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When I picked up the stuarti I also picked up 200 pinkie mice... they all ate with no problems... they all also shed almost every two weeks with very little sign of being in "blue", shedding that quickly kind of worried me a little bit but I wasn't alarmed...

Anyway they were growing quickly and soon consuming 3 pinkies each every 4 days... 200 mice pinkies didn't last long given I was feeding five snakes.

Long story short I ordered rat pinkies next... feeding has since then become spotty... a particular stuarti may not feed on "schedule" but any given snake will only miss one feeding... except No.4. She hasn't eaten at all since going with rat pinkies... roughly one month now. With an older snake I wouldn't be concerned at all but the question is...

How long should I not be concerned with a young snake? I'm thinking of picking up a few mouse pinkies at a local pet store to see if she'll feed.

I know that, even at her age, not eating for a month is not cause to worry but... I still worry.

Gerry

Hey Gerry

I have some milks that will only eat rat pinkies and others that will only eat mice. No matter what I do I can't get them to eat the other that they don't like.

I think you have the same thing here. Up them to larger mice (eg large pinks or peach fuzzies) and watch them eat and grow!!

Dave

As Dave already said, some snakes will eat mice, some will eat rats, some will eat anything and everything!

If you want to feed the non-rat feeder a rat...then scent the rat with a mouse.

My preferred method of scenting, mouse to rat, is to insert a needle or syringe into/up thru the nose of the pinky. Squeeze some pinky brain fluid onto the rat's nose. Hold the scented rat's nose in front of the snake and it should take it quickly.

If you don't hold it, it can still work, but make sure the nose of the scented rat is the first thing they smell.

Good luck!

-Rusty

Hey Rusty, I don't like the thought of you handling a syringe that's been in a rodent's brain.

I pierce the skull between the eyes with a toothpick and squeeze slightly to get a BB size bit of brain, which I spread--using the toothpick--over whatever I want to scent. Far less chance of pricking yourself with a toothpick.

I appreciate your comment Terry, I promise to be careful!!!

She is telling you she wants pinky mice, IMO.

If you have others that are spotty in their feedings as well, but were feeding well with pinky mice, then feed them pinky mice. Give them what they want. Mice are cheaper as well for you, so it is a win-win situation for both.

On the other end of the spectrum, I have an albino Southern pine snake that will not eat mice any more, even though she did for the few years of her life. She simply decided she didn't want mice anymore. She will grab one in a feeding response, then spit it out within one second. I am then screaming at her, " Come on! It's food!!!!!!!!!!!! " HA HA!!!!!!

So, for her, I have to order a package of rats for her only. Well, it is what she wants, so I abide.

So, since your Stuarti are babies, and were fine with mice pinkies, I would simply keep them on pinkies, then up to fuzzy mice once they are big enough. Try them on rat pinks then, and see how they do. But overall, if they are telling you they want mice, then I would simply abide.

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Genesis 1:1