Anery takes hours to eat pinky?

[Tyger9791]

My anery is a bit strange. I really need to figure out a name for him, BTW, just calling him the Anery is getting old.
But anyway, I will put a pinky in his tub around 7pm Tuesday night. I checked him in the morning, pinky still there. and not looking too pretty. it's really dark red, kinda sticky, but not smelly though. I checked again at lunch hour, still hadnt eaten it. I try doing the pinkie zombie dance, but he doesnt seem interested. I put him back in the tub and then put the pinky back in with him. and he goes right for it. My worry though, is if the pinky is bad, it's sat out for a good 16 hrs before he ate it. this is the second time he's done this...he wont eat it unless it's sat there for hours.
Is it ok for him to eat a pinky thats sat out for so long?
hey i majored in criminology in college and i know about crime scene investigation...i know TOO much about decomposition of bodies. thats why i kinda worry about this sort of stuff.
corns arent supposed to be scavengers, i thought they liked fresh meat?

[Lennycorn]

Do you slice the back of the f/t pinky?. Scenting it could help trigger a responce. :shrugs:

Good Luck

[Tyger9791]

nope havent tried that yet...hmmm.

[cornsnakemaster28]

Ok I'd try that, cutting it. You can also try a live one because that moves around and it will be easyer.

I tryed this the very first time i got mine and she was small, and she ate it.

I'd try the live one if you're cutting tech. fails.

good luck

[princess]

I was reading an article a while back (no idea what the source was sorry, so you'll just have to trust that I'm not spinning here!), which said that when wild caught rat snakes (all sorts of Elaphe) had their stomach contents explored (yes, unfortunately some snakes gave their lives as part of this projects) it was found that some of the prey items were decomposed to a degree consistent with them being dead for a little time before ingestion making it appear that these snakes are opportunistic carrion eaters as well as live prey hunters. I suppose this is why they are so quick to accept pre killed prey whereas other reptiles (like chameleons) are quite strictly visual hunters which rely on movement to identify food.

[kimbyra]

Cool info Adele!

[MegF.]

If you're feeding f/t mice try making sure that the mouse is well heated (live mice are about 100-101 degrees F body temp). As Lenny suggested, I make cuts in all the mice I feed. It helps them to digest and it also gets the scent out there.

[3330PHILIP]

Whilst talking about feeding, alot of you guys use the phrase f/t mice, what is that???? I can't work out what f/t is. I hate abbreviations of any sort.

[CornCrazy]

F/T is frozen/thawed

[Savvy19]

I wondered about the f/t reference, too, haha. I used pre-killed/frozen mice, also, and never heard of them being called f/t's.. haha

[desertanimal]

Though sometimes I think it should be t/f because we offer them thawed frozen mice, not frozen thawed ones!

From the mouse's perspective, though, I guess it frozen, thawed. But I never think of it from the mouse's perspective. :shrugs:

[Savvy19]

You have a point there! haha

You're from Phoenix... me, too!

[Cycal]

Yeah try slicing the mice.

I normaly put 2 across the back and 2 across the belly. Works like a charm. My lil guy goes completely berzerk (Some times he gets so excited he actuly squeezes a bit of blood out).

[BeckyG]

(Some times he gets so excited he actuly squeezes a bit of blood out).

My snow is my most aggressive feeder. One time, she had squeezed so much blood out that it looked like the poor mouse exploded! Good thing it was already dead.

[Soleila75]

When it comes to f/t mice, us Cannucks, would call it TV dinner. :spinner:

On a serious note, we're also having a hard time getting our male to eat. Is it mostly males that are the fussy eaters, as most posts about finickey eaters seem to be about male snakes. Our girls have great appetites, and we just got another boy (albino - no name yet), and have no clue what his eating habits are goign to be like.

[MegF.]

Actually, of the corns, the males are the best eaters except at breeding time. The females are pretty off and on (at least the Okeetee bunch) and I never know if they are going to eat from one week to the next. Even the female I just bred is not eating. I expected her to really scarf the food in preparation for laying, but nothing.

[BeckyG]

Actually, of the corns, the males are the best eaters except at breeding time. The females are pretty off and on (at least the Okeetee bunch) and I never know if they are going to eat from one week to the next. Even the female I just bred is not eating. I expected her to really scarf the food in preparation for laying, but nothing.

Really? I find it is just the opposite with my snakes. Of my corns over a year old, it is my female that is my most consistent eater.

My male amel has been on and off with his feeding ever since November. Even my male king snake has refused a few meals these last few months.

Of course, I only have the three (two corns and a king) that are over a year old. (I'm not counting the ball pythons. They go by a whole different set of rules.) So I may just have a really aggressive female.

[schilsound]

Is it mostly males that are the fussy eaters, as most posts about finickey eaters seem to be about male snakes. Our girls have great appetites, and we just got another boy (albino - no name yet), and have no clue what his eating habits are goign to be like.

In my experience the desire to eat well and regularly is probably most affected my their temperature level. I've found that an animal that shys away from a fuzzy and hides with no interest in eating will come right out swinging at a medium adult a couple hours later if I bump the temperature.

My collection is on gradients from 87-77 in their sterilite 1754's and they'll hit almost every time. Another collection I work with has a one-room ambient temperature and they'll only all eat when the room sits above 80 degrees- anything lower and they're about 70/30 eaters/non-eaters.

You might also try some things like modifying the feeding time to the evening light cycle when they'd normally be ranging for food. You can alsy try turning the lights on a half hour before feeding on a regular basis, and trying to be consistent with your food temperatures [as was just mentioned in another thread pinky/fuzzy temps are hovering around the 100 degree mark- if you've even sorted a colony of live mice you'd know they are furry little heaters] so that the animals recognize a f/t item as "live prey".

hope some of this helps ;]

[Tyger9791]

Guinness is eating fine now! I tried slicing the pinky and he checked it out, and then ate it right up. This morning i didnt slice it, just to see what would happen, and he grabbed the pinky right away.
Usually I feed in the early evening, usually around 7pm. Thats when I usually catch Blaze and Aidan cruising around.
But this morning, Guinness was up and around, with the time change, it's dark now at 7am. so i decided to try and see if he would eat. and he did.

[MegF.]

Am I understanding this right. You fed last night, and now you're feeding again the following morning?

[Tyger9791]

i fed the 26th, the 29th and the 3rd. i'm terrible with dates and times, thats why i use freeherp to keep track. i just checked it again to see if i had done just as you said...but i didnt thankfully! the 26th is when he had the slow feeding and a very tiny pinky. my original post is incorrect, Tuesday was the 29th...not the 26th. that was sunday...geez even i'm confusing myself.
i sliced the pinky on the night of the 29th and he ate it. i didnt slice it on the 3rd (this morning) and he ate that one.

and i USUALLY feed them at night, but i didnt this time. i was going to be out tonight, so i saw the opportunity to feed him this morning.

[MegF.]

So you feed every 5 days. That's about right while they are on pinkies. I go to every 7 once they are on anything larger. Even my sub adults get cuts in their food. I think it helps them digest more easily.

[Taceas]

So let me get this straight, you put him back in his home tub to eat, and he snatched it right up? Or what other tub were you talking about?

A few of mine still don't like to eat in a feeding tub, but will eat ravenously in their own tub. So maybe that's his problem.

[Tyger9791]

I do apologize, i've been on sinus and allergy meds the past couple weeks and i havent been clear in my posts. the stuff makes my brain cloudy. i cant wait until the pollen levels go down some.

I have two shoebox sized sterilite tubs. One is Guinness's viv, it has his waterbowl, two hides and has papertowels on the bottom. the other tub is the feeding tub that doesnt have anything in it except papertowels. i put the pinky and Guinness in the feeding tub first...he didnt eat. I then put him back in his viv with the pinky overnight, he didnt eat. so i tried putting him back in the feeding tub with the pinky. he didnt eat. so i almost gave up, but i put him in his viv and tossed the pinky in there one last time, and he grabbed it and ate it on the 26th.
i also decided instead of using the feeding tub, that i would just feed him in his viv for now. i think maybe the empty feeding tub stresses him out too. maybe as you said, Taceas, it may just be that i just fed him in his viv. so for now, thats what i'll continue to do. just feed him in his viv. and i'll slice the pinkies if he doesnt take them.