Reptile & Amphibian Forums

My 1 1/2 year old pyro is just not eating right. I finally got her to eat after 4 months on a live pinky, which she will eat quite nicely, but she refuses to go back to her f/t diet. She is being really picky! The closest pet store to me that sells live feeders is a really long way (20 miles each way), and I don't get to get down there very often. How can I get her back on her thawed food?

My other snake is eating his thawed food just fine, but he isn't a kingsnake. I think that means that there is nothing inherently wrong with the food, she is just being picky!

What can I do? I have tried tease-feeding, rubbing a shed skin from my other snake on it, and dousing it with a vitamin powder that my vet recommended. I can't figure out how to get her back to f/t! She ate them fine for over a year.

Thanks for any advice,

Laura

Cut the f/t mouse's head open and smear some of the blood on the mouse's body. That often works with stubborn snakes.
Michael
Michael's Place

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Michael_Fedzen@hotmail.com
www.freewebs.com/mikesnake

ok i just got a pyro tuseday she is 4 mounth old.well i looked into this because i heard about pyros not eating ok first if you have another 10 gallon tank buy a few anoles (they dont cost much) every time you feed them rub the pinky on the anole to sent it. it should work if not try feeding the lizerd to the snake. and if that dosnt work try leving the frozen/thawed pinky over night with the snake.
here is the pic of my pyro.

Great looking snake.
Fleck

i got her at VMS reptiles off the enternet she is the nicest snake ever she never hides and at vms reptiles the guy is very nice and dosent sell them unless the eat and are nice there are two more on his website check it out when you have a chance here is the site http://www.vmsherp.com/4SaleKingsnakes.htm

Thanks for the site going there now. He breeds great snakes by the look of yours.
I love pyros tho some babies can be pains to feed from all the posts I have read. Since he sells them after they eat than thats great.
Thanks again

Sounds like she simply wanted to brumate. A bit early if it has been 4 months but not too unusual, and 4 months is about the duration of most higher altitude kings for brumation. She is young, however even many hatchlings will turn off and want to cool down, rest and cycle their system this time of year as nature intended. You can keep them going if you really want to by occasionally offering them smaller food items less frequently and keeping the heat on. They will be slow to respond to a normal feeding routine but if you are lucky they will continue eating at a slower pace until nature tells them it is time to pick it up for spring.

I think smaller food items like the pinky she ate is your key, if you have f/t pinks on hand, offer her those and see what happens but be patient with her. Too much handling and attempted tricky feedings to try to get her to eat when she doesn't want to will only stress her and make her burn off body weight quickly, which could lead to trouble.

Always best to let them brumate for a while when they slow down in late fall if at all possible at any age, it is nature's way and they are much better off in the long run for it. Better feeders during the rest of the year as well!

She is not 4 months old (about 17 months old), but she hasn't eaten normally since July 11, which was almost exactly 4 months before she started taking live pinkies again. She won't take a live fuzzy, even a small one, and definitely won't take a f/t fuzzy. She was eating two or three of these at a time before she stopped eating in July.

I just offered her the two smallest live fuzzies I could find, and she ignored them both. Pinks she will devour with gusto, though. But they are getting expensive, since she needs to eat so many of them compared to the fuzzies. Ugh. Thanks again! I will try some of your tips.

Laura

Hey Laura,

Very good to hear she is at least eating the pinks heartily! I did understand that she is about a year and a half old, which is what led me to believe that she just wanted to go into an early brumation for some reason and shut off on feeding when she did. The 4 months is about how long pyros and other mountain kings brumate in the wild and don't eat.

Normally in captivity when they begin to shut down for the winter, they begin getting really picky with their feeding and refuse their normal sized offering and will only reluctantly accept something significantly smaller. After brumation, they warm up slowly and begin feeding again... also on much smaller food items such as your girl seems to be doing. Once they get going good in early spring they will begin taking their normal sized meal items. I think everything with her is normal, and since she is eating the pinks readily she is only doing what mother nature is telling her to do... she just got started with her attempted brumation a little early.

If you had a supply of frozen small and large pinks on hand I think your troubles and expense would be over and she would soon begin accepting the f/t fuzzies again. Some of these critters can be darn stubborn when they want to be and the only relief is to give them what they want. Pushing them too hard to get them to do what you want them to do against their will can make matters worse. I have been down that road and back a couple times and believe me, I understand your frustration! Once you understand them and what nature wants them to do, the whole thing becomes much easier and MUCH less stressful! lol!

Keep doing what you are doing to keep her eating, get her started on f/t pinks soon and she should start on the small f/t fuzzies soon after. Good luck!