Reptile & Amphibian Forums

One of my Drys, a beautiful 2-year old female unicolor bred by Chris Raden, abruptly stopped taking f/t rodents a few months ago. It took me awhile, but I eventually realized that she would eat live mice with gusto, just would no longer take f/t. I've had Pituophis do this also, and often they switch back again months or even years later. This has been a pain, since the unicolor is the only live animal feeder in my collection and has forced me to make twice weekly trips to the petshop to buy overpriced (and possibly parasite-loaded) mice, 2-3 at a clip, just for her.

Question - until/unless I can get her back on f/t mice, any suggestions as to the best alternatives to live mice ? I'm considering trying chicken parts, fish, etc, although I don't consider them an ideal staple.

It's becoming enough of a pain to make me consider trading or selling her to someone with a steady live rodent supply....

Use a f/t and wiggle it just a little bit.

oh she is way too smart for that trick, and also won't take f/t when it's been scented with a live mouse. This is a cribo we're talking about.....

i've went thru the same thing w/ some of my drys about a year ago. i got them back on f/t rats by offering them w/ chicken blood/juice all over them. it helps to wash the rat off prior to the scenting too. they liked it so much i do it all the time now, good luck, i think this will work for you. watch out for your fingers! my guys come flying at me sometimes......

great idea Dan - I'll do chicken-fried mouse for her xmas dinner....

Sorry, this is really long, but I hope it helps.

It took me quite a while to get my male YT on f/t as well. I started off by trying to just wiggle a mouse in front of his face, which did absolutely nothing. However, I noticed that when I would pull the mouse away after wiggling it in front of his face he would become interested. What I do is wait until I know he's hungry then go in with a frozen thawed mouse/rat/chick/goldfish and start dragging it around the cage in his line of view. Most of the time he'll see what he thinks is a live mouse running around the cage and he'll eat it. He's in it for the chase. Another thing I do is, when the snake is in its hide, simply put the food item at the entrance of the hide or where I know the snake will see and smell it then leave it for a time. When I come back the food will usally be gone. Also, my cribos prefer chicks and fish over mice, so you may want to try those.
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Roy Blodgett

1.1 Drymarchon corais
0.1 Coluber mormon
1.0 Masticophis flagellum piceus (black phase)
0.1 Lampropeltis getula californiae (desert phase)
0.1 Candoia aspera (red phase)
0.1 Corytophanes cristatus
1.1 Pogona vitticeps (snow and red/gold)
1.0 Iguana iguana

'i eat more chicken than any man alive'. if you're gonna go w/ this system craig, you better like chicken! funny thing is, they don't seem to crazy about turkey 'topped' rodents though i thought they would........

During the mating season and you should not allow such to stress you, as this is quite normal behavior for some specimens, though others would feed while copulating.
Problematic adult feeders will always come around, once they are hungry enough, though it is a good idea to provide a varied diet for your animals. While chicken parts are not a good idea for a staple within the Dry diet, whole chicken, quail and whole fish provide plenty of nutritional value. Should you have a fish market or Asian specialty food store in your area, I would suggest looking into buying some milk fish. For some reason, Drys cannot seem to refuse such and I have found freezing rats with the fish is an enticement even the most finicky of Drys cannot refuse, just remember to cut the tail and fins off prior to feeding. You may also wish to try neonatal rabbits, as Drys tend to go bonkers over these as well, much like they do with mice…

Best of luck to you,

Jeff
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Jeff Snodgres
University of Arkansas
snodgresjeffreys@uams.edu
501.603.1947

Jeff,
Do you find that females go off of feed this time of year as well? I have a female about 4 years old that stopped eating about a month or two ago. My adult male has already stopped eating, but I'm used to that since he's in mating-mode with my other adult female. But my breeder female is eating like a pig.

I was planning on breeding the 4 year old female as well this year but have been holding off since she won't eat. I took her to the vet as a precaution and he couldn't find anything obvious wrong with her (no fecal though). So now I am wondering that if this is normal for females, should I go ahead and breed her as well? She has a healthy body weight, but is not extremely heavily-bodied like my breeder female....thought??

Thanks,
Paul
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Paul Weaver
Carolina Herps

but yes, females often go off feed in winter. Mine either go entirely off feeding, or want much less food.

If your 4 year old female is heavy enough to breed, then go ahead and hook her up with the male. That's my vote.

Doug T
Doug Taylor Reptiles

Thanks Doug. I reckon I'll give her a shot then. She's large enough I'm sure...bigger than my other female that bred last year.

I love your Boelens pythons on your website. I saw one of those at the Serpentarium in Wilmongton, NC. Amazing animals.
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Paul Weaver
Carolina Herps

Doug provided sage advice and I would follow such.
As for my group, some of my females go off feed and some don't. They are highly individualistic and each individual normally follows the same routine every year. You will learn what to expect from each one after a couple of years...

Best regards,

Jeff
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Jeff Snodgres
University of Arkansas
snodgresjeffreys@uams.edu
501.603.1947