Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Here is my 2008 McGurty:

He is a poor eater, eats every 3-4 weeks. Sometimes I have to tease/assist feed and it takes an hour or so to accomplish. My questions are:

1. Will his runt status affect his breeding ability?
2. Have any of you dealt with a poor feeder and changed their eating habits till they were champs?
3. Could a nice cold brumation reset his feeding response?

This 2008 boy next to my life savings.

My 08' male (right) next to my 09' male for comparison.

Pits that were troublesome feeders and slow growers.
I just kept at it and kept experimenting with things till I got them on track - some turned on and some never did.

I found that using a hide box and only disturbing the snake to feed it worked well for most..... My stubborn, reluctant feeders had a hard time turning down live rodents. I hate feeding live so I would feed those small rodents two or three per feeding.

Something else that I thought was interesting; using the above methods and keeping them warmer than I usually would - top shelf of the rack, seemed to really get them going. They spent more time on the heat than any of my other pits and turned around quicker than I thought they would.

Hope that helps some..

byron.

Thanks Byron, looks like I'll have to bust out a heating pad. Any other food items other than mice and rat pinks work any miracles for anyone?

I have a tiny little 09 striped Pacific gopher who is only about a third the size of his big beefy sister, because he just does not like to eat much. He is in a 10 gallon tank by himself, with extra heat at night, and I feed him by slipping live pinks under his hide, which if luck be with us he will actually eat. He is a pretty little fellow but I don't think I will ever breed him as whatever the reason for his recalcitrant appetite I don't want to pass that characteristic on to another generation.

hy ryan, i would maintain a good temp. gradient for those and offer small meals frequently. ive never bred those(kept a few) but i have bred MANY pits and some of my best breeders have been runts so never give up,,,,,,,,,thomas

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Morphs... just like baseball cards BUT ALIVE, how cool is that???

my website www.barmollysplace.com

i would maintain a good temp. gradient for those and offer small meals frequently. ive never bred those(kept a few) but i have bred MANY pits and some of my best breeders have been runts so never give up
That is encouraging information. I would hate to have to give up on ever breeding my little striped Pacific male.

My little him, at a measly 27.5 grams as of August 18, '10. His sister weighs 62 grams and the unrelated striped male weighs 60 grams as of August 18, '10.

I have yet to breed any snakes, although I have bred many other sorts of animals, but never the runts. The runts make good pets, usually having more personality than their bigger siblings, I think because we tend to fuss over the little ones more.

hi pyro, it could just be a slow starter. 9out10 times eating issues are environmental conditions so another thing i will do with "reluctants" is try totally differant sometimes bizarre conditions hi humidity,low humidity, temps of all kinds and although a pain unless raising mice live multible pinks do wonders ive had many pits eat them daily at times, so never give up also imho reluctant feeding isnt a trait that is inheritable.
best of luck,,,,,,,,,thomas
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Morphs... just like baseball cards BUT ALIVE, how cool is that???

my website www.barmollysplace.com

I've tried live pinks, ft pinks (raise my own mice) live fence lizards (raise those too) and all the usual things like braining, feeding in deli cup, etc, nothing is working. This 09 baby ate sporadically until July 21 of this year and has not eaten since, even though his sister and her cage mate have eaten on a weekly basis, live pinks and ft pinks. My procedure now is to have him in this little ten gallon tank with a cozy hide over UTH and deep substrate, and a cool spot with moist sphagnum moss hide and his water bowl nested in a pan of moss (he likes the moss around the bowl on hot days) I put a live pink under or near the hide every few days. He does come out and look around and he drinks water and makes urates, so he seems healthy, he just does not eat enough. I wont have any way of brumating him until late fall (to reset feeding response), so I wish he would eat now!

when you can and i would daily if possible not just one by his hide but a small pile of 5or6 left overnight, seems strange but ive had "reluctants" scoff at one lone pinky but a writhing/wigglin pile of 5or6 tiny sqeeky's left overnight has worked for me several times.
best of luck,,,,,,,,,,thomas
-----
Morphs... just like baseball cards BUT ALIVE, how cool is that???

my website www.barmollysplace.com

Thanks for the advise guys.

I will give this a shot. I've got many hungry mouths to feed if he wont eat them, and can also just freeze them the next morning and give him a fresh batch.

Just an update on my recalcitrant eater. I force fed him a ft pinkie this morning, figuring the hell with this, he hasn't eaten in 45 days and is losing weight. I gently opened his mouth from the side with a flat toothpick, got the pinky into his mouth while removing the toothpick from his open jaws and slowly pushed the pinky in and held it there. He finally decided to swallow it, and down the hatch it went. We sat there for awhile resting, then I put him back in his habitat. After he defecates we will do this again if he doesn't eat on his own next time. I really hate to have to resort to force feeding but the other two times I have done this with other snakes it has stimulated their feeding response nicely. In the other cases once was enough with the force feeding. It is sort of like reminding their stomach it has a purpose.

We have had a few like that - mainly Pac or SDs. I have an amel SD pair that has never reached over 3 feet or so, and will skip meals occasionally. Also had a really pretty red pacific male that I don't know if he was even 3', but he bred well and I have 3 hets(from a breeding to a striped amel) that I kept from that breeding that are not huge, but are all going to be bigger than he was and have no feeding issues at all.

I also have an amel Northern Pine that is now almost 3 years old and is still maybe 2.5' at most and is like a midget, for lack of a better description - it is really short and stout looking, almost like a hognose. It has been on adult mice for a long time, but it just doesn't grow. Has anyone else ever seen something like this?

We have had a few like that - mainly Pac or SDs.
That is reassuring to know. I have my little bitty 09 Pacific male at about 27 grams who I have had to resort to hand feeding to put a bit of weight on before winter and then I have my enormous 08 Pacific female who eats all winter and weighs over 750 grams now. I am hoping the little dude will eat on his own soon. I don't mind if he is small, I just don't want him to be too thin.