Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hi i have 4 baby copperheads Ive had for over 3 months and have yet to eat I'm offering frozen day old pinkies every friday they ALL bite the pinky but never eat them these are captive born southern x osage copperheads. Its very rare for me to come across live day old pinkies where I'm at so Ive never tryed offering do you think that would do it? or are there any other tips anybody has? id really like to sell these guys soon but I'm not gonna sell uneating copperheads.

Tried cricket frogs, or skinks or any other alternative foods yet? Sometimes baby copperheads need a winter behind them before they really like to eat.

Yeah I tryed crickets no luck

Not crickets but cricket frogs.
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Tim Cole
www.austinherpsociety.org
www.AustinReptileExpo.com/
www.AustinReptileService.net
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Conservation through Education

OHHH no i dont really have access to anything live i would hate to have to assist feed :/ for my sake and theirs!

Hmmm... These are things that maybe should've been considered beforehand? It isn't uncommon to need live food, alternative food on hand when baby snakes are around. It is basic husbandry.

I had this problem with one of mine. Finally got it to eat by offering just the pinky heads. Don't know why it worked but it did. Are you tease feeding with forceps? Mine still won't eat it if the prey is just placed in the enclosure.

Yes i am getting them to bite it then when they do i place it on the ground infront of them and close the bin

I have realized that quite a few baby snakes that feed on pinkies or fuzzies, smaller animals that don't normally put up enough of a struggle to injure a baby snake. The snake quite often won't take the animal bitten unless it seems to be alive "moving". This said could explain of course why the snake had no difficulty biting it's prey when wiggled in front of it. The prey normally don't die abruptly such as when you drop it and it seems suddenly dead. Normally after being bitten the prey wiggles about a while and the snake will start feeding on it before it has stopped wiggling. Try using whatever you are holding the prey with to slightly move it around after it's bitten. Not enough to make it appear to be walking about but just nudge it so it rocks back and forth and see if the snake keeps its interest in the prey long enough to start feeding. Remember if it does try feeding on it do not stop rocking the prey as soon as it grabs it. keep moving it for a moment. Try to replicate the exact actions the prey would perform if it were alive in the same situation.

that ALWAYS works for me, is leaving thawed pinkies in their enclosure for 2-3 days. Seriously.

They obviously get kinda nasty but on the 2nd or 3rd day the pinkie is gone, the baby has a lump, and from that point on I never have a problem with them eating again. This always works when they're about 3 months old and are just finally ready to start eating. I've gotten about 10 baby Coppers to take their first meals this way over the years and it's the only trick that's ever worked for me. Good luck.

A common mistake a lot of people make is undersizing the meal. Unexperienced people believe that since it is a baby snake it has to eat baby food items. A new born copperhead is designed and able to kill and eat a hopper mouse. A live hopper is more of what their instincts will tell them to eat. I would not think it very likely that a wild baby copperhead would ever find a new born frozen thawed pinky to eat.

To put it a nutshell, anyone that keeps critters should know about the critter and have the ability to provide for the needs of the critter before ever keeping the critter. Do your homework prior to keeping the critter or give it to someone who has and can take care of it. Your being unprepared may prove to be the death of your baby copperheads.

ECTimaeus

I think your response is a little harsh. Most of us that have done nothing but constant study and feel we have learned all there is to know about our animals eventually runs into a problem that we haven't experienced as of yet. That's how we learn from our experience. I realize this is a basic feeding problem but we don't know from the OP if some or any of our normal solutions have been tried. We do know the OP has tried some but we don't know enough to ridicule him/her. Even so we have all at some point struggled with the feeding difficulties that come along with snakes till those of us experienced in it develop dozens of possible solutions. Even as studying enough to have sufficient knowledge to keep a snake will still run into difficulties needing some advice from others that may have possible solutions they aren't aware of yet.

Maybe you are right about me being a little harsh. The fact of the matter is that the individual was / is unprepared for taking care of the animals in his charge. Maybe I should have sugar coated my response a little. Maybe I should have led him to believe that he is doing everything right and that everything will be ok in the end. Maybe after the animals are too weak to eat on their own someone can teach him (over this forum) how to force feed them so they will not die. Maybe while he is force feeding them, one of them will slip a fang into his finger. Maybe that will reinforce how important it might be to know how take care of the animals and to do the homework.

After thinking about this, maybe I was not too harsh. Maybe he will take my thoughts to heart and do it right. Maybe I saved him the pain of a copperhead fang in his finger. Maybe it will save the lives of some critters.

ECTimaeus

So what is this place? I thought it was forums where people should feel welcome to come and ask questions or advice. Do we know if the OP tried most conventional methods to entice feeding? Do we know if they spent countless hours scouring websites researching, oh then come across forums and figured someone here may have an answer. I am sure that your response could be coppied and pasted to every question someone comes to the forums and asks. At least this person cared enough to try to seek additional ideas. I wonder how many are afraid to ask a question similar to the one here for fear of being ridiculed after reading this thread and just allow the animal to die. I've studdied reptiles my entire life and have my own meathods of dealing with problems such as this. But I still find myself at times wanting to hear others ideas. That's how you do just what you suggested. You do your homework by furthering your knowledge. Even if you already think you know it all. You can always learn something new.

"This place" is a place to discuss issues, offer advice, educate, and anything else you want to make it. I submit that my posts did all of those things. I offered him an option to feeding his babies. I offered him advice on being prepared in the future for any other snakes he might keep. And I think the most important thing I offered was to make him think about what he is or will be doing.

I was not trying to sugar coat anything. People read these forums and think that this is easy. Take a baby snake, buy a frozen pinky, feed it, snake grows and thrives, makes more babies, and the world is fine. Wake up! For crying out loud, the guy did not even know what the copperhead's natural food items might be. How basic is that? How hard is it to read up a little about the natural history of the snake? He had the computer knowledge enough to access this forum so he could ask for your advice. Maybe, you should not sugar coat your response. It is possible that my post will get people to think about this responsibility we take on when we keep critters. We all have to remember that once we put the critter in a cage, that critter becomes totally dependant upon us for survival. The better prepared we are, the better sucess we will have. IMHO

ECTimaeus

Yourself and Snakes&Stuff are correct with your advice. Every post indicates this individual was totally unprepared to care for juvenile copperheads. Personally, I'd force feed them mouse legs occasionally until Spring. BTA, they've already ruled that out, and wisely so I suppose.