Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hi all,

Myself and my girlfriend are first time snake owners and we just adopted a Pueblan Milk Snake. I have a question about feeding him.... Right now we are feeding him frozen pinkies by defrosting them in a glass of hot water.... how often should we be feeding him? I was thinking every 3 days while he is a baby. Also should we be feeding him in his habitat on the bark that is his floor or should we be taking him out to avoid him accidentally ingesting some of the bark with the food?

One more quick question. Is it normal for him to bury himself in the bark and stay there for long periods of time only peeking his nose out? Or is this a sign that there is something wrong? Any help or advice would be appreciated. Thanks in advance for your assistance.

congratulations on your new pet. i'm sure you guys are very excited to have him. To answer your questions, you'll be fine to feed him like around every 5 days. Every 3 days is kinda more frequent and he may not feel like eating that too often. As far as where to feed him, you should NEVER feed him in his enclosure. The most obvious reason is what you stated (and that is he might ingest some bark which could be potentially fatal). The other good reason is if you feed him in his enclosure, the snake over time will not be able to distinguish feeding time from just handling time. Some snakes would in time strike at your hand because it will think that there is food in your hand. so when you just want to take the snake out to handle it without feeding it, it might think that it is feeding time.

lastly, it is normal for him to hide under the bark. It's instinctive as a matter of self preservation in the wild. The best way is to handle it more often so it will get used to your smell and touch. Just remember not to handle him within 24 to 48 hours after eating as it may just vomit what you just fed him.

Hope that helps!
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RAY

Thank you so much for the advice, it is much appreciated... I'm so glad that I found this site, it will make raising him a whole lot easier to be able to get advice from people with experience.. I hope to post some pics of him as soon as he decideds to come out to visit us a little more... lol...

thanks again for the help.

Yeah, a lot of people here are ready to give you some friendly advice. Post some pics later if you can...always a treat to look at other snake pics.
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RAY

If I take him out of his enclosure to feed him, and can't touch him for 24 to 48 hours after feeding so that he does not vomit his meal up, does that mean that I leave him in his feeding container for 2 days?

thanks

No. Just put him back in his enclosure after he eats and leave him be for a day or 2.