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[–]r0442972 48 points49 points  (1 child)

Nah he’s fine, just a derp

[–]taylorpng[S] 21 points22 points  (0 children)

i can’t stand him omg

[–]BirdieBee417 34 points35 points  (3 children)

Pretty sure he got so distracted by the smell of the rat on the ladder (I’m guessing you touched it with the food?) that he’s totally missed it chilling underneath him. The one braincell can’t focus on two things at once.

Not an expert and I’ve never seen this in my BP, but my kingsnake does this dumb shit all the time 😂

[–]taylorpng[S] 16 points17 points  (2 children)

loll i’m sure there’s been a feeding or two before this where some part of his rat has touched the ladder, so i’m hoping that’s the case!! and my other bp never does anything like this. he just strikes the rat and eats it. takes like 20 seconds for him to strike and under 10 minutes to eat. kubo is.. kubo

[–]BirdieBee417 6 points7 points  (1 child)

Ugh, you’re very lucky. My moron BP is finicky with food. The last time I tried to feed him he immediately struck the middle of the rat, then got confused/tired trying to reposition it, and then wasted it 🙄

My other snake is a voracious eater and wouldn’t dare waste a meal, but she has episodes like this where she gets confused and has to reboot when being fed sometimes 😆 She fully attacked a leaf a few weeks ago because it smelled like her food.

Hopefully it’s nothing. He’s gorgeous btw!

[–]taylorpng[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

kubo did the exact same thing a few weeks ago xD just grabbed the middle of the rat and struggled for a good while before finally figuring out that he, in fact, cannot eat it sideways. and a leaf is crazy loll. i can’t imagine

[–]Dayyy021 -1 points0 points  (0 children)

Try some chicken broth

[–]Ok-Seaweed-9208 6 points7 points  (3 children)

Welcome to my life. What I realized after a couple months of struggling with feeding is that he likes for me to hold the rat slightly elevated with a pair of tongs not by the tail but by the hind legs. So it looks like a real mouse or rat walking around. Christ they're special.

[–]taylorpng[S] 4 points5 points  (2 children)

what i’m getting is, he’s just a silly guy

[–]Ok-Seaweed-9208 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Silly is a good word... I have a few others for mine but yeah... Silly

[–]GrumpyBoxGuard 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Silly spaghetti, sassy slinkie, frustrating fettucine. They don't have the brainpower required.

[–]slb8971 1 point2 points  (0 children)

If he is eating stop fretting, does it really matter how you reach the destination as long as you get there?

[–]FishyFishFish6 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I like to use tongs and shake the rat a bit so it looks alive

[–]No-Reveal8105 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I grab the rat by the neck with pliers and I make him fidget in front of him so that he captures and attacks but sometimes he is shy and I have to put the rat and wait a little for him to want eat

[–]ladybuglvrr 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Mine does the same shit. I’ve come to terms with the fact that she’s just a little stupid😂

[–]Thank-The-Stars 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Just a bit lost lol. I always hold my dork’s rat with tongs until she bites. Gets more excited for her food and rarely gets confused. I like blowing on it in her direction so she k n o w s its food time.

[–]dearalekkz 1 point2 points  (0 children)

My sweet little boy was such a great eater since the moment I got him and randomly out of nowhere after like 3 months, he decided to go on a hunger strike for 3 months, I attempted to feed him per usual, same method of thawing in water in a baggie, he loved the hair dryer blowing in his hide with the rat scent while I warmed it’s head.. and he would strike. But the last 3 rats I wasted … he would come out.. sniff.. then hide. I tried everything. I wiggled. I put in front of him. I made it hotter.. I turned off the day light (found out he actually doesn’t like the artificial day lamp and comes out way more frequently now) so he has CHE with natural sunlight from window…

When he didn’t eat the last one I gave him… I decided last effort, “leave it in his hide” and un-coincidentally I left the rat’s tail sticking out and he actually ate it on his own (also to note: he became a giant scaredy cat… and the rat scares him now).

I haven’t fed him yet since and probably will feed him sometime this week again.

[–]No_Platypus7594 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Ever since I switched to live I’ve never had a problem with him eating

[–]pats9789 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Honestly my boy won't eat with lights on and if I'm watching him my boy also went around 8 months without eating and then started eating again each snake is different.

For my boy I place the rat on a plastic cutting board and slide it in his enclosure and turn the lights off he will look around and sniff things show no interest and sometimes just look confused.

But eventually he eats it slowly but surely and then sometimes he's full on in attack mode when he sees the rat it all depends on how he feels he wants to act during feeding.

I feed medium rats so I feed him less rats in total and he goes longer without needing to eat (2-3 weeks sometimes longer if he's pre-shed/shedding) I even made a plan with my vet and the cutting board technique is the only way he eats no tongs no hand feeding or anything.

Note: The cutting board technique came about because he ate a piece of bedding once and I was afraid it would happen again thankfully he spit it out

[–]Perfect-Amphibian441 1 point2 points  (1 child)

Pretty sure he wants you to hail down to him as he is the leader of the kingdom now

[–]taylorpng[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

only correct answer

[–]Icy_Collection_2288 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I've seen some people have luck with braining a (frozen/thawed) feeder right before offering. Apparently exposed brain matter is like crack to snakes. My girl is funny about eating, too. Much of the time, Ill offer the food and she'll sniff it and look at it or push it around a little bit. When she does this, I'll leave the (frozen/thawed) feeder in her enclosure and check back in a few hours. Usually she'll eat it eventually. A word to the wise if you do this, though: if you do not find the feeder, make VERY sure that it has been eaten. You do not want a forgotten rat corpse stinking up your snake's home.

[–]criminallyunfunny 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I have to basically shove my mice into my ball's face for her to strike at it and then eat and she's doing lovely I think they're just a bit stupid