Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I have a 03' male Dumeril, he is not interested any anything I give him to eat, I'm not sure if he has ever eaten or shed? I have tried a live Hopper, dead Hopper, and sented the hopper with chicken skin(someone told me that might work) He is just not interested. any thoughts??

thanks

Jim

Not sure how yours is set up or anything like that, but here's my way of doing things. Dumerils shed right after birth, talking out of the female and into the shedding process, so I'm sure yours has shed atleast once anyway. I will try to feed all my babies the day after birth as sometimes a few just take off. Outside of that, I wait a couple weeks for the second shed to take place. After that shed I start feeding live hopper mice or slightly larger. I keep my babies in sterilite/rubbermaid shoe boxes(the 1.00 each ones). I use newspaper for substrate, and fold up a sheet of newspaper on one end to be used as a hide. Also include a small water bowl on the end opposite your heat tape if using heat tape. The biggest problem it seems to me with new dumerils owners is the fact that they want the animal to eat NOW, which is totally understandable, but dumerils babies more often than not take just a little patience with as little disturbance from their keepers as possible until they're established. Hope that helps a little, take care

Paul B. Mitzelfelt

Thanks, My set up is very similar. so at this point I should wait for a shed then try again?

Jim

Being a newb snake owner I can identify with your plight. My Dum was about 16-18 inches when I got her. Put her in a 10 gal tank with some dried moss, a manzanita root and a bowl of water. Under-tank heater at moss end of tank. I let her take about 5 or so days to settle in and then I tried a f/t pinky mouse for food. She ignored it. Got a live pinky mouse. She ignored that too. Then taking the advice of the breeder (Dallas Quarles) I got a small adult mouse. I thought, "No way is that little snake going to eat something 5 times as big as her head". Heh...boy was I wrong! Snapped that mouse up quicker than I'd shoot bin Laden if I had him in my sights. Been feeding ever since and she now takes either live or F/T mice. Hope this helps.