She's not eating.

[Fionnan]

I'm having a problem with my boa. She's about 8 months old but she still insists on eating only fuzzie mice. I've tried moving her to up to larger food but she will not take them. I've left fuzzie rats and small adult mice in her cage overnight but when I wake up they're still there. I've tried to antogonize her into striking at the food but she will not. But when I put a fuzzie mouse into the cage, she races out of wherever she is and grabs it straight away.
I've moved her into smaller and larger cages over the last couple of weeks, trying to settle her down, I've covered the glass in her tank in case she was feeling a bit insecure or worried but still nothing....
I've taken care of boa's this age before and there has never been a problem,
The fuzzies would not be nearly as big as the thickest part of her body.
can anyone offer suggestions?

Am I making a big deal out of nothing? She still seems happy enough.

P.S. All food is pre-killed.

[ssjsmits]

Sounds like you are stressing her out, big time. Leave her in one cage at all times. How often are you offering food for her? Frequent attempts at feedings will cause a snake to refuse food. Finally, if she's eating a certain size, stick with it! Don't be so concerned on trying to cram as large of a meal as you can in her. I have an 8 month old boa who is still on rat pinks.

[GypsyFamily08]

A.) you shouldn't feed her in her cage.

She may just be a picky eater, skip a week maybe so when she is even more hungry then normal. She will strike at whatever you give her.

Other than that, at leaset your snake DOES eat without you having to force her

[Brandon27]

I wouldn't say you're making a big deal out of nothing, but it is nothing to be overly concerned about. Just keep trying and your baby will make the switch. Just be patient an persistant! Waiting a week between attempts may help the cause. It can go longer than you think without a meal. You're doing great...keep up the good work!

[mpgt]

What is the longest period you've let her go without eating, in an attempt to switch her over? Maybe the fuzzies have a different scent on them. Have you tried keeping the fuzzies with the larger mice or small rats? Since you're in a struggle right now, if I were you I would only offer appropriately sized rats until she ate. Don't offer them too often though, because she might get in the habit of refusing. Try every 2 weeks or so. I don't think she'll starve herself if she's healthy. She'll eat when she's ready.

[fire_kat]

I agree with everything said above.Let her re-adjust to the last cage you put her in,giving her time to settle down.After a week of being in the same cage,offer her prey(not on loose substrate,though.Put a paper plate or paper towel down or newspaper).Moving her around from one cage to another and offering prey repeatedly will only prolong her issues,so be patient and let her get re-acclimated and she will feed. Hope this helps!

[Fionnan]

Thats for the advice everyone, I will take it on board. I probably worded my original post poorly. Moving her to a different cage, this was a cage I was actually in the process of building her and just happened to be finished it during this problem. The cage is nice and big but has a lot of clutter, loads of hides and plenty of fake trees and vines for her to climb on.
I always feed in the cage and this has never caused me a problem, I can see the logic behind moving her somewhere else to feed her but she's fine being fed in her cage. Her new cage has no substrate, just newspaper where as my old cage did have loose bark chippings but I was always careful that she did not ingest any.
The most I've left her for between feeds is 16 days but still the same problem but as GypsyFamily08 said, I am lucky she's eating at all.

[razeraze]

Have you tried chics? You may want to try that. Feed her in the cage, taking her out will just stress her more. Thaw the fuzzies out with the adult mice so they get the same smell. Don't worry until she has gone 30-60 days with out food.

Can you post pics of the set up and the meals she is taking and refusing. Also how are your temps, large meals require more heat to digest.

[Fionnan]

I haven't tried chicks, its quite hard to get pre-killed chicks in Ireland but I will definitely have a look this weekend. I always feed her in the cage anyway, When