Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I don't remember who it was that recommended tuna fish water, but THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU.
We had about 45 babies this year, and there's always one or two problem eaters. Most of them got resolved fairly quickly, but not Dionysus. We tried various tricks, but nothing was working except forcefeeding (and that gets old pretty quick).
Tuna Fish scenting sounding strange, but worth a try. Wow. When I checked back on him 20 minutes later the mouse was gone and there was this beautiful tell tale bulge.
Thanks again.
Corinne
dragonfly@w-link.net

>>I don't remember who it was that recommended tuna fish water, but THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU.
>>We had about 45 babies this year, and there's always one or two problem eaters. Most of them got resolved fairly quickly, but not Dionysus. We tried various tricks, but nothing was working except forcefeeding (and that gets old pretty quick).
>>Tuna Fish scenting sounding strange, but worth a try. Wow. When I checked back on him 20 minutes later the mouse was gone and there was this beautiful tell tale bulge.
>>Thanks again.
>>Corinne
>>dragonfly@w-link.net

worked for me too.
I have absolutely no idea why it works but I will always recommend it to people with problem feeders.
Doesn't work every time but it does work and is another good trick to add to the bag.
congrats
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Corn snakes and rat snakes..No one can have just one.
"resistance is futile"
Jimmy (draybar)

Draybars Snakes

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Welldone on getting the little one to feed..

Forcefeeding Sucks, You could also try Whitebait, Minnows, Worms, Crickets without legs..

Paul..
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Pinky's taste nice,only if there fresh..

I've been using the tuna trick for the last couple of breeding seasons - glad it's worked for you.

As has been said, they don't all go for it but it sure helps.

Glad the tuna water worked for you. I had read that on the hognose forum, and never thought about it for the corns. Always good to know as many helpful tricks as you can.

Steve

>>Glad the tuna water worked for you. I had read that on the hognose forum, and never thought about it for the corns.

scenting with anything (toads, frogs, tuna fish, etc.) didn't work on my eastern hognose. It took me 3 months to get her eating and she hasn't stopped to look back lol...actually demands food now and heaven help me if I don't take her 'hints' as quickly as she would like.

However, I do have a black rat snake that is being a problem so I'll try with him and see if that doesn't get his attention. Hatched 9/1/05, ate one meal 9/11/05 and has refused all food ever since. The only other option I have right now besides that is lizard maker and force feeding and I try to avoid FF if I can. The odd thing is the other 9 snakes from that clutch are more or less eating like pigs and growing and yet none have shed their skin (not counting the post hatch shed), but the non-eater has shed lol. That whole clutch is mentally not there..eggs were scrambled badly when they were accidently unearthed and tumbled from a mulch pile..probably laid a day or so before that happened which may be the only reason they even survived to hatch.
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PHWyvern

Back when I bred ratsnakes, I found them much easier to "tease feed" than corns. They were not nearly so prone to drop the mouse over and over, compared to a corn. After a few successful tease feeds, the baby rat snakes would usually grab it right out of my fingers.

Just be sure to tap them on the tail or mid body area (as described in my book) rather than near the head. The idea is to annoy them rather than scare them.

>>Back when I bred ratsnakes, I found them much easier to "tease feed" than corns. They were not nearly so prone to drop the mouse over and over, compared to a corn. After a few successful tease feeds, the baby rat snakes would usually grab it right out of my fingers.
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>>Just be sure to tap them on the tail or mid body area (as described in my book) rather than near the head. The idea is to annoy them rather than scare them.

Yeah, I've tried that too. These black rats are just soo addled in the head, they make baby corn snakes look like tempermental nasty things. It's like they are in a happy daze fog all the time - just watching the world go by hanging out in plain view rather than hide a lot of times.. lol. I get no tail rattling, no defensive behavior or jerky motions, no puffing up or hissing, no snapping or gaping, or rapidly flinging themselves around to get away. Heck, one night they managed to pop the top to their plastic critter cage (an older model that didn't have locking tabs on the side) and any one of them could have easily made a run for it... nope - it never occured to them to leave through the gap created. In otherwords, they are not behaving like normal baby black rats I'm used to seeing lol.
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PHWyvern

WOW! I wish that I had known this 3 weeks ago - before I gave up some non-eating snakes to a friend who owns a herp shop. Now they're his and I wanna try "tuna water"!

ALSO. Steve, that is a magnificent animal. What exactly is it? I have my guess, but don't want to embarass myself. LOL.

Thanks Dan. That's an 04 Eastern Kingsnake. South Carolina locality. That particular Eastern I have has a nice high yellow chain pattern.

Steve

ALSO. Steve, that is a magnificent animal. What exactly is it? I have my guess, but don't want to embarass myself. LOL.

I'm on the bandwagon as well after getting a hatchling Hognose to eat on a tuna water scented pinkie yesterday. I received the little guy after being shipped very poorly by the breeder and it had refused to eat since it arrived nearly a month ago so I was so happy he ate yesterday....no hesitation at all, it barely made it in before he grabbed it.

But chicken broth has always worked for myself personally. Also sometimes I will by some campbells chicken noodle soup and dip it in the can and whipe off any noodles that are on the mouse/rat and serve. Dipping it in chicken broth and cutting a fuzzies head open? Now what snake could refuse that?