I switched my baby thayeri over from live pinkies to frozen thawed pinkies about 6 weeks ago. At first, I was a little worried because I had been reading about how they sometimes will refuse frozen thawed prey and that some tricks may need to be implemented to get them to eat. I was all ready with tongs to wiggle the frozen thawed mouse, but I didn't need to. She just slithered up to the mouse and ate it. Just like that.
In fact, she actually eats frozen thawed better than live (which sometimes seemed to frighten her). Since then, when I feed her (1 pinky a week), she just swallows them down and the whole eating process takes about 3 minutes. No hesitation. I have never seen a snake eat in such short time. Has anybody else noticed thayeri being very enthusiastic eaters?
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Feeding Behavior
Replies (2)
In my relatively short experience with young thayeri (I have four '06 and one '05), I have noticed they can be quite the little piglets when it comes to F/T pinkies. Also, I believe the common wisdom that F/T are a tad easier for the snakes to digest because the mouse tissues are already broken down a bit during the freezing process. No hard data confirming that, though.
Two of the '06 hatchlings I have eat immediately WHENEVER I offer a F/T (they're now up to two F/T pinks every 5-7 days). The other two eat well, but are more shy and often only one F/T pink every 5-7 days. They also take their pinks more readily if they are curled up in their hides and the pink is put at the opening. The '05 juvenile ate like a demon last summer and fall, but lost interest in food around October, so I cooled him down to 55-60 F. He just came out of brumation and is starting to take F/T fuzzies. I expect his feeding response to pick up during the next few weeks.
Maybe you could post a picture sometime? All in this forum seem to love checking out the pictures of these beautiful, gentle creatures.
Good luck with your thayeri, and have fun. That's what it's all about!
They run the gamut between aggravatingly finicky to voracious. On the average though, the majority do feed reasonably well once they get going. Congrats on a strong feeder!
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Mike
