Yearling refusing hoppers????

My '04 amel, Sneaky, absolutely REFUSES to eat hoppers! I've had him on peach fuzzies, then regular fuzzies (now 2 per meal) for a while now, and got my shipment of hoppers from RodentPro to switch him and my other '04s over a month ago. He has absolutely refused to eat them, either sniffing, pushing, and generally dismissing them, or, if I bang it on his side he will actually constrict and strike only to let go and leave it alone. This has gone on for the last 3 weeks. I've left him alone and gone on to the next regular feeding day hoping he would eat it the next time. NO GO. :eek1: I finally gave in and gave him 2 fuzzies tonight after he refused the hopper again, and he jumped on the fuzzies like crazy. (This is also a snake that refuses to eat anything with broken limbs, cuts, or any breaks in the body cavity at all) BUT, my other '04s were also hesitant to take their hoppers tonight as well, though they eventually did. (One is the butter that I had go off feed for 2 months until I figured out she would not eat the cut mice) My jungle has no cares, she hops on everything no matter the temp or size. I guess my question is....should I try another supplier??? Has anyone else had this problem? :shrugs:

I'm sure you've tried it, but maybe different temperatures? A bigger mouse won't heat up as quickly as a smaller one. Or maybe the fur is all wet and soggy? I have two snakes that won't eat wet food.

You might try buying a single frozen hopper from Petco or something local to see if it is, in fact, just something about the RodentPro mice that's making him refuse it.

LOL, I forgot to mention he is very picky about the temp and moisture as well. They have to be really warm and dry for him to even consider eating them. :twoguns:
I'm going to PetCo tomorrow, (we at PetSmart are going to be carrying frozen feeders soon also, just a heads up) and will buy a hopper just to see if the supplier is the issue.

JTGoff69 said:

(we at PetSmart are going to be carrying frozen feeders soon also, just a heads up)

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Gasp! No way! I worked at Petsmart my sophomore year of college and was quickly driven insane by people who would come in, try to buy the pet mice as snake food, I'd refuse them (because I was personally attached to the individual mice, AND it was company policy), I'd convince them that frozen/thawed was the way to go, and then I'd have to send them somewhere else for f/t rodents. It was stupid. It always bugged me that they'd have no problem selling fish that grew to 5' long that few private owners could house, but snake food? OMG no!

/rambling

rhinecat said:

Gasp! No way! I worked at Petsmart my sophomore year of college and was quickly driven insane by people who would come in, try to buy the pet mice as snake food, I'd refuse them (because I was personally attached to the individual mice, AND it was company policy), I'd convince them that frozen/thawed was the way to go, and then I'd have to send them somewhere else for f/t rodents. It was stupid. It always bugged me that they'd have no problem selling fish that grew to 5' long that few private owners could house, but snake food? OMG no!

/rambling

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Yep, it's true, we'll be selling frozen feeders, though we can't sell individual mice as feeders. Bizarre eh? But at $4.99 who wants to pay that much for a feeder mouse? And do we sell snakes? NO. (The reason I get is that our reptile enclosures are not secure enough to prevent escapes) The only pet we sell that can eat a pinky mouse is a pac man frog, or sometimes a beardie. :shrugs:
As for the fish that grow to those lengths, yes, we sell them and try to tell the potential owners how big they will grow (especially red belly pacus, knives, and so forth) but do they listen??? NO! :flames:

:-offtopic Wow! I had no idea a pac-man frog would eat a pinky.. Hmmmm.... you learn something new everyday.

I'm okay with them just selling pet mice, since it's really their call as a company, and it's not like live feeder mice are in short supply. But to refuse to sell live food and then sell no alternative is just irritating and stupid.

And no, those enclosures wouldn't hold a baby snake, but I swear I read in my Petsmart manual a different reason... let me see if I can dig those up.

And Bobo's Mama--pacman frogs can eat anything that can fit inside their bodies, but pinky mice are really only useful if you're *trying* to make a frog gain weight (e.g. after an illness). Feeding them pinks all the time can cause problems related to obesity and high fat consumption.

It was my understanding that they won't sell any mammal eating animals. They must be insectivores, herbivores, or take prepackaged foods. :shrugs:

rhinecat said:

But to refuse to sell live food and then sell no alternative is just irritating and stupid.



And no, those enclosures wouldn't hold a baby snake, but I swear I read in my Petsmart manual a different reason... let me see if I can dig those up.


And Bobo's Mama--pacman frogs can eat anything that can fit inside their bodies, but pinky mice are really only useful if you're *trying* to make a frog gain weight (e.g. after an illness). Feeding them pinks all the time can cause problems related to obesity and high fat consumption.

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Thus I guess, their newfound hope to sell f/t mice.

I've been told that corns have been test marketed in Arizona and have escaped. My thoughts are the "fear factor" of having snakes at the front of the store. :shrugs:


Absolutely! Pacman frogs eat whatever moves in front of their mouths, and even on a steady diet of crickets grow rapidly. Pinkies are a rare treat for them.

Maybe its the smell. have you tried washing or scenting them? I had a few problem feeders i had start eating on tuna scented mice. That right tuna you just drain the water and freeze it then just roll it around in it. All of the snakes are now feeding so you might want to try it. For all the details do a search for tuna scenting. Hope this helps

The reason our local Petsmart gave for not selling snakes is that they "scare" some customers. Can you believe that! :rofl: :rofl:

But ya know...in the long run its probably best they don't. Petco and Petsmart never really have anyone who really knows animals working (besides cats & docs). Our local petco sells ball pythons that always have some shed stuck to their head (eye caps and all). Its a sorry life for an animal.

Rorryy said:

The reason our local Petsmart gave for not selling snakes is that they "scare" some customers. Can you believe that! :rofl: :rofl:

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That's what I meant by the "fear factor" of snakes in the front of the store where our reptiles are. And thank goodness, our pet care specialists are well trained in caring for the reptiles we have. There would be no bp's with bad sheds if it was at all avoidable. I have though, seen some PetSmarts that the reptile dishes and vivs were completely dry. That is a management issue. Our checklists need to be signed off on by management, who are supposed to make sure it has been done. If you've got a lazy manager, and a lazy, uncaring staff, that's what happens. Sad...........

Interesting, Hell must have frozen over. :grin01:

Our Petsmart here has pretty untrained staff, which drives me batty when I hear them dispensing bad-quality advice to people wanting to buy a certain pet.

Quite a few of my adult male breeder mice have come from Petsmart, and no, I don't condone buying a $7 mouse for snake food. I have no problems with the pet rodents in the display cages at all, just so long as they're separated from the feeders in the back.

I think most responsible pet-stores are that way. The pets up front, and the feeders in back. And most people understand that. But I always thought it was hypocrisy to sell diseased looking feeder fish and nasty feeder insects, and not even offer frozen mice. But yet, they have snake supplies on the shelves!

But like everything they sell, they'll probably be too expensive for the average person to afford. :shrugs:


Added in a little later: I've had a couple of corns show reluctance to switching from a mostly hairless prey to that which has hair. But usually they get hungry enough to eat it eventually without a problem. I don't try to perpetuate picky-eaters in any animal I own. You may be able to jumpstart it with an extremely small pink first, and then a hopper next. Once they get the "Food! num-num-num", they eat pretty much anything offered. Let us know how it does. =D