I Give Up!

[Zoe]

Well, I've finally given up trying to convert my young female IJ to rats. For those unfamiliar with her history, she has always been a finicky eater, accepting only gerbils, mice, and chicks (what are the odds that the only thing she WONT eat are rats? gr). So, she's never really put on weight. She hasn't grown much.
Anyhoo, I've been trying to get her to take rats, recently, by fasting her and scenting her rats and so on. She's been showing interest, sometimes even striking. But always dropping them right away. Now, she is getting so thin that her spine shows, and she's started to figure out how a scented rat is still a rat. She wouldn't even accept a rat and gerbil tied together, etc. So yeah, I've given up. The ***** can stick with gerbils and chicks and mice if she wants to, I just can't be bothered anymore!

*sigh* How depressing. At least she's pretty.

Zoe

[lordkovacs]

and that's the main thing! haha... j/k.

i don't know what to suggest to ya. i guess you could try and contact Yasser or JeffF or someone that's been in the game hardcore for a while now and get some advice. That's what I'd do anyway. Good luck,
MIKE

[Colonel SB]

That sucks Zoe some aniamls are just huge pains in the a$$ but you still lover her I know it.

[wyz]

Try leaving it overnight with a dead prey in a pillow case. If you wanna have better chance, make a small opening in the rats skull with a knife.

Should work.

WYZ

[reverendsterlin]

have you tried nose to butt with a second probably weanling rat? Let her get to the hind mouse legs and put the nose of the rat between them to follow right along. It's worth a try. I understand your frustration, the hognose I caught was a pain to get off frogs onto mice. Good luck if you keep trying.

[OttawaChris]

Are you feeding live or f/t?

[lordkovacs]

never heard of that nose to butt suggestion. worth a try unless you already have tried that!

[liquid_mage]

Sorry to hear she got so thin and you had to give in and feed her mice. I got lucky myself my carpet never liked eating f/k or f/t mice she would always eat live much easier. It took my 8 weeks to get my 14 month old carpet to eat a small live rat. I told myself I would give her 10 weeks but it only took 8. I understand your frustration.

Good Luck.

[Oliverian]

I got lucky myself my carpet never liked eating f/k or f/t mice she would always eat live much easier. You are feeding live, and you had to convert from frozen thawed? I don't know if i'm reading that right. Please correct me if i'm wrong. Generally feeding live isnt such a great idea... ~TR~

[liquid_mage]

Originally posted by Oliverian
You are feeding live, and you had to convert from frozen thawed? I don't know if i'm reading that right. Please correct me if i'm wrong. Generally feeding live isnt such a great idea... ~TR~

I'd prefer to feed f/t or f/k but she has almost no feeding responce with these. I would end up wasting 1 or 2 mice per feeding session. Instead of eating to f/k or f/t she'd only eat one and would be looking for food in two days. When I feed her live she would eat two or three at a time. Now that she is on rats I will have to feed her f/k or f/t since they are quite a bit more dangerous then mice.

I understand why people feed f/k and f/t. It is obviously safer and convenient. We do it with my girlfriends boa. But some snakes just don't like f/k or f/t my carpet is one of those snakes.

I'm not try to sound defensive but I see people question the practice of live feeding all the time. My point is that some snakes just prefer or will only eat live. My hope is that now that she is on rats she will eat f/k or f/t more readily but if she doesn't I will continue to feed her live.

[Oliverian]

Ohhhh.... I see. I thought you meant that you were lucky that it wouldn't take f/t or f/k, and that it only took live. Lol, sorry about that. I got lucky myself my carpet never liked eating f/k or f/t mice she would always eat live much easier. Hehe.. see how I got confused? ~TR~

[liquid_mage]

Originally posted by Oliverian
Ohhhh.... I see. I thought you meant that you were lucky that it wouldn't take f/t or f/k, and that it only took live. Lol, sorry about that. Hehe.. see how I got confused? ~TR~

Yeah that is definitely bad wording on my part.

[Bartman]

why dont you try shoving a rat INTO a mouse..j/k

i really dont know what to tell you, it looks like you've tried everything in the books. good luck with her and im crossing my fingers for you that it eats a rat :)

[V.hb]

try any split braining? works sometimes.

[Zoe]

I've tried all of that! Include putting gerbil skin on a rat. Didn't work.

Zoe

[Invictus]

I was told that carpet pythons actually prefer to feed on birds rather than rodents in the wild. Try scenting it with a chick, or with chicken broth. You might have better success.

[Zoe]

It's been done, but thanks anyway invictus!

[Aaron_S]

All these suggestions have been TRIED by Zoe and to no avail her stubborn IJ still won't eat.

Maybe you should stop with suggestions....obviously if Zoe has given up everything has been tried. IF someone went to to the length to put gerbil SKIN on a rat,then they truely have tried everything.

[Zoe]

lol aaron - i assure that last night was NOT pleasent. I still haven't scrubbed the blood stains out of my floor yet.

However, if anyone does have suggestions I'd be happy to hear them. Odds are I've tried it, but if not, who knows!

Zoe

[Aaron_S]

It would have to be a zaney suggestion to surpass the gerbil slicing. What did you do with the insides? And man you are NUTS Zoe. :P

[Zoe]

well see what happened was i smacked the gerbil against the table, and it was pretty well dead but I smacked them in the head with my hemostats for good measure. And I kind of broke its head (all this on my floor, no less) so it got blood everywhere. Sooo I mopped the blood up with the rat (my floors are clean - or they were beforehand) and well it lead to major surgery and at the end I had a gross rat covered in strips of gerbil skin/intestines. IT was pretty gross.