Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I tried braining a pinky, leaving a live pinky in a deli cup overnight with the snake, small frogs. Pretty much anything and everything. He is a neonate wc northern copperhead. I have never had this much trouble with any of my other venemous snakes. Does anybdoy have any other suggestions? I think im gona bring him to my vet to make shure he is healthy. Thanks

Kris

Have you tried tease feeding? I use long feeding tweezers & bump a live pink against the nose of a hesitant eater. If that doesn't work I would release it where you found it & get a cb baby. They are really cheap, between $25-$35.

The tease feeding method normally works well.

John

While this can be a little tricky with the tiny snakes, assist feeding works well to get baby copperheads started. Use a thin, flexible rubber catheter to avoid hurting them, and a short tube about half to a third the length of the snake and a small enough diameter that they can't turn around.

Good diets to use are Mazuri carnivorous reptile gel and Walkabout Farms enteral carnivorous reptile formula. High quality canned cat food is okay for one or two uses but I wouldn't take it beyond that. A pinky (or just a pinky head) can also be introduced into the mouth of a head-tubed snake with small smooth tweezers and worked down with a smooth but rigid instrument of the appropriate size.

More details and photo illustrated articles can be found at the link below.
Veterinary techniques for venomous snakes

sounds freaky, but sometimes works:

try a minnow. (yep, the kind from the bait shop)

you might also consider waiting a while. babies sometimes go for quite a while before they even get hungry and one of the MAJOR mistakes with baby pigmys is to feed them before they've absorbed all the yolk from their stomachs.

(baby pigmys easily double their size with no feedings in the first few weeks)

You didn't mention how long it had been, but my experience has been that if you keep them hydrated they'll eat when they get hungry.

yeah, I know you were talking about a copper, I was using the pigmy as an example

my reply sounded funny when I re-read it

I had trouble with my wc Southern copperhead at first. At first, all she would eat was frogs. Fortunatly, I had a easy access to a lot squirrel tree frogs. She ate those for a month or so. Then I moved her to brown anoles for another month or so. I then started keeping pinkies with the lizards for 2 days and putting both in with the copperhead at the same time. She would eat both. I did this for about 3-4 feeding then just put pinkies in. She has been eating mice since then.

HAHA.. i got her to take a pinky mouse today. Did a lil bit of tease feeding. The snake bit it, and held on for a sec, and let go. I left the room for about 10 mins, and when i came back there was a lump in the snake and no more mouse. Thank you for everyone who gave advise.

Kris

You could try senting a pinkie..... You can use a frog to do this...... I have also had very good results with dipping a pinkie in chicken broth.....