Reptile & Amphibian Forums

i have a 9 month old manakawari that i believe to be farm raised...iv heard people warn against these type of imports...although he was not wild caught he was a captive breed import..i have not had a single problem with this guy....he was a couple of weeks old when he arrived and its been 9 months and he eats every 5 days or so like clockwork....anyway inorder to get him to eat i have to take the fuzzy..and rub it on his nose for about 5 seconds and then he will strike...this has to be done with every feeding and has never eaten by me simple placing the mouse in his cage...after hearing many feeding horror stories i feel that i should count my blessings for having such a great snake(an import no less) but i just wonder if i will ever be able to just place a mouse in his cage and have him eat it.is my snake now conditioned to only take food that is rubbed in his face?? id be lying if i said that i didnt want to watch my snake slowly stalk its prey and hunt more like a snake in the wild..to me watching this type of behavior is one of the best things about owning snakes if not the best...of course this is only my opinion... i was wondering if anyone else feels jipped(for lack of a better word) by this species,for having to minipulate it in order to get it to eat and survive and not being able to observe it with natural like hunting behavior...if anyone has any suggestions on how to get my snake to eat without being coaxed id love to hear it....id also like to hear from anyone who has a green tree who can simply throw in a live mouse and watch his snake pursue it..if someone has this type of snake did he have to use the rubbing trick like me in the beginning and he simply outgrew it?? thanks in advance

I think you'll probably find that as the snake gets older it will become a more agressive feeder. The little ones sometimes require some tease feeding to get them going, while the older ones usually go after rodents with gusto.

Dave Prada
Komodo Reptiles

thanks dave...so what youre saying is that there is a chance that when my snake is full grown ,i can throw in a live mouse and my snake will go after it??i know it is reccomended that they eat pre killed mice but where is the fun in that??iv always fed my reptiles live mice and have never had a snake be bitten...i believe the trick is to never leave the snake unattended with a live rodent...a snake that is not hungry can be bitten over and over by an aggressive rodent...i think this problem is seen much more often in rats than mice...rats can be nasty bastards,and can have a nasy bite....mice seem to be much more timid,anyway thanks dave...i hope youre right