Reptile & Amphibian Forums

for all of you who have responded to my last two posts about my young corn not eating...he ate!! i dropped a live pinkie in his tank, covered it up, and went to the movies. (there will be blood...amazing, go see it) well i just got back and the pinkie is gone! hes got a nice sized lump about half way down, so he seems to be digesting it. thanks to all of you who gave me advice.

so does anyone have a recommendation on how to get him to start eating frozen pinks so i don't have to go hunting for live pinkies every week?

Outstanding. Of course, leave him alone, and wait an appropriate time for the next try.

As silly as it sound, it still gives me a thrill to fuss with a non eater and get him going.

Good luck, but the first is the toughest. And you done did that. lol
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Thanks for reading.
Big Tom

www.HerpZillA.com

Read my post on your last thread.

http://forums.kingsnake.com/view.php?id=1470314,1470584
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3.2 Corn (Butter-Sunflower '07/Anery Stripe-Ripple '06/Amber-Jack Straw '06/Snow-Casey Jones '06/Amel Motley-Cosmo '03)
0.1 Baird's Ratsnake (Sugaree '04)
1.0 White Oaks Grey Rat (Tennesse Jed '04)
0.1 IJ Carpet Python (Cassidy '04)
1.0 Western Hognose (Samson '05)
1.1 Shepherd mix (Dylan 8yrs, Porter 3yrs)

Congratulations! To get a picky eater to eat the first meal is always a royal pain, but afterwards they become pigs.
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The day I give up my dreams is the day I have strategic grill locations. A dreamer has a philosophy: the entire grill is hot.

it wasnt even his first feed though. he ate frozen pinkies the first 3 times, then started refusing them.

Sometimes snakes will refuse to eat for about a month. That may be why he didn't eat.
Either way the important thing is he ate.
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The day I give up my dreams is the day I have strategic grill locations. A dreamer has a philosophy: the entire grill is hot.

Hey,..that's great news!, I like when that happens..LOL!
To keep the snake interested in keeping up a good feeding response, make SURE the snake is good and hungry before offering food to it, at least for several more feedings. This will give the snake a good reinforced association with prey items, and act as sort of a "confidence" booster to the snake. The last thing you want to do now, is to stop the ball rolling by possibly scaring him with a live pinky in closed quarters that he doesn't want to eat,.....I know it sounds silly, but it happens quite often.

As for getting it to eat F/T pinks, usually after several live feedings, they usually go for dead ones with no problem. Sometimes a good thing to do, is(after thawing) put a piece of wire screen over a lamp bulb, so it can warm up slowly to mimic the natural temp. of a rodent, this often works well for me.

Anyhow, that's great that you got it feeding again,.....keep up the good work!

~Doug
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"Better to be silent and thought a fool, than to open mouth and remove any doubt!"