"female" ghost not eating

[angmont1882]

I have a 3 year old female Ghost that has never refused food unless in blue. Her viv has not been changed, temps are the same. The only two things that have changed is buying a new batch of f/t mice from Pet Snake Snacks (same place we have always bought food) and we also bought a proven female (laid eggs this season) The new snake is currently in quarentine in a completely seperate room and has no refused any food from this batch of mice.

Our ghost ate the first mouse offered from this batch but hasn't eaten since. As of tonight it has been 30 days since she last ate. We have tried braining, slitting, rubbing with lizard, and leaving food with her overnight.

I have a few theories as to what might be going on...

1.) She might in fact be a male and smells the new female although it is not breeding season.
2.) The city we live in might have changed something in our water that changed the smell of the mouse.
3.) There is something different about this batch of mice that she can sense and the new female cannot.

Any advice is appreciated.

[airenlow]

Self brumating?

[angmont1882]

That is a possibility as well. I plan to just watch her to make sure she doesn't develop any different behavior and/or lose too much weight.

[airenlow]

Can you get a mouse from a different supplier, just to test her?

[angmont1882]

That can definitely be done. Thank you for the ideas so far.

[Nanci]

It's not even worth trying all the scenting tricks with an adult who refuses food. She knows mice are food, she just doesn't want to eat. Some snakes do that in winter. Some snakes randomly refuse one or two meals in a row throughout the year. Realize, she isn't going to starve to death even in two or three months. I would offer food at her regular schedule. If she refuses, you can either feed to the new snake, or throw it away. (Don't ever refeed from an isolation snake to a permanent snake, and some people would say don't refeed ever).

You haven't said how much she weighs or what interval you are feeding her at. I would try her at a 14 day interval, until she resumes feeding. A couple things to try to tempt her, if it is driving you crazy, is either a smaller mouse like a hopper, or a rat pink.

[angmont1882]

She is roughly 410 grams and we usually feed every Saturday. Thank You Nancy for your suggestions. It is just weird to have her all of a sudden refuse food.

[Martin]

There is a smile on my face with reading this post. This is new information for me that female ghost don't eat. Thanks for this post. All posts are informative.