Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I aquired 4 baby Eastern Coachwhips and they refuse to eat pinkies so I have had to start force feeding them with the pinkie pump. Any suggestions for getting them to eat on their own?

Thnx, SH101

Can you tell me a little bit about how you have the cage set up? and how you tried to feed them?

I have four of them. They each are in their own ten gallon aquarium with multiple hides and ranging temperatures they have a hot spot on one side and cooler on the other. I have offered lizards and lizard scented pinkies, live pinkies and F/T pinkies and they refused all of them. Then they started to get skinny and become weak so I started feeding them with the pinkie pump and their weight has returned to normal and they look alot better but I want them to start feedin on their own. Any help appreciated.

Thnx, SH101

For all my baby racers, once they hatched out of the eggs i put them all in the same 40breeder tank. In that tank i used cypress mulch as a substrate, but i made a mound of it in the middle of the tank with a flat top sort of like a platoe. at the top of my mound is where i placed my basking lamp.
Once i saw all the baby racers lined up next to eachother with their heads raised i tossed a few live pinkies in and left the room for about 20 mins. when i came back i could tell which ones ate and which ones didnt.

You could try either cricket frogs or crickets, on occasion, those will work. Other snakes too, smaller varieties like tantilla. Do you plan on keeping all of them?

Kevin

I would cover three sides of the aquarium to provide security. Give them a 95-100 degree basking light with 75-80 ambient and leave them alone for at least a week then offer them any small reptile prey item from where they naturally occur.

If they are comfortable in their surroundings they will eat lizards or snakes. Getting Masticophis on rodents has proven to be difficult for me but they will do them by tease feeding.

These are very finicky snakes in my book and I hope you have some good luck.

Nate

PS they really are cool though huh?

You might try anoles, which occur within the range of the southern populations of Eastern Coachwhips. All coachwhips are strongly drawn to lizards as prey, especially when the snakes are young.

I got several hatchling coachwhips and racers to eat voluntarily after many weeks of forcing mouse tails. In time, the snakes would accept mouse tails from my hand while being held for feeding. After snakes get used to eating on a schedule, they may develop expectations of being fed when feeding day rolls around. Once that milestone is crossed they are easier to feed and you can begin testing their willingness to accept alternative foods. Most of the time, you just try a pinkie one day and they eat it after months of refusing pinkies.

Heat is critical. Coachwhips and racers have the highest voluntary thermal preferences of any North American snake. My racers like to keep their body temps in the mid-90s--mammal temps. I have Southern Black Racers that bask directly under a 45-watt spot bulb where temp readings on the substrate can reach 120. If they were not in a cage with fan-forced venting at the heated end I doubt they could enjoy such high temps for basking. Remember it's essential to arrange the cage so the snakes can escape the heat when they are finished basking. Cages that are hot all over will stress reptiles, often to death.

Expect to feed and clean often when the snakes have the temps they prefer, but racers and coachwhips that have access to good basking and enough food look like wild ones--strong, muscular and generally in no mood for handling.

I breed easterns, and have to agree that the best advise is to provide 3 inch deep bedding and HEAT, I have a trio of yearlings that I hatched from my breeders and their doing fine but I did have to force feed them baby anoles at first, for three or four months, I would gently wedge the dead baby lizerds head into their mouth and then quickly but gently place it back into the cage and back away, in ten minutes or so they would have it down on their own. When they get HOT they eat whatever moves in the cage, also the deep bedding will give them a secure feeling and reduces stress and "baby snake stress" is tough to beat, hatchlings are pre-programed to strike and bite every thing that moves, Also they love to be held outside in the sunlight, and will, after the initial panic of being removed from their cage, calm down and go into a sort of trance right in your hand, some are now reluctant to even retreat under their bedding when I approach their cage, seems they lost their fear of me, they like the sun! REMEMBER "HEAT = EAT" especially with the longtailed snake family of Racers and Coachwhips and Indigos.JB

Thanks to all of you who replied especially you JB.

I've set them up exactly how you said and they're eatin so good now I've ran out of anoles. So now I'm gonna try them on some live pinkies.

Thanks again,
SH101