Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I am trying a second attempt at weening my northern water snake to pinkies...he is a juvenile @ 16" long and for my first attempt he was a great deal smaller (to which i attribute some of the failure). I rubbed the pinkie in a gutted fish which resides in my fridge and placed him in the snakes usual feeding water bowl (with almost no water to keep it alive). I have had this snake in captivity for 6 months now and although i have used a droper to "feed" him thyamine (and his accidental consumption of a tank mate which prolly contained some) i am begining to fear for his health. Any tips aside from what i have done in order to turn this weening attempt into a sucess?
-Dan

If he feeds well on live fish (ie goldfish), offer him a couple in a shallow dish along with a pinkie in the same dish. The feeding response should allow him to wolf down the now scented pink with the fish. If you choose to scent and offer pinks only, use the outside (slimy) portion of the fish to do this.
A simple consideration is the choice of fish for scenting in as much as some fish (like trout) may smell "fishier" and obliterate the foreign food smell.
Michael

will try both the mixed feeding and the trout (or fishier smelling fish), thanks
-Dan

Excellent, I beleive you will be successful.
I own a very, very large redbelly and in the first year that I had her she was feeding on goldfish - very inadequate. Anyway, we had a rat problem in town (weather, composts, etc) so I set rat traps around my pond and invariably caught a few rats. In one case after inspecting quite a large rodent I noted that it had no fleas and (of course) chose to offer it to the redbelly. Well, the snake was outraged, furious to have this monster in her tank! I removed it immediately, ran upstairs and pulled out a store bought trout from the freezer, threw it in the microwave for a few minutes, poured the juices onto the rat and whipped downstairs to offer it to the snake again. Three minutes, no rat, fat snake! No problem. Since then I also grind up and make my own snake sausage which the adults will happily accept. The youngest tend to be more inspired by movement until they recognise what I offer is food.
Michael

Was the rat alive? It would have been very interesting to see a Nerodia subdue a rodent of that magnitude. I've never offered live rodents to my Natricines before.
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Pierson Hill

Herpetology and Herpetoculture

No, the rat was not alive (old fashioned rat trap)! Besides, it was BIG and I would not have offered it to the snake if it was still moving. I will say, the ol' girl was pretty satisfied for a quite a while after that meal!
As such, I regret not having access to rodents more often. For the average size of snakes I have, mice would be adequate or rat pups I guess.
Michael

By the way, just as a footnote; the only snake I have that I would even consider offering a live rodent to, is the northern sipedon you sent me. It's the first and only nerodia that I've ever seen fly! This thing would eat it's hide box if I had'nt made it too wide and long! This guy actually launches himself into the air at feeding time and it's not like he is'nt being fed, he gets 2 to 3 - 5" trout at a meal plus a few goldfish through the week, just because he looks so forlorn when he's not swallowing something!
Michael