WooooHoooo She ate!!!

[ewhitefo]

My female ball Goldie finally ate after nearly a year since her last meal she ate on her own, I tried everything to get her to eat every trick in the book, I think what did it was a simple change in bedding from chips to newspaper.. The week after I did that I threw in a live mouse and gave her some privacy for about 30 min and when I returned it was gone.. Just two little mouse turds in the middle of the cage. I thought maybe it was hiding but after I emptied it out, no mouse then I caught a glimpse of Goldie as she realigned her jaw.. That was the obvious clue she whoofed it down.. YES!!!!! I immediatly called the pet store and reserved every gray colored mouse they had.. I would like to feed her Rat pups but they are hard to get live up here and the pet store owner loves rats for some reason so she is a little hesitant to let a bunch of babies go.. Goldie never would take frozen thawed, she was raised on live Rat Pups by the previous owner and I couldn't get her to take thawed ones so i guess I am stuck feeding multiple mice per week..But either way what a relief!!

[kmurphy]

Congrats - I know how frustrating it can be when a snake won't eat and the feeling when it finally does. It's possible, now that it has broken the ice (so to speak), it will be less picky.

[FireStorm]

Congrats! I hope she keeps eating for you now.

[ewhitefo]

I put a second mouse in and it didn't even last 2 minutes before she grabbed it, strangled it and started to eat it... YES YES YES!!!!

[6y0ballpython]

HOW MUCH WEIGHT DID SHE LOSE IN A YEAR? Personally I would not have had the courage to wait that long without taking her to the vet. I've heard that six months is too long and deserves force feeding. A year is a long time and is the extreme. You have extreme patience and guts man!!!! LOL

[kmurphy]

Ed be careful about overfeeding this guy. Not that 2 mice is too much but I didn't know if your plans were to feed him every few hours.

[markface]

congrats on getting her to eat again.

[ewhitefo]

She was purchased at about 18 months old a year ago.. Was fat and eating very well when purchased, after I purchesed her she just went into a no eating routine..I tried all the tricks, The vet gave her a clean bill of health after about 6 months and said if I force fed her it may kick in her appetite, I had her on a force program with small meals twice a week for about 6 weeks... It worked.. She lost about 1/4 her body weight all together..She is about 2 1/2 years old right now, the first thing I forced her was a pinkie rat... then the next time two pinkie rats.. That continued until I was confident enough to give her a Rat pup.. That happened twice and now she is eating on her own... I by no means recommend force feeding unless under a vets supervision the first time. Of course I offered meals each and every time before I would force her to see if she would take it on her own.. She never did, all I ended up with was a bunch of dead mice I killed myself.. AGAIN Get a vet to look at your snake before you even think about Force Feeding.. It wasn't hard but If there were a health issue I think you could compound the problem..

[ewhitefo]

kmurphy.

The mice were pretty petite..I know, I won't be feeding her again for at least 5 days and I will offer the same deal, one then the next.. She is not small by any means..

[darkbloodwyvern]

congrats! good luck getting her to stay on mice. it can be a real pain to get the pile of mice for the larger guys to eat, but it is worth it to see them eating on a good schedule!

my male has stepped up to about 3-4 mice per fedding, it's getting ridiculous... :P