed again if this has happened to anyone else. does my girl have a thing for live mice, or is it that she is just less hungry right now and i should not need to be experimenting with live? do some snakes simply need the live mouse to stimulate their predatory behavior? if i did offer strictly f/t even though she continued not eating them, how long should i go before i give up and resort to feeding a live mouse?


For those owners who recently lost their snakes...i'm sorry for your loss.

[Steve H]

Have you tried fresh killed or using tongs and wiggling the the f/t?

As far as how long you should keep trying f/t. As long as she is a healthy adult and you're not planning to breed her. I would give it a month or 2 or maybe longer (this just my opinion). Just keep an eye on her health.

I have had a couple of adults that got stuborn on me for a couple of months but eventually decided they were hungry enough to try f/t again.
I have an adult male that I aquired from a friend about 3 yrs ago that was only fed live for the first four years and would eat them like he was starving to death. I have only fed him f/t since I have had him and he will go on the ocational hunger strike and he only seems to want to eat every other week but he is probably one of the healthiest corns I have.

[Sasheena]

I tried frozen/thawed for a while, until hubby finally refused to allow frozen rodentia in the freezer. Now I feed live or pre-killed pinkies and fuzzies, and usually I stun hoppers and adult mice. Some of my snakes won't look at a mouse if isn't moving. The biggest worry is that the mouse will do damage to the snake. And of course there are those who are worried about the feelings of the mouse. I would try to stun the rodent so that it moves but isn't capable of harming the snake.

[vetwannabe]

Yes, i did try wiggling the f/t, but it didn't help.
fresh killed? that is new to me. i will go check on that at the pet store. or do you kill the mice yourself? that would be too much for me if that were the case.

stunned? how do you stun them?

so far, no signs of dehydration or sickness, so i am not yet deeply concerned about her health. however, i have never had a sick snake yet (knock on wood) so i get nervous about possibly missing the signs. i have plenty of room since she still is eating live, but i want to be prepared and keep her well away from anorexia. i'll start by taking a trip to the store tomorrow.