Snake won't eat!!

[Ollie218]

my snake (Kaa) shed her skin about two weeks ago and she still isnt eating! i've tried everything i could think of.. like braining and stuff like that.. any suggestions? :shrugs:
she's feeding on pink's right now.

[Rich in KY]

What have you tried so far?

You should only be offering her food every 4-5 days.

If you haven't yet, you should put her in her feeding container with a brained pink, male sure she is secure and leave her alone overnight. That means no peeking. Do not check on her ever 5 mins. She needs privacy to eat.

[Ollie218]

i always have fed her in a separate container and left her alone for a few hours and that always seemed to work. So far i have tried braining and cutting open the stomach, i have tried that every 5 days and it hasnt worked so far. is there any good alternatives for food that i could try?

[Rich in KY]

There are several things you can do to the pink.

First, you can scent it with warm chicken broth right before putting it in with Kaa.

You can also scent it with the water from a can of tuna. Make sure not to use the tuna with oil.

If neither of these methods work, if you can get an anole, you can rub the pink on the anole to scent it.

Leaving her overnight with the food, should be tried. Many people on here have had good luck with that. Make sure the feeding container is small enough that she will come in contact with the pink. It is best to put it on the outer edge. This is normally where snakes move around most otfen.

[Ollie218]

Alright sounds good ill try that in a few because i just tried to feed her yesterday.

thanks alot

[Rich in KY]

Good luck!

Keep us updated.

[Cegninedorf]

Have you tried simply washing the pinkies?

Two snakes of mine were labeled "problem feeders" but once I put washed pinkies in front of them (I use the dish soap that is right by the kitchen sink...happens to be a natural/envio-friendly dish soap that I get at Target that smells like lavender...), down they go, no problem. Those two snakes will still refuse if even in the slightest blue & will only eat if their container is covered, but once it's covered, they get right down to business on their shampooed pinkies. :)

(PS...I also feed my hatchling in the container in which she came to me...that way, it's her size, she feels secure, and she knows that it's hers...my other snake goes in a container just a bit larger than him, but small enough that he also feels secure.)

[Fenderplayer108]

I wrote this article several months ago, i suggest you take a look at it.

http://cornsnakes.com/forums/showthread.php?t=42403

[Ollie218]

wow thats alot of options, thanks!

[Ollie218]

alright so far i've tried scenting the pinkie with tuna and chicken broth, both didnt work. my brother found some live pinkies in his kitchen and flushed them down the toilet. hopefully he can find more because there's no where around here that i have found that sells live pinkie mice, and i want to see if a live pink will get kaa to eat!

[Susielea]

A little trick I found that worked for me.

Defrost the pink as normal and just before offering it to the snake, dunk it in really hot, not quite boiling water for 5 to 10 seconds.
Not sure why it works, maybe it removes all smell or maybe it's because it's so toasty warm, I don't know but it worked for me!

Good luck and best wishes,

[Ollie218]

I'm going to try and feed kaa a live one tonight.. and if that doesnt work idk what ill do!

how long do live pinkie mice usually stay alive if they dont get eaten?

[Ollie218]

well that didnt work... ill probably just wait like 2 weeks and try and feed her a frozen one again.