Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I recieved a pair of black milks a few weeks ago (5-6 weeks old now). The male is a ravenous beast that eats everything in sight and is never satisfied. the female is a PITA and doesnt want to eat anything.

I've tried live, f/t, f/t wiggled with tweazers, f/t brained, f/t brained and left in a small container over night, f/t washed with odorless soap, and a bloody segment of a f/t rat tail... all result in zero interest.

I (think) i've done everything i can prior to looking at force feeding which i've done before and am comfortable with, but just want to see if anyone had any ideas prior to me going that route. the snake is still active and is plump so i still have a couple weeks to try and figure something out.

I wouldn't be overly concerned about it at this point myself... I've never had a truly problem feeder among the few milk snakes I have... two of which are BM's... but for those that I was told might give me a rough start... I put them in a small plastic container (small in this case means perimeter of container roughly equals body length of snake) along with a brained pinkie. Put the container in/under something to make things nice and dark (I use a dark blue towel)... long story short... it's worked for me from day one with the two snakes I was warned might be stubborn feeders when I bought them... usually don't hear this story with BM's, hopefully that female will come around soon for you... what temps are you keeping them at?

Gerry

Sounds like you've tried quite a few of the "tried and true" methods to get a stubborn eater to feed. My 2 cents would be to:

1. Try the absolute smallest pinky you can find. I've had babies refuse "normal-sized" pinks but start feeding on smaller ones for the 1st few feedings.
2. Try live tiny-pinky over night.

Good luck!
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Ken Roshak
BlackSwampSerpents@toast.net

I have no experience with black milks, but my alternas that hatched this year mostly refused pinkies, until I scented them with anoles and fence lizards.

Good luck!
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Kent

1.1 Hypo (het lavender, striped) corn snakes, 2010
1.2 Gray-banded king snakes, blairs phase, 2008
0.0.17 Gray-banded king snakes, 2011
1.1 Oregon rubber boas, w/c 2000 and something

Colossians 3:17

thanks for the input everyone.

i think i'm going to try live again tomorrow and then brained in a small container next wednesday. if still nothing, then i'll force feed half of a pinky... should just slip into the snake in a couple seconds and cause very little stress. i know with a couple corns and hogs have force fed, it seems to give their appitite a nice little kick in the rear.

after trying everything i could think of numerous times and failing, i decided to try a method i had heard of years ago but never actually tried or even seen done.

tease/ anger feeding.

i grabbed the milk about an inch behind the head... firmly yet gently and proceeded to tease and harrass the snake by tapping it on the face with the pinkie until it was pissed beyond belief. open mouth lunges soon became strikes, hissing started, bitting started, and then finally violent chewing bites once the snake was really wound up. about the 3rd time the snake really dug into the pinky i let it slide out of my hands and into the cage. it was completely motionless for about 5 min, then slowly started swallowing it down.

i will admit... as someone who cares about his snakes and doesnt view them as a way to make money or just as a collection, this was hard to do... i felt bad treating the snake that way, but it worked and the snakes health has been secured so i guess thats all that matters.