Thought about that, but I'm pretty confident it was malnutrition-induced.
I acquired the copperhead froma friend whose adult copperehad had given birth in late Aug./early Sept. I got one copperhead from after their first shed and it has been doing great with no problems.
However, I got a call from him asking if I wanted another baby copperhead. Apparently, this little copperhead had never accepted any food from him, and two of its sibling died from starvation...........made me sick honestly.
As I suspected, it was probably due to laziness and improper technique rather than the neonate's reluctance to not accept pinkies....becuase I was able to get the little guy to eat within 20 minutes of just getting him to my house. Great feeding response too, he struck and held on and then swallowed. usually I have to initiate a strike and then place the pinkie in a dark spot for my other copperhead to find later when I'm not there to stress it out.
Back to the story. The next morning I checked on them and found the new baby copperhead (not my old one) dead with half a pinkie hanging out its mouth. I honestly didn't think the little guy had it in him to take on such a large meal after going 4-5 months without EVER eating a meal!
Nothing comes without risk, but I'm fairly confident it was parasite free. I'm sure others will disagree. And I have been looking for an excuse to feed my King a snake for a change....seemed to really want it too.
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2.4.0 Leopard Geckos
0.1.0 California Kingsnake
0.1.0 Copperhead
1.1.0 Eastern Box Tutles
