Reptile & Amphibian Forums

My rat snake seems to be a picky eater... last week she wouldn't accept normal pinkies but she did eat a brained pinky. Today I offered her a fuzzy, which she refused, so I brained it, and after 5 minutes of coaxing she voluntarily swallowed it. No strike, no constriction, just swallowing. After she ate the fuzzy, I realized that if I continue doing this, she might become hooked on brained fuzzies. How do you switch a fussy eater from eating brained mice to normal prekilled? And how do you get a strike and constriction? Temps are fine, she's been settled in her tank for 10 days now, and she just shed last night.
-----
-Andy

How old and what type of rat snake is she?
Don't worry that she doesn't constrict her
prey, that's fine if its pre-killed. Some
snakes are just conserving energy by not
going through the motions of killing
something that's harmless to them. With
some of my snakes, that's the signal to move
to a larger prey item.
You might want to switch her to frozen/thawed,
rather than geting live and doing the deed
yourself. I leave my timid feeders with the
f/t prey item overnight if neccessary.
No disturbances and I cover the cage.
At least she's eating!
Lora

She's an albino black rat, about 22" long. Pinkies seemed a bit too small for her so I just stepped her up to fuzzies. Thanks for the advice; I think I'll wait awhile before her next meal and try to get her to eat a thawed mouse by leaving her with it overnight.

-----
-Andy

'

It is when you cut open a baby mouse's head to expose the brain fluid. It is usually too good for even a stubborn feeder to pass up.
-----
0.0.1 Black Rat
0.0.1 Normal Corn
0.1 Leucistic Texas Rat
0.0.1 Garden Phase ATB

I'd like to point out that braining is performed on dead baby mice, just to avoid any confusion among people unfamiliar with the practice (it's gross enough as it is).

I know some people that brain LIVE pinks. I don't agree with their method.... no matter their reason for doing it.

MissHisssss

First of all, as Lora said, "At least she's eating"...
...That's great! Don't worry too much about it. Once she gets into a regular feeding habit, she will probably switch. You will sense when she is ready. She will probably attack all of her meals with more zest...then you will know.
My little snow corn was eating only headless pinks for a couple of months. I got to the point where I just cut the heads off as part of the routine. (I was feeding the heads to one of my little garter snakes...talk about no waste!). Recently, she has started eating whole pinks. I knew she was ready...she just "acted" hungrier every time I fed her.
Good luck and enjoy. Duffy

np
-----
-Andy