Should I be worried?

[boosh96]

My baby BCI, Zoey, didn't eat today. I tried dangling and shaking the prekilled mouse a little in front of her, and I even tried resorting to "braining" the mouse. Should I be worried that she doesn't want to eat?

[alessia55]

No. Sometimes snakes will miss a meal if they're not hungry or are about to shed. Unless she is missing several meals in a row and is losing weight, you have nothing to worry about. Just wait until next week before offering food again.

[snakehill]

For us dummies! BCI????

[youngster]

boa constrictor imperator

Most of the common pet trade boas are BCIs

[snakehill]

Red Tails???

[youngster]

Yep, usually googling it will give you a nice answer.

[snakehill]

I did but nothing came up!:cool:

[youngster]

Boa constrictor imperator - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boa_constrictor_imperator)

[snakehill]

Thank you! Great snakes! I had four of them! Very sweet! Nothing bothers them!!!! :cool:

[Lankyrob]

To the OP - not sure if it is similar situation but last year about this time my BP stopped eating for 12 weeks, just down to the time of year, nothing to worry about at all.

[boosh96]

It's okay-she actually ate after another feeding attempt about two hours later. But I was just too lazy to post about it at the time.

[Jacob1750]

Lucky outcome lol. My blood has yet to eat since ive gotten her. Its been about 9 or 10 weeks now.

[millertime89]

It's okay-she actually ate after another feeding attempt about two hours later. But I was just too lazy to post about it at the time.

don't try and feed so soon after a failed attempt, sometimes it works, but usually it just stresses the snake out. Give it a week between feeding attempts.

[red_tail_ale]

Is it the same size you usually feed her? My RTB didn't eat for about 2 weeks because I was feeding her medium mice. She wouldn't even raise her head when I put them in there. So I switched to small mice and she had it in less than 2 minutes.

Also, temperature of the mouse can affect things. Usually the closer to typical body temperature, the quicker they strike. I've had her "stalk" a prekilled mouse for almost 15 minutes, face prodding it and smelling it, and when I examined the mouse with a heat gun I saw it practically room temperature.

Another tip I learned early on is to thaw the mouse in watered down chicken broth. Too much can confuse the snake (and may cause your hand to smell like food). My snake really enjoyed that but water is cheaper and she still eats.

[Swany]

I've been lucky with my royal she's fed both times I've offered her.
I'm new to snake keeping, but with regards to the chicken broth. You have to use low sodium broth. I read this on another post a couple of days ago

Cheers