Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I recently purchase a female WC Cerastes vipera from the SA reptile expo and I was told that it was fed roughly a week ago. But when I tried feeding it, it refused the food item. I had some luck teasing it and getting it to bite and hold on to the pinky a couple times, but after a while, it releases it and shows no further sign of interest.

I don't know if it's not hungry or if it's something else. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks in advance!

I was kinda getting worried, but then I got a tip from Keith from Chameleon Counters on feeding vipers and it worked! Instead of teasing the snake repeatedly by hitting it with the pinky, I followed Keith's advice and pinned its midsection and when it reached around to bite the hook, I introduced the pinky and it took it on the first try! After holding on for a while, it began to maneuver its head to swallow the pinky! =)

This is supposed to work for tree vipers as well.

Okay...that is good..

The male C. viperas seem to not be big eaters compared to my female. She will eat till she is ready to burst. He will only eat every few weeks and is rather timmid about the whole thing. When he is hungry he takes the F/T pinky very nicely from the forceps. I keep them on the warm side (85-90)with a 10 degree drop at night or so... It has been mentioned that males don't seem to have a long life (

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