Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Ok.. So you prolly remember me posting about my baby green a while ago, about how she didn't want to eat..

Well, she had her first shed about a month ago.. At 4 months of age. The entire time i've had her, including after her first shed, I tried feeding her all manner of rodents. Live, stunned, thawed, brained, various sized, mice, rats.. Well, I finally offered her a large feeder goldfish after repeated failure with rodents, and her beginning to lose muscle mass. I figured a goldfish was better then nothing at all, dispite them being dirty fish. Well, you guessed it. She snapped it up immediately. Ate 3, 4.5" feeder goldfish(She's 3ft in length approx). Well, after this, I tried another brained thawed mouse, jiggling it around in her water tub, to try to imitate a fish, and she ignored it, like i expected her to. And last attempt at feeding her, I gutted a goldfish, and smeared the h3ll out of a thawed mouse.. Teased her with it for a while, and she showed slight interest in it, but not enough as she shied away from it, then refused to eat it. Wondering if anyone else has had problems with rodent feeding baby greens. None of her siblings have eaten yet. At least mine has eaten goldfish. It makes sense to me. In the wild, they wouldn't really have small rodent prey.. Just lizards and fish.. So, I figure I shouldn't fret too much over it. Just aggrivates me as I want her to grow, and not be totally stuck on fish. ugh.
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Hello, my name is Brie.. And i'm an addict..

DarkWave Exotics

Currently keeping:
1.2 southern scrub pythons
1.0 reticulated python
1.0 albino burmese python
1.1 jungle carpet pythons
1.0 irian jaya carpet python
0.1 blood python
3.0 ball pythons
0.1 green anaconda
1.2 amazon tree boas
1.0 colombian redtail boas
1.1 argentine boas
1.0 sonoran boa
1.0 cancun boa
0.1 sunbeam snake
1.2 albino and het albino chinese beauty snakes
1.2 taiwan beauties
6.6 cornsnakes
0.0.1 albino checkered gartersnake
3 sandfire bearded dragons
0.1 nile monitor
1.0 savannah monitor

and lots of bugs, furry critters, fish and birds

I have a little male . I am having the
same problem he has refused mice for months and then took a few
gold fish I have tried to get him to switch with no luck.Anybody
have any ideas.He came from some zoo in washington anybody have
any of his siblings. thanks will

Zoo in Washington. My girl is a sibling of yours. lol. Goldbar Serpentarium right? I obcessively visited and waited for that girl to have babies, after coming in one day to find the adults breeding up a storm.
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Hello, my name is Brie.. And i'm an addict..

DarkWave Exotics

Currently keeping:
1.2 southern scrub pythons
1.0 reticulated python
1.0 albino burmese python
1.1 jungle carpet pythons
1.0 irian jaya carpet python
0.1 blood python
3.0 ball pythons
0.1 green anaconda
1.2 amazon tree boas
1.0 colombian redtail boas
1.1 argentine boas
1.0 sonoran boa
1.0 cancun boa
0.1 sunbeam snake
1.2 albino and het albino chinese beauty snakes
1.2 taiwan beauties
6.6 cornsnakes
0.0.1 albino checkered gartersnake
3 sandfire bearded dragons
0.1 nile monitor
1.0 savannah monitor

and lots of bugs, furry critters, fish and birds

I have an older Green. She is 6ft in length now. I have had her 9 months and that entire time she refused rodents. She was too big for feeder goldfish though. So I was force feeding her after repeated trys and waiting for her to eat on her own for months at a time. A few weeks ago however I remodled her encloser. Bigger deeper pool, fogger, soil and peat moss bedding for the land part of it, and a big log she likes to hide behind. Red heat bulb during the day and black heat at night. Just as natural as I could possibly think to get it. Last week I was ready to force feed her again as she had gone 2 months without eating. I thought since I changed her encloser I would give her one more chance, took the rat out, thumped it on the head so it was bleeding out the nose..ewww...and put it in with its head hanging over the water. An hour later I came back in (this was nighttime) and it was gone. I did the same last night and she ate it within 10 minutes of me putting it in there. 9 months it has taken me to get her to eat! Maybe try different more natural settings? Or maybe it was all theese months of me feeding her rats, she finally took to them? I dont know. But it has been a pain. Finally paid off. Good luck.
PS.yes I know force feeding is stressful....better stressed than starved to death!

Baby greens are known for being difficult to start feeding. I think that it is not so much being difficult, as it is them being in no hurry to start feeding. They are usually born with good body weight and with their extremely low metabolic rates, they just don't have the desire to feed right away. There are exceptions, but most will not begin to feed until at least two months of age. Some will take rodent prey as a first meal, but the majority of them will not. We have started two litters of young and a few others and believe that the best way to start the non-rodent feeders is baby chicks. In our experience almost all young greens will accept baby chicks as a first meal. This is especially true when the chicks are offered live, although most will take them frozen/thawed. Actually, many young greens will shy away from live rodents. I feel that in the wild, newborn greens probably feed on young ducks and young shore birds while hiding in the shallow water and vegetation along the stream bank. It is best to leave the food item in over night and disturb them as little as possible until they start feeding regularly. We have had little problem switching them over to chick scented rats after a few feedings. As long as they have a hide box and a 80 to 90 degree temp gradient across the cage floor you shouldn't have a problem. Just be patient as young greens can go many months before feeding with little negative effects. Let us know how it goes.

Kelly

` Here's something to further complicate your problem.
` Feeder goldfish spend their lives being treated with chemicals, and prophylactic medications. They're crowded so, and often in such warm water, that disease can run through them quickly. They are usually treated with antibiotics throughout their lives. Formaldehyde ( Formalin ) is an ingredient in many of the concoctions sold to keep them alive while being shipped, and when waiting to be sold, always in crowded conditions and with too warm water.
` Many of the chemicals and medications stay in the fish's tissues, as its metabolism can't eliminate them. They get into the snake, which has an even slower metabolism, and stay there. In the snake, these chemicals can adversely affect longevity, general health and especially disease resistance, and fertility.
` I've always had better luck with rats, than mice. Have you tried rats?
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already knew all that. I'm a fish hobbyist too. lol. But our goldfish(at my work) are kept at 60 degrees, which they are also kept at before they get to our store. So at least that is good. Theres very little desease in our goldfish. Thats obvious anyway. And yes, tried rats. Live, stunned, thawed and brained.
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Hello, my name is Brie.. And i'm an addict..

DarkWave Exotics

Currently keeping:
1.2 southern scrub pythons
1.0 reticulated python
1.0 albino burmese python
1.1 jungle carpet pythons
1.0 irian jaya carpet python
0.1 blood python
3.0 ball pythons
0.1 green anaconda
1.2 amazon tree boas
1.0 colombian redtail boas
1.1 argentine boas
1.0 sonoran boa
1.0 cancun boa
0.1 sunbeam snake
1.2 albino and het albino chinese beauty snakes
1.2 taiwan beauties
6.6 cornsnakes
0.0.1 albino checkered gartersnake
3 sandfire bearded dragons
0.1 nile monitor
1.0 savannah monitor

and lots of bugs, furry critters, fish and birds

I hope I didn't give the impression in my previous post that you had to feed chick scented rats from then on once they started feeding on them. Usually after just three or four feedings on the chick scented rats, they would start feeding on unscented rats with no problem. Additionally, it is usually even easier to switch them from rats to rabbits when they get larger.

Kelly

` I wasn't suggesting disease from the goldfish; however, antibiotic and chemical resistant pathogens are evolving in them, and everywhere else. I meant that the goldfish, if treated with chemicals and antibiotics by breeders and wholesalers, carry the residue of those substances to the snake's body, as they are digested by the snake. The snake's lazy metabolism lets them build up until toxic.
` The same thing happens with the red dye in some dog food, fed to rodents, because it's cheap food. The rodent's fast metabolism, and short life span, keeps it from building up in them. The snake's metabolism can't eliminate the little it gets at each feeding. Eventually, the buildup in the snake becomes toxic.
` It isn't just what your store is doing. The feeders may have passed through several businesses who dose them to reduce losses.
` This is really a long term outlook. It could take years to affect them.
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Yeah, thats the overall reason I really don't want her stuck on goldfish. I don't really have anywhere to get chicks from except online, and that costs an arm and a leg. Can't afford it any time soon. Already ordered my 6 months feeder supply a couple months ago. Think I should just keep gutting goldfish and scenting rats/mice?
-----
Hello, my name is Brie.. And i'm an addict..

DarkWave Exotics

Currently keeping:
1.2 southern scrub pythons
1.0 reticulated python
1.0 albino burmese python
1.1 jungle carpet pythons
1.0 irian jaya carpet python
0.1 blood python
3.0 ball pythons
0.1 green anaconda
1.2 amazon tree boas
1.0 colombian redtail boas
1.1 argentine boas
1.0 sonoran boa
1.0 cancun boa
0.1 sunbeam snake
1.2 albino and het albino chinese beauty snakes
1.2 taiwan beauties
6.6 cornsnakes
0.0.1 albino checkered gartersnake
3 sandfire bearded dragons
0.1 nile monitor
1.0 savannah monitor

and lots of bugs, furry critters, fish and birds

` First, I wouldn't worry as much as you are about feeding. In the past, I've gone nearly nuts trying to get them to feed before they were ready. Besides their slow ( even for a Boid ) metabolism, Anacondas, including babies, have more bulk than other snakes, to live on. I've learned, and now I wouldn't worry about it until 6 or 7 months.
` That said, here's my method. I feed all my Boids soaking wet food. I throw frozen rodents into very warm water, an let them soak for a few hours, how long depends on how much weight I'm thawing. Before I feed, I bring the water to 105 degrees F. All of my Boids, including Pythons, happily eat soaking wet food. Since I keep them on newspaper, I don't have to worry about substrate sticking to the wet food.
` What I used to do for problem feeders is: Cook down some cooked and cracked chicken bones ( with some meat on them ) in fresh drinking water, making a broth ( sometimes canned chicken broth works, sometimes not ). Put a small amount, just a couple of ounces in the last batch of thawing/soaking water with rats. Offer them soaking wet. I don't do this anymore because I got used to the idea that Boids can go long periods of time without food. Also, there's a lot of crap in store bought chicken that's bad for the snakes, and us, too.
` Also, you can try scenting them with the juice from canned tuna. Canned in water, not oil.
` Also, they'll eat canned, whole jack mackerel. Make sure it's canned in water. It's messy because it's cooked, and falls apart. They'll eat fresh fish from a fish market.
` You get them hooked on some fancy item like pheasant scented gerbils, or ahi ahi, you'll regret it.
` I used to do this for customers who were stressing because their snakes weren't eating as often as they wanted them to, and who demanded I do something for them. They wanted expert advice, as long as it was the advice they wanted to hear. In the last five years, I've had a bunch of them bring me an obese, dead snake and ask me what killed it. If they're the ones I tried to calm down about feeding, I just look 'em in the eye and say, " YOU DID ". It's mean, but it might save the next snake.
`
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If you don't have access to chicks I would stick with goldfish for the next few feedings and forget about the rodents for right now. Offer every two weeks, and don't worry if she skips a few feedings. After she has fed a few times, go back to goldfish scented rats, not mice. I'm not sure why but most young greens don't like mice. I think it may be the pungent smell that is not there with rats. After she has fed a few times on scented rats you can try unscented. Don't worry about getting her hooked on fish as I've never had one that wouldn't switch to rats within a few weeks, or months at most.
It is common knowledge that most boas and pythons will feed more readily on warmed prey items and this has been my experience as well. But this is not the case with green anacondas. My experience with them has been that they will feed as readily on room temperature prey as warm prey. I believe this is due to the fact that anacondas feed on numerous animal species in their natural habitat that are classed as "cold-blooded". I don't believe they rely on heat for prey identification as much as most other boids. So I wouldn't be too worried right now about offering warm prey items. I think once she eats a few more fish you will have the feeding pattern set and things will go smoother.

Kelly

If you don't have access to chicks I would stick with goldfish for the next few feedings and forget about the rodents for right now. Offer every two weeks, and don't worry if she skips a few feedings. After she has fed a few times, go back to goldfish scented rats, not mice. I'm not sure why but most young greens don't like mice. I think it may be the pungent smell that is not there with rats. After she has fed a few times on scented rats you can try unscented. Don't worry about getting her hooked on fish as I've never had one that wouldn't switch to rats within a few weeks, or months at most.
It is common knowledge that most boas and pythons will feed more readily on warmed prey items and this has been my experience as well. But this is not the case with green anacondas. My experience with them has been that they will feed as readily on room temperature prey as warm prey. I believe this is due to the fact that anacondas feed on numerous animal species in their natural habitat that are classed as "cold-blooded". I don't believe they rely on heat for prey identification as much as most other boids. So I wouldn't be too worried right now about offering warm prey items. I think once she eats a few more fish you will have the feeding pattern set and things will go smoother.

Kelly

Make sure you try warmed up rodents. Kill them, then put in a baggie in hot water for 20 minutes or so, make sure the rodent is nice and warm but not too hot. This has made a huge difference for some of my snakes. Good luck