Reptile & Amphibian Forums

This is the 2nd time she hasnt ate and she just got done shedding and its been about 3 to 4 weeks since shes ate and im getting a lil worried...

snakes do not need to eat that often, mine typically will go months without food during breeding season. I've had babies that didn't eat anything from birth to 3 months old and been fine. Duh, not the best plan not eating for a baby but all it did was not grow. IMO, only offer once a week. try different things, rat mouse, size color bag trick (see my reply to the post just below this one)
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Thanks,

Dave Colling

www.rainbows-r-us-reptiles.com

0.1 Wife (WC and still very fiesty)
0.2 kids (CBB, a big part of our selective breeding program)

LOL, to many snakes to list, last count:
20.28 BRB
13.18 BCI
And those are only the breeders

lots.lots.lots feeder mice and rats

Like Dave said, wait a week before offering again. I have a snake who's been refusing thatwed food for the last several months. All she'll go for is live mice. It's very frustrating.

A trick that I've been using recently is for thawed rats on tongs. I hold the food in front of the snake's face at first. If the snake refuses, I tap the snake pretty aggressively on the back with the prey item. If the snake bends its body, wiggle the prey inside the bends. This can trigger a coil response. Once the snake has coiled I back off and let them eat. This technique just worked on the snake I mentioned above as well as two other stubborn feeders.

Good luck!
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Mike Lockwood
www.tooscaley.com

I never watch my snakes eat so I just leave the f/k item in there for them and last night after five minutes of being in the feeding tub, I had to tong the dead mouse on his body and of course they are gonna check that out and one little movement later and it worked out great.
Bob

So what do you do if their feeding response is phenominal, but they still don't eat it? One of my new babies does the "snap-&-wrap" almost instantly when you offer food. Unfortunately she just lets go after a while and ingnores it. Wierd.
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Is "appetizer" and "main course". Works great for example on those that like Mike indicated only eat mice or some other relatively small prey item. Give them the mouse, let them constrict and start eating. When it's about half down, be ready with the pre killed main course. I hold it feet up with the head pointed toward snakes mouth. As the rear haunches of the appetizer enters the snakes mouth, insert the head of the main course. Almost always the snake will simply continue eating and swallow both. Been using a variation of the trick on Eve to get her meds in. Small appetizer followed by medicated rat.
-----
Thanks,

Dave Colling

www.rainbows-r-us-reptiles.com

0.1 Wife (WC and still very fiesty)
0.2 kids (CBB, a big part of our selective breeding program)

LOL, to many snakes to list, last count:
20.28 BRB
13.18 BCI
And those are only the breeders

lots.lots.lots feeder mice and rats

back away completely when the animal wraps? Sometimes, with shy snakes, any movement is enough to turn them off.

Once a snake wraps, they are ready to eat. Many times, if they wrap and ignore the meal, you can simply offer it to them again, and again, and again. If they keep wrapping, eventually, they'll figure out what to do.

Is it just with thawed, or does the snake do this with live as well?
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Mike Lockwood
www.tooscaley.com

Quite often when feeding a limp dead item I will give it a shake or two post strike and that seems to induce a stronger squeeze response. Of course most of the time it's freshly whacked and still twitching, always induces a strong constriction that way.
-----
Thanks,

Dave Colling

www.rainbows-r-us-reptiles.com

0.1 Wife (WC and still very fiesty)
0.2 kids (CBB, a big part of our selective breeding program)

LOL, to many snakes to list, last count:
20.28 BRB
13.18 BCI
And those are only the breeders

lots.lots.lots feeder mice and rats

She will wrap it up every single time I offer food, but still wont eat it. I dont usually back away too quickly, I dont think. I've also tried wiggling it a little bit after she wraps to simulate a struggling mouse... she wraps tighter but eventually lets go after it has been still for a while. I haven't tried live yet. It'll probably just take time.
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Aubrey,
...Sometimes if you heat a thawed rodent up to about 115 degrees it will stay warm while the snake is constricting and the snake will be more likely to eat it. It could be that your thawed rodents have been frozen too long and have strange odors which cause the snake to not eat them. You could try a fresh killed or fresher frozen one.
Good luck,
Jeff

>>She will wrap it up every single time I offer food, but still wont eat it. I dont usually back away too quickly, I dont think. I've also tried wiggling it a little bit after she wraps to simulate a struggling mouse... she wraps tighter but eventually lets go after it has been still for a while. I haven't tried live yet. It'll probably just take time.
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Rememebr that snakes are cold blooded animals and less food just slows down their growth and usually does not hurt them.

I am not sure if you are offereing live, F/T or F/K. I use F/T and had some issues with my spotted pyhton. I then figured out the mice were way too warm and the sanke was not interested until they cooled. I now have a temp gun and have not issues with any of my snakes. I try for 100 to 105 degrees. Also, with the F/T, I hold with tongs tongs and when the snake strikes I pull back a bit to make the sanke think the mouse /rat is trying to escape. This evolkes a very strong response. I then cover the the container I am feeding the snake in. I then proceed to clean its cage, and wait 15 to 30 minutes before checking on the feeding progress.