Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hey, recently I found a very tiny copperhead in a wooded area and have been trying to get it to feed. It seems to be very young but I've never had a gravid female so I'm not sure of the exact birth size of them. I know it's fed in the wild because it's defecated quite a bit, but have had no luck getting it to feed. I've tried a small f/t pink (hard to get live but going to this weekend probably) and it showed slight interest but I couldn't tell whether it was food interest or threat interest. I also offered a live ground skink and it showed absolutely no interest in that.

Here's a pic for size reference (quality sucks but works for the purpose)

http://img268.imageshack.us/img268/995/photo0091br.jpg

Anybody have any tips for getting them to feed? As far as prey to offer or techniques to entice feeding. I've tried the method I use with my older viperidae (dangling/wiggling or dragging with hemostats) but not sure if the same techniques are good with babies.

I've also got four newborn cottonmouths... they're just shedding now so I'm going to try live pinks this weekend and if they don't go for those I'll try fish and as a last resort frogs (want to avoid parasites). Any tips on those would be good too.
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1.0 sumatran short tailed python
0.1 ball python
0.1 rosy boa
0.1 corn snake
1.0 mexican king snake
1.1 buttermilk racers
0.0.2 texas rat snakes
0.0.1 broadbanded watersnakes
0.0.2 yellow bellied watersnake
0.0.1 diamond back watersnake
0.0.1 blotched watersnake
0.0.1 ribbon snake
0.1 Texas brown snake
0.0.1 western cottonmouth
0.0.1 southern copperhead
0.0.1 rattlesnake
1.0 bearded dragon
1.0 leopard gecko

That is a fresh newborn from this year. Just because it has defecated doesn't mean that it has eaten in the wild. They will consume the yolk and pass waste.

Sometimes feeder fish and feeder frogs are the way to go. prekilled superheated pinky mice work a lot of the times also. If the snake gets to the point of defensive strikes rather than feeding strikes you've probably pushed it too much and it is best to leave it alone. I'd say leave the snake overnight in a small container with a newborn live pink and see what happens. Many times people get a snake that doesn't eat and hover over the animal which stresses the animal out. I have animals that I've kept for years that I've never actually seen them eat