Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Me again,

I still have my 3 going on 4-week-old blacktail. I have had him for about 3 days and he has not eaten. I have read that babies sometimes need help getting started. How long should I wait to "help" him eat, and how do you "help" a snake eat a pinkie? When I bought him, the breeder said that he eats like a pig and had eaten 3 times before I got him. Will it just take him time to get use to his surroundings? The breeder also told me that I should be able to feed him once I got him home. Well, he has had a pinkie in with him for three days and has not touched it. Also he recommended NOT feeding him in a separate cage and I have read that it is better to do that???

Thanks again

First go read the care sheet that Doug pointed you towards. Second, put it in a smaller container, like Dan said. And third, leave it alone for a couple days! Oh ya, make sure you offer a hide out. And last but not least, don't leave any food items in the cage longer than over night. Better yet, don't leave it in there any longer than a couple hours. Usualy, if a snake is ready to eat, he will. Usualy first try, right away. If not, then within an hour or so. I don't leave anything in there longer than an hour. If a snake is forced to co-habitate with a dead mouse, the mouse will rott, and the snake will simply ignore it. On the other hand, if you only offer it once a day, he will not get used to it, and he will feel the propper stimulation, when he does see prey. He will therefore be more apt to strike, and feed. And the mouse will be fresh. Remember, snakes are preditors, not scavengers. Oh,.. one more thing,...I would NOT try and "help" a snake eat. EVER! If you are doing everything right, he will eat sooner or later. Good luck,
Tony.

What is the harm in leaving him in the 65 gal. tank? The breeder I got him from (Captive Born Reptiles, Columbus, Oh. http://www.captivebornreptiles.com/) told me that the tank would be perfectly fine and never mentioned having to get him a smaller one. I have a large place for him to hide, branches for him to climb, a heat pad mounted underneath the tank in one corner and a nice size water bowl... I will however take the pinkie out of the cage, as he still has not eaten. The breeder also told me that he had fed him live pinks and that he had eaten like a little pig. He mentioned that their metabolism is very high and that he could be fed two (2) pinkies every two to three days. Is this appropriate?

Thanks everyone very much for all of your help,

Eric

>>What is the harm in leaving him in the 65 gal. tank? The breeder I got him from (Captive Born Reptiles, Columbus, Oh. http://www.captivebornreptiles.com/) told me that the tank would be perfectly fine and never mentioned having to get him a smaller one. I have a large place for him to hide, branches for him to climb, a heat pad mounted underneath the tank in one corner and a nice size water bowl... I will however take the pinkie out of the cage, as he still has not eaten. The breeder also told me that he had fed him live pinks and that he had eaten like a little pig. He mentioned that their metabolism is very high and that he could be fed two (2) pinkies every two to three days. Is this appropriate?
>>
>>Thanks everyone very much for all of your help,
>>
>>Eric

The problem with the big enclosure and big hiding places is that babies need "contact security". What that means is that they need a place to hide that is just big enough for them to get into, so that the sides of the hide are touching them. The 65 gal will probably be OK if you provide several hiding places for him that are just his size. They just seem to do better if they are kept in smaller enclosures, such as a plastic shoebox with a small hiding place (such as a small tupperware container with a hole cut in the side), paper towels for substrate and a small water bowl.

Feeding him 2 pinkies every 3 days is not out of line for the first 6 months or so. Here is the schedule I use....your mileage may vary, use it as a guideline and then do what works for you..

Up to 6 weeks - 1 pinkie mouse every 3 or 4 days
6 weeks to 12 weeks - 2 pinkie mice every 3 or 4 days
12 weeks to 5 months - 1 pinkie rat every 3 or 4 days
5 months to 7 months - 2 pinkie rats every 3 or 4 days
7 months to 12 months - 3 pinkie rats every 5 to 7 days
12 months to 16 months - 1 weanling rat every 5 to 7 days

I like to get them switched to rats as soon as I can. Rats seem to put size on them quicker than mice for some reason. Some may disagree with this...it's only my observations and not gospel. I only feed live until I can get them switched to F/T.
Every once in a while, I will substitute fish or chicks (or chicken parts) for the rats. It seems that they get some sort of minerals and/or oils from the fish and chicken that aids them in shedding and even seems to make them a little more energetic (although it does result in spectaularly smelly and messy poop).

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We do not inherit the Earth from our ancestors; we borrow it from our children. Ralph Waldo Emerson

One way to aproach this problem, might be to contact the breeder you got the animal from, ask him exactly how he was keeping him, and attempt to duplicate what the animal was used to.
T.

the breeder you got him from might have been feeding live mice(you'll have to switch him over to f/t)

I'm sorry - I'm new to this, what is F/T?

frozen and then thawed out
kills parasites,makes it safer to feed the snake

do you buy them forzen or just buy them live and freeze them yourself? Or does it matter?

>>do you buy them forzen or just buy them live and freeze them yourself? Or does it matter?

I buy them frozen and have them shipped to me. I have a freezer in my snake room to store them. I usually buy about 1,000 to 1,500 at a time because you get some quantity price breaks and the shipping works out cheaper per animal if you buy in bulk. I usually place about 3 orders a year or so, but I have a couple of other guys that buy some of them from me from time to time, and I just had a pet store buy a bunch from me. That sort of takes the edge off the cost a little. The place I order from vacuum packs them so they last a good while in the freezer. They come by UPS, the last shipment came yesterday. It was two big boxes (about 50 lb each) with dry ice packed around the rats. So far they've always arrived frozen solid even after 2 days in transit.
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We do not inherit the Earth from our ancestors; we borrow it from our children. Ralph Waldo Emerson