Do you think its time to feed again?

I havent fed Dominoe at all yet, as most of you know I tried feeding last thursday and he didnt eat. The last time he ate was thursday June 2nd. He has been in the viv since friday (3 days) and he seems to be happy, he comes out at night and roams around. Could he be out looking for food at that time? Tonight when he comes out do you think it would be a good time to feed him?

How long has it been since the last time you tried to feed him? Since most hatchlings should eat every 5 days or so, I would wait until the fifth day after your last attempt. If you try too often, he will most likely reject it.

I would try to keep offering food on a normal schedule, and offer food no more often then every 5 days (sometimes seven is preferred as long as they are not losing too much body mass). If you try to offer food too often they will supposedly develop an ingrained rejection response to that particular food item.

Also, you may try "braining" the pink to induce a feeding response. Feel free to PM me if you are unfamiliar with that technique

Anyway, if you offered food on thursday, then I would wait until tomorrow to offer food again. Good luck with the little guy!

Yes I know what braining is. I guess I will try to feed him tomorrow night about 8:00 which is right before he wakes up and comes out, I am going to place the f/t mice right at the entrance of the hide that he sleeps in. Im probably going to brain it just to make sure. Ill have to temporarlly change my substrate to newspaper. probably tonight when he wakes up.

You can feed HATCHLINGS every 3 to 4 days, if you want to. I don't want to misquote her, but I believe Kathy Love says so in her book. Plenty of other people believe it's fine, and it makes sense, given that baby animals of most every species tend to eat more often, because of their smaller stomachs. Hatchlings usually defecate by day 2 or 3, after feeding. By the way, at 12 inches, a regular-size pinky is probably what you want to feed. By 15 (definitely 16) inches you can move up to small fuzzies and feed maybe every 4 or 5 days (not 3, by that point.) Right now, you have a BABY snake, and I see no reason to wait 7 days between feedings. 5 would be okay, but it's not going to hurt the snake to feed more often. I've never heard of lack of weight loss as a way to tell your snake is growing well (sorry to be sarcastic.)

I feed young snakes every 5 days until they are on fuzzies. After that they go to a 7 day schedule. My one snake who's just turning 2 is over 4 ft. long and on small rats and is getting fed every 14 days. He was fed every 7 days from the first day I got him, so obviously feeding schedules of 5-7 days is not too long in between. I feel that every 3-4 days is almost power feeding which isn't all that healthy for the snake. In the wild they would most likely not find food that often.

P.S. Good luck with the feeding. I'll bet that feeding him in his viv near his hider cave will work like a charm.

MegF. said:

P.S. Good luck with the feeding. I'll bet that feeding him in his viv near his hider cave will work like a charm.

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Thanks, I sure hope it works, I will let you know.

larryg said:

I've never heard of lack of weight loss as a way to tell your snake is growing well (sorry to be sarcastic.)

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I think that you misunderstood me, or perhaps what I wrote was unclear. All of my hatchlings on pinks eat every five days, the only time I would personally suggest 7 is if they are refusing food (the extra days allow them time to get more hungry, adjust, or shed, ect.) My precaution about losing body mass was not meant to be an indicator of a healthy snake, but rather an indicator that he should not wait 7 days between feedings (if the snake is already looking emaciated the seven days could actually be detrimental, obviously).

I'm also going to agree with Meg on this one that feeding every 3-4 days seems as though it may not be healthy for the snake (I hope this does not come off sounding like a slam on you larry, I did not intend for it to be one, but I cannot find another way to word it - just wanted to get my 2 cents out there).

Obviously, there are many different ways to successfully raise a healthy hatchling, and we all have our favorite ideas about how to go about doing it.

Let us know how the feeding goes tonight, Energi2er! Good luck!

Bad news..

Feeding was unsuccessful. even tried braining, still nothing. He came out and smelled it a few times but went about his way. so I put a dark towel over his viv so he would be in darkness and left him alone with it for 4 to 5 hours, and he hasnt touched it.

I read something here that if you scent the pinky with another rodent it will be more likely to eat, how do you do this?

I would try a live pinky but I cant get any locally, or dont know where to get it.

should the snake be in a room by itself? we have him in the living room where we are at most of the time along with 2 cats.

can anyone think of any other reasons why he hasnt eaten?

Did he eat before you got him?

If not this could be a problem, but if he did then keep trying every 4 days (yeah my hatchlings eat every 4 days for the first 6-8 feedings), then move onto 5 days.

Also you might want to try an apitiser like this http://www.livefoods.co.uk/product_info.php?products_id=499 to help get the little 1 started.

Do you think he might be in blue? Im not sure how to tell, The eyes are not blue at all, but his skin does have kind of a transparent blue color in a certain angle of light.

Oh, thats no good. I can't remember how you tried feeding him before, but perhaps there is still one more thing you could try. I had to use this technique this past weekend actually - Trogdor would rather think about girls than eating right now. Do you still have the deli-cup your snake [probably] came in? If not you can get one of those small ziplock disposable storage containers and punch a few holes in the top for air. Anyway, put the pinky in the container, add the snake in, and seal it up. Then I put the conatainer back into the viv (I'm not sure if this really matters or not, but it was a convenient way for me not to worry about Trogdor popping the lid off and making a run for it, and it may make your snake feel more comfortable...familiar scents maybe?). The idea of this situation is to put the snake in a container so confined that he cannot avoid his prey item, and it makes him feel secure. The next part is the tough part though. Leave the snake in complete darkness (and no peeking) for an hour or so. Hopefully when you come back the pinky will be gone.

Also, I'm not sure if you do this already or not, but you may try making a few small snips on the backs of the pinks. Not only does this make the mice easier to digest, but the smell of the pinks' insides usually elevates the feeding response (my snakes go crazy for the cut pinks!). Anyway, this is getting quite long, but hopefully it will give you something new to try in 4 or 5 days.

On last thing, I do agree with oldhand. You should find out if he ate before you got him. As much as anyone hates to hear this, if he's a problem feeder he may just be one of those destined not to make it. But hopefully he'll be eating for you real soon. I'm sure others will chime in and offer up a few other ideas for your next feeding go-round.

and the pet store where I got him said that he did eat last thursday june, 2nd. But I really dont know for sure.

Energi2er said:

Do you think he might be in blue? Im not sure how to tell, The eyes are not blue at all, but his skin does have kind of a transparent blue color in a certain angle of light.

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Oh, that sounds promising! Perhaps you just missed his blue phase, or it is still on the way. Any easy way to check is by looking at his black belly checkers. If they kind of look milky (like he's slithered through melted ice cream, as Spirit says) then a shed is on the way. That could very easily be part of the problem. Let us know

Ok, just checked out his belly squares, they are not milky, they are pretty clear, but the transparent blue color is still there.. And guess what, I just saw him bull-dozing.. Is this good news and meaning that a shed is definitely near?

Hmmm... I'm trying to remember, but i think that Sienna's (my only one with black checkers) checkers stay milky even after she clears...but now you know I'm just not sure (I'm still waking up, I'll blame it on that). Anyway, if he is going to shed make sure you have the humidity up around 60%-ish to help the shed go more smoothly. A little misting with a squirt bottle does the trick around here. Alright, well I am off to work now. Good luck, and I hope that Dominoe does leave a nice long, white surprise for you to find later today. That could solve a lot of your feeding problems

Live food

Just a thought. Isn't it A) illegal and B) Slightly cruel to feed live food to your snake!!! Or did I misunderstand?

Live food

Just a thought. Isn't it A) illegal and B) Slightly cruel to feed live food to your snake!!! Or did I misunderstand? In answer to this quote

'I would try a live pinky but I cant get any locally, or dont know where to get it'

baddy13 said:

Just a thought. Isn't it A) illegal and B) Slightly cruel to feed live food to your snake!!! Or did I misunderstand?

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Nope, not illegal and not really cruel. Snakes usually find live prey in the wild . . . :shrugs: think about it. One of the main problems in feeding live food to snakes in captivity is that if the snake is not hungry and does not eat the mouse, the mouse can hurt/attack the snake (we're not talking about pinkys here). So it is safer for the snake to eat killed or stunned mice in captivity. Mind you, I'm not advocating live feeding, I prefer f/t myself, however it is neither illegal or particularly cruel.

Energi2er, are there any pet stores in your area? If so, call around and ask if they have live newborn pinkys. You might stumble onto something. If you can find one, it might be worth a try to see if your baby will eat a live pinky. Good luck, I hope he eats soon!

Just a thought. Isn't it A) illegal and B) Slightly cruel to feed live food to your snake!!! Or did I misunderstand?

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Yes it is illegal in the Uk (that i'm awair off), but not in onther country's.

And even then in the UK some people will AHEM, feed a live pinkie to a stubburn non feeding hatchling to get it started.

As to the cruelty aspect, what would your snake do in the wild?

Energi2er, i hope it is a shed, as streaght after a shed most snakes (about 99%) want food, as their starving after getting the old skin off.

Good luck, and keep us updated.