Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I bought a pinky this morning and put it right in front of him and all he did was hiss at it and then ignored it, i left it in there for a few minutes and went out of the room and he still didnt do anything to it. I took the pinky out and put a few crickets in there, he didnt acknowledge them either. What can I do to get him to eat?

Hey Kevin,

Here are the most common causes for not eating:

1. stress - either due to the fact that your animal is new and may need time to settle in, or, there are issues with your husbandry.
- Make sure there is a basking area with a radiant heat source that is well in excess of 100 degrees fahrenheit. Most would tell you that, 120-130 degrees is what you shoot for.
- Several hide-spots, including one that maintains high-humidity. For example, my animal uses a 'Gladware' entree container with a small hole cut in the top - the container is submerged in the substrate. Inside the container is approximatel y 80-85% humidity. He spends 90% of the time, hidden. There are also a few wood-hollows that he makes use of as well.

Basically if there are problems with the environment, this contributes to the animal's stress level, which in turn can affect appetite. The primary stressors in environment are temperature and shelter.

2. Illness - Endoparasites being the most likely culprit.However, young savs can also contract GI bacterial infections, or respiratory infections. To assure your animal's health, a trip to the vet with a fecal sample is strongly recommended.

If you're animal continues to refuse food, something is wrong. It should be eating like a pig. If the issue persists, re-evaluate your husbandry, and regardless, set up the vet visit.

Regards,

Don M.

He is a new arrival at my house, so i'm guessing it is probably the stress factor. I have had him in my possesion for about 2 full days. So the stress factor seems most logical.

thanx

kevin

I found that if I almost tore the pinky in half and dangled it in front of my sav, she would snap it up quick...

Mike

Assuming everything is good with your setup: good basking spot, good cool temps on one side, good warm temps on the other, plenty of hiding areas, etc, etc. I would say you are not being patient enough. He/she/it might not have felt like eating at that very moment, or maybe didn't want to eat with you around. Maybe he was too hot at that time or too cold for those 15 minutes. Maybe he was too tired from folicing around the cage while you weren't looking or had just jumped on your computer and was looking at monitor porn while you were out of the room and was more excited then hungry. Who knows.

The point is, leave the pinky (or two or three) in there for a day (or more) and give him the chance to eat at his own pace, not yours. Make sense?
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-Andrew

yeah it makes sense. The mouse is actually more like a "fuzzy" it walk around, it just doesnt have its eyes open, is it still ok to leave in there w/ my savannah for a while??

I would prekill it first. There is no real reason to feed live food items. Crickets and roaches are ok alive, but a trapped animal with teeth, even a young one, might do some damage.
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-Andrew

properly setup, a baby Savannah should be ravenous. i am going to take a wild guess and say your setup is less than ideal.

setup, temps, and husbandry are ENORMOUSLY important, and if you really understood that, you wouldn't post such a general question with absolutely no detail. no big deal, you are the 16,057,894th person to do so, it is part of the learning process.

check out our caresheet at our site, buy Dan Bennett and Ravi's terrific Savannah book, which should be a MUST for anyone buying a baby Savannah, and once you get your setup squared away, your animal should really take off.

but you don't have a month to do it, get it done soon. and like the other poster said at the end of his good advice, see a vet to establish a base line of health to work from.

best of luck.
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robyn@proexotics.com

Pro Exotics Reptiles

my setup is good, i've made sure of that. I've taken care of monitors before, just different species, and different species respond to different things, thanx for the input though.

P.S. I left the mouse in there and left the room, went to get a drink, came back, no mouse to be found, he snatched it up as soon as i left.