My Baby snowflake isn't eating

[albinoscooby]

AS always there are tons of these on here I know. But I was in the chat and got some advice. I have tried everything with her. She is three months old. She has refused the last three feeds. It has been two weeks since she has eaten now. She is not getting ready to shed either. I tried to feed her F/T for her last meals. I've also tried putting her in a paper baggie to eat, taking all of the substrate out of her cage, putting her in a feeding bin, braining, gutting, you name it, I've tried it. I'm starting to think this girl only likes Live. She ate a F/T one time. Other than that, her four prior feeds were Live. Today I am going to try to feed her live. Anybody have any other suggestions?

[Plissken]

Firstly, don't worry. Two weeks is nothing for a snake.
Secondly, unless I read your post wrong, you've tried to feed her 3 times in 2 weeks. I personally would leave her alone for a while before you try to feed her again. I don't know often you normally feed her, but if you're increasing her feedings, don't. It will just stress her.
If your girl has a taste for live food, hold the mouse in a pair of tongs and wiggle it around to entice her. Somtimes the movement tricks the snake in to thinking it's alive. Also, if you don't already, warm the mouse before feeding - a warm mouse feels alive. When would a snake ever eat a cold mouse in the wild?
Good luck!

[albinoscooby]

Firstly, don't worry. Two weeks is nothing for a snake.
Secondly, unless I read your post wrong, you've tried to feed her 3 times in 2 weeks. I personally would leave her alone for a while before you try to feed her again. I don't know often you normally feed her, but if you're increasing her feedings, don't. It will just stress her.
If your girl has a taste for live food, hold the mouse in a pair of tongs and wiggle it around to entice her. Somtimes the movement tricks the snake in to thinking it's alive. Also, if you don't already, warm the mouse before feeding - a warm mouse feels alive. When would a snake ever eat a cold mouse in the wild?
Good luck!

ok. Ive tries to hold it with the tongs and wiggled it around still no acceptance. The only f/t that she ate was after a shed and it was a small pink rat. Is there any way too tell if she is stressed? I will try again in two weeks.

[Plissken]

Hmm... are you feeding her mice now?
If you've switched to mice, that may explain why she is not eating. Sometimes if you feed rats, snakes are reluctant, for some reason, to take mice. Have you changed her feed at all?
I'm not an expert on signs of stress, but your snake may be stressed if she has nowhere sufficient to hide.
Another thing to try is to feed your snake in the evening, or make the room dark. My corn feels more secure eating in the dark. Also, I always leave him alone to eat his meal - occasionally you get a snake that won't eat with someone hovering over him. I don't know if that helps at all because I don't know your situation, but it's something to think about.

[albinoscooby]

Hmm... are you feeding her mice now?
If you've switched to mice, that may explain why she is not eating. Sometimes if you feed rats, snakes are reluctant, for some reason, to take mice. Have you changed her feed at all?
I'm not an expert on signs of stress, but your snake may be stressed if she has nowhere sufficient to hide.
Another thing to try is to feed your snake in the evening, or make the room dark. My corn feels more secure eating in the dark. Also, I always leave him alone to eat his meal - occasionally you get a snake that won't eat with someone hovering over him. I don't know if that helps at all because I don't know your situation, but it's something to think about.


yes baby pink mice. i try to feed her every five days. i have also tried at night time with the cage covered. she has places to hide she has her sub strate, a habba hut, and a paper towel role.

[Plissken]

yes baby pink mice. i try to feed her every five days. i have also tried at night time with the cage covered. she has places to hide she has her sub strate, a habba hut, and a paper towel role.

I'm no expert, so don't take my word for it, but in my opinion that explains your trouble. I would suggest that you try f/t rats. :)

[albinoscooby]

I'm no expert, so don't take my word for it, but in my opinion that explains your trouble. I would suggest that you try f/t rats. :)

try them now or for the next feed?

[CMLReptiles]

If I remember correctly, your snake is FAR too small to be eating rats. Drop in a live pinky mouse and leave it overnight. If it ate live before, and is refusing FT...it'll eat live again. If it refuses the live, give her 1-2 weeks and try again.

[Plissken]

The next feed.

[Plissken]

If I remember correctly, your snake is FAR too small to be eating rats. Drop in a live pinky mouse and leave it overnight. If it ate live before, and is refusing FT...it'll eat live again. If it refuses the live, give her 1-2 weeks and try again.

Yes, but it's always best to get a snake OFF live. Live food is not a good idea, especially as the snake grows and needs adult mice.
If the snake handled a rat pink before, and did not regurge, I don't see what harm it can do, so long as care is taken that the snake does not get overweight.

[jjspirko]

Yes, but it's always best to get a snake OFF live. Live food is not a good idea, especially as the snake grows and needs adult mice.
If the snake handled a rat pink before, and did not regurge, I don't see what harm it can do, so long as care is taken that the snake does not get overweight.

I totaly disagree well sort of. The whole live is bad concept is just over kill to me because it is often spouted as Gospel as though it is some how bad to feed live (as in bad for the snake).

Most of my animals are on F/T for my sake not their's! :eats02:

To me I don't want to keep mice in the house (they STINK) and my wife would end up saving them all as "too cute to feed" or "good breeders". So it is either a weekly trip for various size mice at the local pet store or a couple vacume packs in the deep freeze. That said my huge growing female Amel loves live, she will eat F/T too but often if I am driving by a store and she is due a feed I get her a live one. She even knows the boxes you bring them home in now, I open the viv, open the box and hold it near the top of the viv and up comes Secret and into the box her head goes then :eats02:

Nothing wrong with that it is how snakes in the wild live. I also have one stubborn African House Snake that will starve on F/T, he just won't eat them period and this is odd they eat anything most of the time that smells like a mouse, one of mine tried to eat a bowl the mouse sat on once. :shrugs:

So those two get live mice. F/T is a great idea for those with a lot of snakes or plans to get their some day but for the casual hobbiest with say 4 or less, so long as you don't mind trips to the store and watch to be sure the kill is made I don't see that much of an advantage.

I have also done this in a pinch and it IS a good arguement for feeding F/T by the way. Two mice left and 6 hungry hatchlings, take knife cut up beef into pinky sized chunks, rub mice on beef, hatchlings eat beef. Believe it some will eat just about anything,

[albinoscooby]

well snowflake ate. I fed her a pinky mouse in a bag. She ate it like a champ.

[susang]

Just my two cents worth but, I also agree if she will eat live pinkies go for it. I disagree to jump to pinkie rats they could be much to big for her. After pinkies you should stun the mouse as they can hurt your snake as in bite, scratch. I have fed live/stunned for four years, now I go back and forth between f/t and live stunned. hope this helps, susan

[albinoscooby]

Well my Amel has eaten live for the last 6 years. He just ate a small Rat in fact.

Here are some pics of him eating =p

<a href="http://server6.theimagehosting.com/image.php?img=Copy of IMAG0024.JPG" target="_blank"><img src="http://images6.theimagehosting.com/Copy of IMAG0024.th.JPG" border="0" title="The Image Hosting" /></a>


<a href="http://server6.theimagehosting.com/image.php?img=IMAG0038.7f0.JPG" target="_blank"><img src="http://images6.theimagehosting.com/IMAG0038.7f0.th.JPG" border="0" title="The Image Hosting" /></a>

[albinoscooby]

whoops those ones don't work =p.

http://images6.theimagehosting.com/IMAG0024.fb8.th.JPG (http://server6.theimagehosting.com/image.php?img=IMAG0024.fb8.JPG)

http://images6.theimagehosting.com/IMAG0038.7f0.JPG (http://www.theimagehosting.com)

[susang]

[QUOTE=albinoscooby]Well my Amel has eaten live for the last 6 years. He just ate a small Rat in fact. QUOTE]
I wasn't disagreeing with, unless you aren't stunning, and if it works for you go for it. I have seen snakes hurt to the point of having to be being euthanized by mouse bites. Mine wil eat anything as I said but I have one who must have pinkie stunned and one that could care less, my others all eat larger mice so stunned for me. hope she keeps eating, susan

[Joejr14]

Yes, but it's always best to get a snake OFF live. Live food is not a good idea, especially as the snake grows and needs adult mice.
If the snake handled a rat pink before, and did not regurge, I don't see what harm it can do, so long as care is taken that the snake does not get overweight.

Wut? So you'd rather have the snake starve than feed it live? Not all snakes accept our ideas of 'food', you know.
:rolleyes:

[CMLReptiles]

Yes, but it's always best to get a snake OFF live. Live food is not a good idea, especially as the snake grows and needs adult mice.
If the snake handled a rat pink before, and did not regurge, I don't see what harm it can do, so long as care is taken that the snake does not get overweight.

You're absolutely right! From now one, if a snake refuses to take F/T...even if it's 2 yrs away from adult mice like scoobs snake is...I'll simply let it starve instead of throwing it a live pinky every couple of weeks.

http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a111/chuck911/WhyDidIComeToThisThread.gif

[Adui]

You know I'm fairly new here, but I don't think we need to berate someone for their opinion. Especially when it appears to be a popular one in the snake community.

However, the "Best way" is not always possible, so when you have a problem feeder you feed however you need to for the health of the snake. If the snake will only take live so be it. Its best not to force feed a snake, but when one will starve without it that's is what we do right?


Cant we all be friends here and not fight? we are here in the interest of promoting our hobby, and learning from one another. Take what information you feel is right for you and ignore the rest. However for the sake of civility lets dont fight over who's idea is best..

[Joejr14]

Cant we all be friends here and not fight?

It's difficult when people who have no business giving advice give advice---that's poor. The advice given would kill the snake, period. You cannot starve a snake to death just because it will not eat f/t. If you're going to give advice that could potentially kill someone's snake, you need to keep quiet.

[Plissken]

I think some of you seriously need to go back and re-read my post.
Did I say NEVER feed live?
Did I say let the snake starve if it won't touch f/t?
All I said was that it is not a good idea to feed live, which is true, as live mice can inflict damage to snakes and cause all sorts of problems. It's only been two weeks for this snake, it isn't as though it will die any minute now. Why feed live if you can feed f/t? And clearly this snake can as albinoscooby said she ate f/t.

Please, stop jumping to conclusions. I didn't give any bad advice. I gave my opinion on live feeding, and it is up to albinoscooby to take all the advice she's given and use it however she sees fit. :rolleyes:

[CMLReptiles]

and if you read my initial post, you would see I've talked to him in chat before that the snake never ate a rat...hence my saying a rat is a bad idea. his snake is a small 05 or 06 he got from a pet store. and all you had to say in your response was "feeding live is bad"...which it isn't. I have some boids that won't eat FT and are on medium-large rats...I conk the rat and throw it in twitching...alive and moving enough to entice the snake, but incapable of doing harm. So...feeding live really isn't a problem. It's also not a problem if you're right there supervising the feeding. It's when you put a larger rat or mouse and leave it alone that it gets dangerous.


Scoob...try this with switching it to FT. It may cost more initially, but it works. Get 2 live pinkies. Kill one, and offer it. If it refuses, give it the live to keep it eating, chuck the dead one. Repeat each week. Eventually, it should take the dead one. Once that happens, start offering it one FT and on pre-killed...repeat as needed. It's a long way to get there, but it usually works.

[albinoscooby]

It's difficult when people who have no business giving advice give advice---that's poor. The advice given would kill the snake, period. You cannot starve a snake to death just because it will not eat f/t. If you're going to give advice that could potentially kill someone's snake, you need to keep quiet.


Well Said.....

[albinoscooby]

Well Said.....

I've actually never bonked mine in the head. I leave the killing up to the boy. He is good at it too =)

[diamondlil]

Perhaps there is a bit more of a 'moral dilemma' in feeding live in the UK. I was told by several people that it was illegal and was threatened with being reported to the RSPCA when I mentioned on a UK forum that I was considering live feeding. You cannot buy live pinks here, you have to breed your own mice to get them.
I took the threat of reporting seriously enough to look up the UK legal implications, and found that feeding live vetebrate prey is in a bit of a grey zone. It can only be done if you can prove that you are not causing unnecessary suffering.
The prevailing attitude to live feeding here is very unaccepting, it's a hidden aspect of snakekeeping, due to propaganda against it.
I have complete husbandry records for Lil, documenting her weightloss, with dated e-mails, pictures and the thread on here, just in case I ever have to prove that I fed her live for a good reason.

[Adui]

Scoob...try this with switching it to FT. It may cost more initially, but it works. Get 2 live pinkies. Kill one, and offer it. If it refuses, give it the live to keep it eating, chuck the dead one. Repeat each week. Eventually, it should take the dead one. Once that happens, start offering it one FT and on pre-killed...repeat as needed. It's a long way to get there, but it usually works.

Good Idea, except I would put the dead one in a freezer bag and keep it for the eventual transition to F/T. You waste less money that way, and since its freshly killed you know its as good as any frozen you could buy.

[jjspirko]

Perhaps there is a bit more of a 'moral dilemma' in feeding live in the UK. I was told by several people that it was illegal and was threatened with being reported to the RSPCA when I mentioned on a UK forum that I was considering live feeding. You cannot buy live pinks here, you have to breed your own mice to get them.

Ah the joys of European Socialism! Some government official that actually thinks a mouse killed by carbon dioxide poisoning is better off then by a corns coils. :sobstory: Perhaps they should watch a mouse or rat die from RAT POISION :flames: Then they would outlaw that too.

Then despite the return of things like rabies and the plague at least you could pick up lots of dead and dying snake food on the street.

On the tone of this post I have to agree with some though you don't need to be mean to people (my comments about socialism here were satirical for those that might have thought them mean. I actually love a lot about England especially the pubs. :cheers: )

I disagreed first with the post but if you look you will see an academic disagreement not an attitude problem. Debate is fine just please try to behave like adults. I know we have a lot of youg adults here so if that is you think just a second before you submit that post, read what you wrote and ask if it is CONSTRUCTIVE before you push submit,

[jjspirko]

Oh yea and I am just happy the snake is back on the feed, good job getting it acomplished,

Jack

[Plissken]

Perhaps there is a bit more of a 'moral dilemma' in feeding live in the UK. I was told by several people that it was illegal and was threatened with being reported to the RSPCA when I mentioned on a UK forum that I was considering live feeding. You cannot buy live pinks here, you have to breed your own mice to get them.
I took the threat of reporting seriously enough to look up the UK legal implications, and found that feeding live vetebrate prey is in a bit of a grey zone. It can only be done if you can prove that you are not causing unnecessary suffering.
The prevailing attitude to live feeding here is very unaccepting, it's a hidden aspect of snakekeeping, due to propaganda against it.
I have complete husbandry records for Lil, documenting her weightloss, with dated e-mails, pictures and the thread on here, just in case I ever have to prove that I fed her live for a good reason.

Thank you for adding this to the conversation. For those of you who disagree with my views on live, what diamondlil has pointed out has contributed majorly to my dislike of live feeding. I live in England, and here live-feeding is an absolute no-no. My opinion has probably been derived greatly from Britain's stance on live-feeding. Those of you who are not English, would not have this. Hence perhaps why nobody agrees with me. Lol. :)

[albinoscooby]

and if you read my initial post, you would see I've talked to him in chat before that the snake never ate a rat...hence my saying a rat is a bad idea. his snake is a small 05 or 06 he got from a pet store. and all you had to say in your response was "feeding live is bad"...which it isn't. I have some boids that won't eat FT and are on medium-large rats...I conk the rat and throw it in twitching...alive and moving enough to entice the snake, but incapable of doing harm. So...feeding live really isn't a problem. It's also not a problem if you're right there supervising the feeding. It's when you put a larger rat or mouse and leave it alone that it gets dangerous.


Scoob...try this with switching it to FT. It may cost more initially, but it works. Get 2 live pinkies. Kill one, and offer it. If it refuses, give it the live to keep it eating, chuck the dead one. Repeat each week. Eventually, it should take the dead one. Once that happens, start offering it one FT and on pre-killed...repeat as needed. It's a long way to get there, but it usually works.

I think I'll try that Chris. It sounds interesting.