Reptile & Amphibian Forums

In 15 years of raising and breeding snakes i've never even heard of something like this.

quick back story: purchased a pair of black milks, male eats like a monster, but the female is a huge pita. tried live, f/t, brained, washed, cupping, rat tail... nothing worked

Finally tried tease feeding the baby... holding it gently about 1/2 inch behind the head and tapped a f/t pinky on the snout of the snake until it was good a furious and finally started biting hard. On one of the bites I let the snake down and it eventually swallowed the pink.

Went through the entire routine again with trying to get the baby to eat and nothing. Decided to tease feed a 2nd time and it was a very quick and painless process.

(where things get interesting)
Went through the entire thing again and the snake wouldn't eat on it's own. Well last night I was about to tease feed for the 3rd time. As I was inching my fingers up towards the snakes head, it just opened its mouth and left it open like it was waiting for food. I picked up the pink, put the head in and set the snake down and it ate no problem.

Am I going to be doing this for the rest of the snakes life?

Do I own the laziest snake in the world?

Should I try not feeding the snake for a few weeks to give a chance to get really hungry?

Yeah, let it get GOOD and hungry for a while, then hold one in front of it with a long pair of tongs and let it check it out with it's tongue. Tearing the snout off of the F/T pinkie beforehand can work like absolute MAGIC many times too. It allows the moist tissue scent to come out instead of the very stale not-so-good smell from being frozen in the bag for a good while. I do this all the time with many snakes that are otherwise reluctant to accept the prey any other way.

It will catch on soon, believe me.

~Doug
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"a snake in the grass is a GOOD thing"

serpentinespecialties.webs.com

I don't even know what to say...I formed a mental image of this snake sitting like a baby bird with it's mouth open and I can't stop laughing...but I agree with Doug.
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www.austinreptileshows.com
www.snakerack.info
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that is exactly what it was like. the snake just chilled there for a few seconds like it was waiting for me to put food in it's mouth... was very weird.

I had the same thing happen last year with one of my hondurans. He refused to eat for his first month. He was the only hold out of all the babies, but would readily eat when I tried the tease feeding. After about a month he became one of the best eaters on his own. I call him Mister Orange Head. Just be glad he is eating!

--Dennis

thanks everyone.

i think i'll wait a solid 15 days then try again with f/t but i'll try to tease her a little bit without picking up the snake. if that doesnt work i'll take a razor to the mouse head and attempt again.

it would be kinda cool to have a 5' black milk that just hangs out with its mouth open ready for me to drop a few mice in though.

Not to disagree with any of the responses but, I would suggest that if you have it eating, keep up the routine and get it growing and metabolizing. It eventually will take food on its own once it figures things out.

ECTimaeus