Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Below is the first pic of my new little male amelanistic emoryi (a.k.a., Great Plains Rat Snake). Currently assist feeding on newborn pinkies.

I plan to breed him eventually with these amel het ladies (CB 2005). Sorry for the pics. They're getting ready to shed, but I wanted to shoot them for size comparison purposes.

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1.2.0 Emory's Rat Snake (amel and het for amel)
1.0.0 Ball Python (het for amel)

>>Below is the first pic of my new little male amelanistic emoryi (a.k.a., Great Plains Rat Snake). Currently assist feeding on newborn pinkies.
>>

Scott, those are nice. Do they all need assist feeding? Is that a form of force feeding? Thanks...Terry

>>Scott, those are nice. Do they all need assist feeding? Is that a form of force feeding? Thanks...Terry

No, just the new baby male is a stubborn non-feeder. I got a really good deal on him because of it (but without any guarantees). The breeder said that his feeding instinct should eventually kick in, but that for the time being she just rubs a little butter on the tip of a pinky and gently forces it into the mouth (then nature kicks in). So, yeah I guess it is a nice way of saying force feeding.

The females have always fed well and have voracious appetites.
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1.2.0 Emory's Rat Snake (amel and het for amel)
1.0.0 Ball Python (het for amel)

>>>>Scott, those are nice. Do they all need assist feeding? Is that a form of force feeding? Thanks...Terry
>>
>>No, just the new baby male is a stubborn non-feeder. I got a really good deal on him because of it (but without any guarantees). The breeder said that his feeding instinct should eventually kick in, but that for the time being she just rubs a little butter on the tip of a pinky and gently forces it into the mouth (then nature kicks in). So, yeah I guess it is a nice way of saying force feeding.
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>>The females have always fed well and have voracious appetites.
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Thanks, that's good info. I have a pair that I hatched out in August. One of them isn't doing too well, hasn't eaten yet, and it's been over a month. It's the light colored one in the photo.

Just one more question, if you will. When you get him to take a pinky down, I assume he keeps it down, then does he digest it well? I mean, he doesn't upchuck it right away, does he? I may try that with my stubborn feeder. Thanks again...

TC

>>Just one more question, if you will. When you get him to take a pinky down, I assume he keeps it down, then does he digest it well? I mean, he doesn't upchuck it right away, does he? I may try that with my stubborn feeder. Thanks again...
>>

The breeder said he'll either upchuck it right away, or keep it down. So far I've only force fed him once and he's kept it down. I first tried leaving the pinky in the cage, then tried teasing him and then finally did the deed.

She said that one thing you can do to help the pinky digest quicker is to slice/score the body a few times (obviously on a dead one). I forgot to try that, but it didn't matter anyway because I ended up squeezing the pinky's body too much and some of his guts spilled out the abdomen (hey, it made for a good lube).

Oh, and you'll need a round tipped rod to assist you once you get the head into his mouth (to push it past the gullet). I used the stylus to my Palm organizer, because it just happened to be nearby.

If you have Kathy Love's Corn Snakes book, there's a good section in there on getting corns/rats to feed (incl. force feeding and other last resorts). Good luck...I hope your's starts feeding soon.
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1.2.0 Emory's Rat Snake (amel and het for amel)
1.0.0 Ball Python (het for amel)