Picky feeders vs. Aggressive feeders

[Hypancistrus]

I am currently keeping 12 snakes (1 of which belongs to my sister) Of these 12, I have noticed that some of them are 100% on with regards to feeding. They eat every week, they strike right away and swallow right away and NOTHING is going to stop them. Others are on and off. My corn snake, Hokie, seems to be one of these of late. He is 2 years old and I am beginning to think he just isn't hungry every week. He seems to strike hard and fast one week, and utterly refuses the week after. My albino Nelson's is by far my flightiest feeder-- I usually have to imprison him with his mouse in order to get him to feed. And then there's my boa, who is incredibly fussy as well-- she is now feeding only on live rat pups and refuses all else. For a while she ate F/T mice but those days are gone. And when I put the rat pup in, she sits and watches it for at least 20 minutes before even attempting to strike and constrict.

Does anyone else have these issues? Tara's snakes, with the exception of the hog baby, seem to eat every week, no problems. I feed mine in the afternoon-- perhaps this is the issue? Maybe I should feed later? Or maybe I just have picky snakes.....

[stephen]

Well,I would say if you have a fussy feeder then there is something wrong.It dont always mean a sick snake, but there probably is a reason they are being fussy.You may want to double check everything and try to see whats the problem.

[EmJagsz]

I've always assumed that experiencing some fussy eaters with snakes was generally normal. I often compare it to humans; if a human refuses to eat, what are some typical reasons why? Are they sick? Not hungry? Maybe they don't like the food they are presented with? All of this can also apply to snakes.
Luckily, I have two snakes who are great feeders since day one so I couldn't really input any of my experiences... Though, I've only had a tiny problem once, with August. There was one night that she didn't eat her fuzzy right away, which is unusual for her. But I isolated her in a deli cup with the fuzzy, placed a cloth over the container and I came back half and hour or so later and she'd eaten it :)