Please help me feed my yellow rat

Melissa, I forgot to ask, what was your take on moving her to a smaller enclosure, and how long would you wait before offering her food again?

Originally Posted by poomwah

Hello,
I recently acquired a female yellow rat snake. She is currently 17 months old and 29 grams.
We have had her two weeks as of tomorrow. We offered her a FT pinkie a week after she got here. She refused. We waited 5 days, again she refused. That was yesterday. We have tried tease feeding, heating the pinkies, cup feeding overnight, no luck as of yet.
She's been kept in a 20 gallon aquarium with 5 secure hides. The tank is in a low traffic area of the house.
It has been suggested that her enclosure is too large and that she should be kept in something like a 5 gallon. How would be the best way to heat such a small container while still offering a thermal gradient. I seem to be able to get the whole box the same temp. And if I can get the heating figured out, how long should I expect to have to keep her in the 5 gallon before I can move her to something larger?
I have had suggestions of slicing, braining, bagging, scenting, and offering anoles or frogs.
Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.
Thank you for any help.

Will you explain in more detail the timeframe of offering food?

The bolded text sounds to me like you've offered too many times in the duration that you have had her, which would likely stress her out, causing her to refuse to eat.
You've had her two weeks. You wait a week to feed, which would leave one week. You said you "tried tease feeding, heating the pinkies, cup feeding overnight" which sounds like you've offered food three times, and being that there's one week time frame after letting her adjust, would be too often.

I would leave her alone, for 7-10 days. (After moving her to a smaller enclosure). Make sure she has clean water (I don't mean changing it out frequently, just as long as she has clean water, leave it be).
Then after that, offer the exact same tipe of food she had at the breeders. (For example, if she was fed live, offer live).

I would probably space out the food offereings to 6 or 7 days. If you keep trying every 5 days and she is still refusing, you very well might be stressing her out.
Once she is eating, you can change her to a 5 day feeding schedule.
It sounds to me like she is most likely stressed, and that is why she is not eating.

Like I said in your other post, she looks like she's healthy.
You could be causing a bigger problem by stressing her out.

Sorry for the confusion Heather. We tried to feed her a total of two times.
We dangled a pinkie in front of her, she didn't retreat, we dipped the pinky in warm water for a few second than offered it again in the same manner. When she again showed no interest, we put her in the cup overnight. We have done this procedure twice. one week after we got her and 5 days after that. This "trio" seems to have worked well in the past with other snakes. she didn't act nervous or frightened, she didn't tense, she didn't get all squiggly like a lot of rat snake do when stressed, she didn't pull her head back, she didn't breathe heavily.
I'm not saying she wasn't stressed, just that there were none of the outward normal signs. For all we know, she could have been going nuts on the inside.
So, while I accept she may well be stressed out, I'm sure my two feeding attempts didn't make it worse.
In regards to the exact same type she had at the breeders, she was eating both. Should I alternate? Or offer one of each?

Whatever she was most recently eating before you got her.

I would leave her be for 7-10 days before trying again.

okidoke , I'll wait at least a week,
I'm not sure what the most recent was, I was just told that she was eating f/t and live

Have you tried different food sources? Sometimes baby rats/corns need to be fed a lizard or a scented pinkie.

Originally Posted by hadenglock

Have you tried different food sources? Sometimes baby rats/corns need to be fed a lizard or a scented pinkie.

No Need this animal was eating mice for breeder, Its the setup and stress of over offering food.

Once changes are made it will eat.

thanks for the scenting idea, I will keep that as an option in the future should it become necessary.
Rich, the snake hasn't been over offered food. It was offered food twice in the last two weeks.
The setup has been addressed to eliminate it as a source of stress.

Originally Posted by poomwah

Melissa, I forgot to ask, what was your take on moving her to a smaller enclosure, and how long would you wait before offering her food again?

Like I mentioned in your other thread, definitely switch to a smaller enclosure and wait at least 7 days before offering food.

I think the white on her nose is cute.

thanks, the enclosure has been taken care of.
I realize that you like the white nose, which would be great if it was your snake.
It's a trait I was actively trying to avoid.