PDA

View Full Version : strange feeding behavior


strange feeding behavior

princesstyler
02-27-2007, 10:11 PM
my corn bella is acting very strangely.

her background info is as follows:
age unknown, length 13 inches, eats pinkies once a week or twice if it was particularly small and disappears in her tummy quickly, temp about 73-77 on one side (my room is unpredictable) and 82-85 on the warm, bulb as a heat source for now since i realized my UTH had a crack in it, 10 gallon aquarium, poops unusually frequent but the vet says it looks fine, seems happy and healthy besides the one strange behavior.

the past three or four weeks, she won't eat the first time i feed her. it's not until the second, third, or fourth day that she'll accept the feed, and even then i have to leave her in her separate tank for the entire evening before she notices it's there. i try to kind of hold her up to it now when i introduce the pinkie since she's acting like she just doesn't notice it's there.

also, i haven't tried slitting because most of the pinkies i've bought from the local petco already have some kind of laceration, usually on their sides. the ones i bought at the place i previously lived didn't seem to have these punctures... is this a bad sign? only a couple of these mice have looked or smelled weird, and of course i immediately threw those out, just because they were freaky if nothing else.

anyone have any advice?
thanks.

tyflier
02-27-2007, 10:33 PM
First things first...if your snake refuses a meal, wait until the next regularly scheduled feeding to try again. Trying to feed on consecutive days after refusals does a couple of different things. First, it increases the amount of stress your snake may be feeding, which can lead to even more refusals. Second, it can help to "train" your snake to refuse. They learn that food will ALWAYS be available and start to rely on this "windfall" of food, and so they only eat when the feel like it. By forsing your snake to wait until it's next scheduled feeding before trying again, it forces the snake to realize that it needs to eat when offered, or it's going to get hungry. It also allows your snake's stress level(if this is the cause of refusals) to lower before being fed again. It also ensures that your snake will be hungry come feeding time.

After you adjust to only feed her during her scheduled feeding times, than try some of the other suggestions regarding non-feeders that are located under the BLUE link in my signature. But adjust your schedule first. You may not need to try the other suggestions...

princesstyler
02-28-2007, 03:55 AM
wow, i never would have thought of that.
thank you so much!