I'm guessing you're seeing the "wobble" that is typical in the Spider gene vs IBD. When stressed, it can become more prominent. Have you tried an adult mouse? Sometimes a baby seems to need that larger heat signature - and yes, they can take that size. I don't think there is a cause to force feed yet.

Ok, I will try the adult mouse. I really don't want to lose him :-(. It will be tomorrow before I can head to town for a mouse (I'm out in the middle of nowhere - aka the country - lol), but I'll keep you updated. Thank you!

In the meantime, if you want to share the details of the set-up - His temps. of hot spot and ambient, layout of the enclosure, stuff like that, I'd be happy to let you know if there's any tweaks that I think could maybe be made, too, that might help.

I just updated his page on iHerp - right now I am calling him Pewterschmidt .

As for the setup: he's on shredded aspen and has access to a water bowl that is big enough for him to fit in. 86 degrees on the warm end and room temperature (no lower than 73 degrees) on the cool end. A hide on each end. The tubs in the rack are the Iris CB-70 ones. They are 17.75" x 33.5" x 5.25". I prefer to keep smaller snakes in smaller racks, but right now I'm out of room and I'm waiting for a new (and smaller) Vision rack system to come in so that I can put him in it.

It'll likely be easier once he's in a smaller size tote to achieve this, but I'd strive to increase his hot spot by about 4 degrees in that size tub and hopefully yjat will get the ambient up as well. I've found that ~ 88 to 90F for a hot spot and the cool side at 78-80F works great for my animals. He may just need the bump up in temp. to spur his metabolism.

(Gah... "that" LOL)

Ok, I'll try that. The rack I ordered has been back-ordered for a few weeks now :-(. I'm tempted to cancel, but I'm not sure where I can get a comparable one with at least 11 tubs at the same price :-/

Thank you!

What rack did you get?

Vision V28-11 Rack

As Sonja stated, your hot and cool spots need to go up. If 73 is your ambient room temp though, you are going to have a next to impossible time even reaching, much less maintaining these temps in that particular rack system. The vision rack is just too "open" a system and especially with heat cable. Best case scenario is you could try and insulate the back and sides of the rack with insulation board.

Any suggestions for a better rack than the Vision? My current racks are from Reptile Basics, but I want larger-capacity racks.

I would look at Animal Plastics to start with. Go with something that is close sided. I have to agree with George - the open side racks make it difficult to retain heat.

I have some of the older economy line ones from AP that use heat cable. Between the open sides and back and the cable, I really struggle with the temps in them, and my room runs at 78F year round. I currently have to have the insulation board behind and on the sides that arent butting up to another rack. 

I'd also recommend calling and talking to a sales person and giving them the specifics of the area you want to put the rack so they can suggest what would work best for you and the species you keep at your place. For instance, they might recommend a certain inch heat tape would be best. I also think belly heat would be best for your set-up based on my experience.

Sonja K., you are a genius :-). The little guy ate a live adult mouse tonight. It took him about an hour to attack, even though I put them into a medium/large Critter Tote, but he did it!!! I'm so proud of him :-)

And I will be looking into different racks. I did not have time this afternoon to give AP a call. I plan on doing it tomorrow. Thank you!!!

Awesome! You're welcome! Glad it did the trick! 

Ali at Animal Plastics is awesome. She's always been very helpful when I've called with questions.

Do you always move to another tote for feeding?

I have never moved a snake to another tote to feed before, but due to him already having a hard time feeding I felt that it was worth a shot to decrease the amount of room the mouse would have to escape him.

I'm hoping that Animal Plastics works out and that cancelling the Vision rack isn't an issue (I honestly doubt that they've even started on it). I want what's best for my animals .

Thank you again!

Being he was moved could have been the cause for him taking longer to go after the mouse - but I see the reasoning behind why you did. I'm glad you don't usually.

I finally got my holdback BEL that was born Aug. 3rd to take her first meal tonight using that same thing I suggested to you. Her clutchmates took hoppers fine, but not her. Snakes are silly... but it feel so good when you figure out what they as individuals were needing / wanting.