Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I let my bairdi sit for a week untouched didnt even open his cage except to add water. I got a live pinky today and put him in the brown bag with the pink about 4 hours ago and i just checked and he hasnt eaten it..i stood there and watched him for a minute and he was smelling it and pushed it around and it was just wiggling. What now? How long can the pinky stay alive away from its mother?

I put it in a deli cup with the mouse now and i'm gonna let it sit overnight.
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The reason mainstream thought is thought of as a stream is because it's so shallow. -George Carlin

Battling ignorance one stupid person at a time.

Current snakes:
0.1 Licorice Stick Black Rat(Lola)
1.0 Neonate Black Rat (het for Lic Stk's) (Frankie)
1.1 Texas Bairds (Jose and Rosa)

My posts are my opinion only. What you end up doing is your own choice. I will not be held liable for any negative outcome of my advice. (However I will never intentionally give bad advice. My advice is ALWAYS geared towards a positive outcome.)

>>
>>I put it in a deli cup with the mouse now and i'm gonna let it sit overnight.
>>-----

That's what you need to do.
Turn the tank lights and room lights off, if possible, and just leave them together over night.
The pinkie will live for a few days.
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Corn snakes and rat snakes..No one can have just one.
"resistance is futile"
Jimmy (draybar)

Leave it undisturbed with the pinky overnight.Dont worry about the pinky it's food.If your bairds is playing with it ,then that's a good sign.NO SNEAK PEAKS!Just check in the morning.I cant stress enough to leave it alone till it feeds.After it feeds leave it alone.You dont want a regurge.After it gets a few meals in then you can play with it.

When I put him in the deli cup his stress levels skyrocketed...hopefully they will drop enough overnight to eat it. It's actually a blue semi-transluscent kraft singles cheese container...but close enough. Should I just keep feeding him live ones for a few if he does end up taking it, and then worry later about switching him over to f/t?

Thanks,
Chris
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The reason mainstream thought is thought of as a stream is because it's so shallow. -George Carlin

Battling ignorance one stupid person at a time.

Current snakes:
0.1 Licorice Stick Black Rat(Lola)
1.0 Neonate Black Rat (het for Lic Stk's) (Frankie)
1.1 Texas Bairds (Jose and Rosa)

My posts are my opinion only. What you end up doing is your own choice. I will not be held liable for any negative outcome of my advice. (However I will never intentionally give bad advice. My advice is ALWAYS geared towards a positive outcome.)

Let's just get past this first.Ive never had a problem switching corns or rats over to frozen.When I purchased my adult male baird I was told he would only eat live.Well he about took some of my fingers off the first time I fed him f/t.All I did was jiggle it in front of his face.Now he eats f/t without a problem.Im hoping leaving him alone overnight works.Good Luck...Paul

Chris -
I put the hatchling and a live newborn pinkie in a paper lunch size bag and tape the bag closed. I put the bag in a tank or rubbermaid container so the snake doesn't escape if he gets out of the bag. I leave the bag in there for 24 hours. Doesn't work everytime, but works most of the time. It sounds to me like your male is too nervous yet to eat. If he sees anything or any movement or senses something in the room, he concentrates on the thing he sees or senses rather than eat. He'll grow out of this nervousness, but he sounds too stressed with being the smallest thing around and he doesn't know if you are going to eat him. Is he flightier than the female when you pick him up and hold him? A hatchling will eat for the breeder and then not eat for awhile or be picky when he gets to the customer. He gets used to the environment where he hatched and then we ship them hundreds of miles to a new environment where he can sense a difference in weather environments and things around him. It's frustrating, but your male isn't experiencing or doing anything some hatchlings do and need to get over that hump. I waited to make any suggestions because he needs to get used to how you are going to set him up and handle him. It seems like you change the feeding everytime you feed him. He feels like he is in a new environment every few days. We already can see that he doesn't feel comfortable in new environments at this early age so he is probably not going to eat when you feed him and have made some changes. You should probably start thinking of feeding him at the same time of day and don't change anything from the last feeding. He'll get used to his new environment and will start concentrating on the meal rather than concentrate if you are going to come in the room each time or if something has changed. Feed him the same time you feed your other snakes or the female baird. If he doesn't eat, then try the next time you feed your snakes. Don't start feeding him on his schedule or you will need to do it for him each time. It sounds opposite of what a person might think, but your attention and concentration to get him to eat is stressing him out so he doesn't eat. How many times did he eat before you got him? The breeder should know if you ask them. They should tell you especially if he isn't eating for you yet. They should tell you how many times and what time of the day and anything they know about that hatchling. Have you asked the breeder anything or communicate any concerns you have with the male baird not eating for you yet? What does the breeder say or suggest concerning your reluctant feeding male baird.

Terry Parks

He ate three times before he was shipped...and he was in a clutch of 8, all other 7 are eating fine. I asked for the one who was already starting to show a little yellow so thats what I get, lol.

In the past I havent waited a full 7 days because I was trying to get him to be on the same feeding schedule as my other snakes, so I just waited 8 days this time and fed my other ones yesterday. The pink is still alive in the container hopping around. When I first got him for a week or so he was in a kritter keeper, but for the past month or so he's been in this 10 gallon tank. I have tried putting a pink in the tank and the past three times (This one included) i've been putting him in this container. (other two times with a brained frozen pink). I'm about to leave for work i'll probably be there all night (home depot and we're getting a bad hurricane here so yeah...fun...)so he'll have a dark room. I left him in the container with the live pink i'm gonna put him in a brown paper shopping bag and that inside his cage (he'd have to be houdini to escape from that lol).

I have heard brained...but should I do that to a live pinky?
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The reason mainstream thought is thought of as a stream is because it's so shallow. -George Carlin

Battling ignorance one stupid person at a time.

Current snakes:
0.1 Licorice Stick Black Rat(Lola)
1.0 Neonate Black Rat (het for Lic Stk's) (Frankie)
1.1 Texas Bairds (Jose and Rosa)

My posts are my opinion only. What you end up doing is your own choice. I will not be held liable for any negative outcome of my advice. (However I will never intentionally give bad advice. My advice is ALWAYS geared towards a positive outcome.)

Chris -
I agree to put him on the same schedule as the other snakes. Give him a pinkie and if he doesn't eat feed him the next scheduled time for your other snakes. It's weird that he ate three times and out of the 8 he's the only one that went off feed. Your female is eating fine so it seems he should be. The live pinks are the ones that you usually want to expose the brain. I can't seem to do it myself so my wife did it a couple times for me. LOL.

Terry Parks

well i put him back in the deli cup with the live pink and covered the cage with a towel so its staying around 79 in there and hopefully he'll eat it...how do you brain a live pinky? do you like just slice its head in half lengthwise so the head is still attached or what? I really dont want to resort to that...
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The reason mainstream thought is thought of as a stream is because it's so shallow. -George Carlin

Battling ignorance one stupid person at a time.

Current snakes:
0.1 Licorice Stick Black Rat(Lola)
1.0 Neonate Black Rat (het for Lic Stk's) (Frankie)
1.1 Texas Bairds (Jose and Rosa)

My posts are my opinion only. What you end up doing is your own choice. I will not be held liable for any negative outcome of my advice. (However I will never intentionally give bad advice. My advice is ALWAYS geared towards a positive outcome.)

>>well i put him back in the deli cup with the live pink and covered the cage with a towel so its staying around 79 in there and hopefully he'll eat it...how do you brain a live pinky? do you like just slice its head in half lengthwise so the head is still attached or what? I really dont want to resort to that...

I snip across the forehead just enough to expose brain or seep fluid (not just blood) Sort of a frontal lobotomy. Gruesome, yeah, probably why my dh says I need that 'Professional Killer' Tshirt. But it works. I didn't have to scent any pinks for my Children's Pythons. They all went to live or brained live, then moved to F/T brained and then F/T
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Sonya

Haven't we warned you about tampering with the structure of a chaotic system?
Mrs. Neutron

Terry made some good suggestions below, but the only other thing you might want to try is setting him up in a small, opaque sterilite or rubbermaid. I've found that even a 10 gallon tank can be overwhelming to any neonate snake, and especially for such a little guy like your Baird's. If he doesn't eat the live pinky you have him in with this time, get a small sterilite or rubbermaid, ventilate it, try a bedding like cypress or aspen that he can burrow down into, add hides a small water bowl and leave him alone another week or so. Then try feeding him in his container (just watch closely to make sure he does not get any substrate in his mouth if he takes it). Sounds like the little one is just very, very stressed I have had lots of success with this method with reluctant feeders from newly hatched retics, carpets and corns to fussy amazon trees. In fact, I currently have a 2 year old CA female boa that goes off feed every time I move her out of her 20 gal long tank into something more spacious. She's around 4.5-5 feet long and just seems cramped in there to me, but whenever I move her into something bigger (have done this 3 times now) she will go off feed for weeks! When I move her back into her 20 gal., she always eats for me within a few days, so I figure better to have her a little cramped and eating than starving herself from stress. By the way, I have had her since she was 2 months old and I also have her brother and he eats like a champ no matter where he lives! Good luck and keep on being patient!

>>I let my bairdi sit for a week untouched didnt even open his cage except to add water. I got a live pinky today and put him in the brown bag with the pink about 4 hours ago and i just checked and he hasnt eaten it..i stood there and watched him for a minute and he was smelling it and pushed it around and it was just wiggling. What now? How long can the pinky stay alive away from its mother?
>>
>>I put it in a deli cup with the mouse now and i'm gonna let it sit overnight.
>>-----
>>The reason mainstream thought is thought of as a stream is because it's so shallow. -George Carlin
>>
>>Battling ignorance one stupid person at a time.
>>
>>Current snakes:
>>0.1 Licorice Stick Black Rat(Lola)
>>1.0 Neonate Black Rat (het for Lic Stk's) (Frankie)
>>1.1 Texas Bairds (Jose and Rosa)
>>
>>My posts are my opinion only. What you end up doing is your own choice. I will not be held liable for any negative outcome of my advice. (However I will never intentionally give bad advice. My advice is ALWAYS geared towards a positive outcome.)

He's the one who is very calm when it's time to handle him! the female is constantly rattling her tail (which i have grown to find kinda cool), but he'll just crawl around my hands and explore and sit there and whatnot. I forgot to mention that as a reply to terry's post before.
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The reason mainstream thought is thought of as a stream is because it's so shallow. -George Carlin

Battling ignorance one stupid person at a time.

Current snakes:
0.1 Licorice Stick Black Rat(Lola)
1.0 Neonate Black Rat (het for Lic Stk's) (Frankie)
1.1 Texas Bairds (Jose and Rosa)

My posts are my opinion only. What you end up doing is your own choice. I will not be held liable for any negative outcome of my advice. (However I will never intentionally give bad advice. My advice is ALWAYS geared towards a positive outcome.)

The ones that raise hell always feed better.I to would contact the person you bought him from and express your concerns in a civil matter.Tell him your set up and how the other feeds fine.Have you tried anoles yet?That can be another option down the road.I know how frustrating it can be...Paul

Chris could try scenting the pinkie. If you have or know anyone around who has leopard geckos you could scent the pinkie. That's what I use for my lyre snakes. They are lizard eaters and can be a little difficult to switch to mice. Wash the pinkie off. You don't need to use soap (at least I don't). Rinse it off and then dry it on a paper towel. Take some of the leopard hecko's substrate from his cage and put in a delicup and put the pinkie in the substrate for awhile. I usually leave them in the substrate overnight and then put the pinkie in with the snake.

Terry Parks

I have been in contact with the breeder. He's actually been reading some of these posts. He basically said to do what everyone here has said to...let him sit for a week or so, etc....and he said that he is guaranteed and will reimburse my money if he does die...but I would much rather have him live than get my $25 back!
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The reason mainstream thought is thought of as a stream is because it's so shallow. -George Carlin

Battling ignorance one stupid person at a time.

Current snakes:
0.1 Licorice Stick Black Rat(Lola)
1.0 Neonate Black Rat (het for Lic Stk's) (Frankie)
1.1 Texas Bairds (Jose and Rosa)

My posts are my opinion only. What you end up doing is your own choice. I will not be held liable for any negative outcome of my advice. (However I will never intentionally give bad advice. My advice is ALWAYS geared towards a positive outcome.)

Another thing, I wouldn't handle him until he starts eating for you. As calm as he might be, handling can be stressful, especially for younger snakes. Just do what you need to do around him (cleaning, feeding, giving water) only when it's needed, otherwise leave him alone. Frankly, snakes could care less if you handled them. They seem to prefer to be left alone. If you're handling him to get him used to that, don't bother with that for now, just focus on getting him to eat first. You can worry about the rest later.

Bry

On the suggestions of a friend I put them all on deep particulate substrate. He had said aspen but since I couldn't find that locally I went with Carefresh and I think the 'fluffiness' worked better. I gave them an inch or two of it in their shoeboxes and all started eating within a week. That was going from 15 non eaters to all taking at least a brained pinkie if not a live one. The seemed like totally different animals once they had some stuff to hide in.
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Sonya

Haven't we warned you about tampering with the structure of a chaotic system?
Mrs. Neutron

I havent handled him for about a week or so, except to pick him up and put him in the deli cup. should i go ahead and brain the pink for overnight tonight?
-----
The reason mainstream thought is thought of as a stream is because it's so shallow. -George Carlin

Battling ignorance one stupid person at a time.

Current snakes:
0.1 Licorice Stick Black Rat(Lola)
1.0 Neonate Black Rat (het for Lic Stk's) (Frankie)
1.1 Texas Bairds (Jose and Rosa)

My posts are my opinion only. What you end up doing is your own choice. I will not be held liable for any negative outcome of my advice. (However I will never intentionally give bad advice. My advice is ALWAYS geared towards a positive outcome.)

>>I havent handled him for about a week or so, except to pick him up and put him in the deli cup. should i go ahead and brain the pink for overnight tonight?

If it were me I would not put him in a cup and would leave him in his tank with a live pink and a brained pink. What is his substrate? I get the feeling that putting him in a cup is freaking him more than helping him. So maybe him 'happening upon' something in his tank would help.
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Sonya

Haven't we warned you about tampering with the structure of a chaotic system?
Mrs. Neutron

His substrate is astroturf. As soon as this hurricane passes and I can get to a pet store i'll get some aspen chips for him. He has about 5 hides in his tank. I agree that the deli cup is freaking him out. He's been in there for 24 hours. Should I go on and give that pink a lobotomy? It will kil the pinky wont it? I'm going to have a hard time doing it first off, but if it wont kill it then I'll kil it beforehand.
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The reason mainstream thought is thought of as a stream is because it's so shallow. -George Carlin

Battling ignorance one stupid person at a time.

Current snakes:
0.1 Licorice Stick Black Rat(Lola)
1.0 Neonate Black Rat (het for Lic Stk's) (Frankie)
1.1 Texas Bairds (Jose and Rosa)

My posts are my opinion only. What you end up doing is your own choice. I will not be held liable for any negative outcome of my advice. (However I will never intentionally give bad advice. My advice is ALWAYS geared towards a positive outcome.)

I just took a very sharp razor blade and brained that live pink and it was still alive and it squeaked and i'm never doing that again if i can help it. I just hope jose eats it fast so it doesnt have to suffer too long
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The reason mainstream thought is thought of as a stream is because it's so shallow. -George Carlin

Battling ignorance one stupid person at a time.

Current snakes:
0.1 Licorice Stick Black Rat(Lola)
1.0 Neonate Black Rat (het for Lic Stk's) (Frankie)
1.1 Texas Bairds (Jose and Rosa)

My posts are my opinion only. What you end up doing is your own choice. I will not be held liable for any negative outcome of my advice. (However I will never intentionally give bad advice. My advice is ALWAYS geared towards a positive outcome.)

I have been reading the posts and you have been getting some very sound advice. I also have a suggestion that might work for you if you have another rat snake about the same size that is eating well for you.

Put the two snakes together in the same tank for a day or two and then feed them together. The sight of one snake eating will stimulate the other into wanting to feed.

You have to be very careful. Snakes will fight over food. And the larger one might try to bite the smaller one even after feeding. So you don't just put the food in and go off to let them feed in peace. You have to watch them the whole time. When both snakes have fed, take the old snake out and let the new one digest its food in peace. You may have to have a few mice for the older snake to keep it busy feeding while your little one is getting down his first meal.

I feed my snakes F/T mice. I get them to take the food right away be using thongs and waving the food in front of them. Sometimes I have to almost touch their noses with the mouse.

With all this advice you have been getting, something has got to work for you.

Good luck with your new snake.

Rick

lol..i apprecaite it...and i appreciate everyone's help...but nothing is working so far . I have him in just about the most stress-free environment I can give him. I think i'll keep this towel covering the cage for this next week..see if it does any good! lol. Tomorrow evening if he hasnt eaten that pink i'll put him up in the kritter keeper then when the hurricane's gone...probably friday before the stores are back open...i'll go get some aspen and use that for a substrate.

I have questioned maybe putting the two snakes together in the 10 gallon and i dont remember why but I had a few people say no to that. I feed f/t normally also...I just dont like live.
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The reason mainstream thought is thought of as a stream is because it's so shallow. -George Carlin

Battling ignorance one stupid person at a time.

Current snakes:
0.1 Licorice Stick Black Rat(Lola)
1.0 Neonate Black Rat (het for Lic Stk's) (Frankie)
1.1 Texas Bairds (Jose and Rosa)

My posts are my opinion only. What you end up doing is your own choice. I will not be held liable for any negative outcome of my advice. (However I will never intentionally give bad advice. My advice is ALWAYS geared towards a positive outcome.)

Hey Chris, in my opinion (and I'm sure many others here will agree) putting the two of them together is a BAD idea. This will just cause more stress on your little one. I've been keeping snakes almost 30 years, and I have never seen a non-eater get stimulated by the sight of a feeding snake. Please don't do that. Stick with ways to reduce stress in your baby's environment and one of the best things you could do is change that substrate to something that he can burrow in. They like to have something touching all around their bodies including their backs, so even if you have 5 hides in that tank, but none of them offers contact on his sides and back, they are really doing very little good for your snake. Also, astroturf just plain sucks in general and I would suggest switching that out to something more absorbent whenever you get a chance, even paper towels or newspaper with a layer of finely shredded paper on top would offer your little one more security than astroturf. Again, good luck!

>>lol..i apprecaite it...and i appreciate everyone's help...but nothing is working so far . I have him in just about the most stress-free environment I can give him. I think i'll keep this towel covering the cage for this next week..see if it does any good! lol. Tomorrow evening if he hasnt eaten that pink i'll put him up in the kritter keeper then when the hurricane's gone...probably friday before the stores are back open...i'll go get some aspen and use that for a substrate.
>>
>>I have questioned maybe putting the two snakes together in the 10 gallon and i dont remember why but I had a few people say no to that. I feed f/t normally also...I just dont like live.
>>-----
>>The reason mainstream thought is thought of as a stream is because it's so shallow. -George Carlin
>>
>>Battling ignorance one stupid person at a time.
>>
>>Current snakes:
>>0.1 Licorice Stick Black Rat(Lola)
>>1.0 Neonate Black Rat (het for Lic Stk's) (Frankie)
>>1.1 Texas Bairds (Jose and Rosa)
>>
>>My posts are my opinion only. What you end up doing is your own choice. I will not be held liable for any negative outcome of my advice. (However I will never intentionally give bad advice. My advice is ALWAYS geared towards a positive outcome.)

>>lol..i apprecaite it...and i appreciate everyone's help...but nothing is working so far . I have him in just about the most stress-free environment I can give him. I think i'll keep this towel covering the cage for this next week..see if it does any good! lol. Tomorrow evening if he hasnt eaten that pink i'll put him up in the kritter keeper then when the hurricane's gone...probably friday before the stores are back open...i'll go get some aspen and use that for a substrate.
>>
>>I have questioned maybe putting the two snakes together in the 10 gallon and i dont remember why but I had a few people say no to that. I feed f/t normally also...I just dont like live.

Personally I wouldn't put the two together. I wouldn't move the little guy (once your whole hurricane ordeal is over!) I would set him up with the aspen or carefresh or what you are gonna use.(I like the carefresh as it is fluffy paper and not as likely to impact if they injest it) I would make it deep substrate, set it up and leave it at least 5 days. Then, at nightfall, I would set a 3X5 card in there with a brained pink on it and turn of the lights and go to bed. My CPs didn't eat for their first month. Then I set them up like this and they all started. I don't know if it was timing or circumstance, but it worked like magic.
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Sonya

Haven't we warned you about tampering with the structure of a chaotic system?
Mrs. Neutron

This is the new setup I have for my bairdis. The male (one who wont eat) is on the left. comments? suggestions?

Aspen substrate, and the leaves are silk.

-----
The reason mainstream thought is thought of as a stream is because it's so shallow. -George Carlin

Battling ignorance one stupid person at a time.

Current snakes:
0.1 Licorice Stick Black Rat(Lola)
1.0 Neonate Black Rat (het for Lic Stk's) (Frankie)
1.1 Texas Bairds (Jose and Rosa)

My posts are my opinion only. What you end up doing is your own choice. I will not be held liable for any negative outcome of my advice. (However I will never intentionally give bad advice. My advice is ALWAYS geared towards a positive outcome.)

>>This is the new setup I have for my bairdis. The male (one who wont eat) is on the left. comments? suggestions?
>>
>>Aspen substrate, and the leaves are silk.

Looks good. Hope you fare ok with Ivan. And in a week I would drop in a live pink at nightfall and leave.
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Sonya

Haven't we warned you about tampering with the structure of a chaotic system?
Mrs. Neutron

Your setup is flawless.

thanks. i appreciate it.

I got another email from the breeder this morning he said that he had fed him 3 times in the evening 3-4 day old pinks. he was kept in a 6 inch by 2 inch round clear plastic container with an aspen substrate, so I put him in this kritter keeper with aspen and he's doing everything but hiding! lol.
-----
The reason mainstream thought is thought of as a stream is because it's so shallow. -George Carlin

Battling ignorance one stupid person at a time.

Current snakes:
0.1 Licorice Stick Black Rat(Lola)
1.0 Neonate Black Rat (het for Lic Stk's) (Frankie)
1.1 Texas Bairds (Jose and Rosa)

My posts are my opinion only. What you end up doing is your own choice. I will not be held liable for any negative outcome of my advice. (However I will never intentionally give bad advice. My advice is ALWAYS geared towards a positive outcome.)

>>This is the new setup I have for my bairdis. The male (one who wont eat) is on the left. comments? suggestions?
>>
>>Aspen substrate, and the leaves are silk.
>>
>>
>>-----
>>The reason mainstream thought is thought of as a stream is because it's so shallow. -George Carlin
>>
>>Battling ignorance one stupid person at a time.
>>
>>Current snakes:
>>0.1 Licorice Stick Black Rat(Lola)
>>1.0 Neonate Black Rat (het for Lic Stk's) (Frankie)
>>1.1 Texas Bairds (Jose and Rosa)
>>
>>My posts are my opinion only. What you end up doing is your own choice. I will not be held liable for any negative outcome of my advice. (However I will never intentionally give bad advice. My advice is ALWAYS geared towards a positive outcome.)

This morning I went and found a pet store open bought a good sized thing of aspen bedding...I went ahead and put the non-eater in a kritter keeper with the aspen and his water bowl and the two shortest hides. I also put in a couple limbs of silk leaves. I'll leave him in here for a week or so and try feeding him again. I know a local pet store that sells lizards and i'm sure they'd give me a little bit of their bedding to scent a pinkie. I gave the brained live pink to another snake this morning who took it happily...lol. Lets hope maybe this works now!
-----
The reason mainstream thought is thought of as a stream is because it's so shallow. -George Carlin

Battling ignorance one stupid person at a time.

Current snakes:
0.1 Licorice Stick Black Rat(Lola)
1.0 Neonate Black Rat (het for Lic Stk's) (Frankie)
1.1 Texas Bairds (Jose and Rosa)

My posts are my opinion only. What you end up doing is your own choice. I will not be held liable for any negative outcome of my advice. (However I will never intentionally give bad advice. My advice is ALWAYS geared towards a positive outcome.)