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New Snake, Fed first try. Trouble with second feed.

J

Jase82

New member
Hey guys I got my corn snake a few weeks ago. I waited a few days, and then fed her. I did this by placing newspaper down in the middle of her terrarium and placing the pinky on it. She came out and ate it no problem. But 5 days later I tried to place her in a separate container in her tank to feed(As is usually recommended). This did not work. The next day I tried to feed her again, with no luck. I then read to wait a feeding cycle to feed her again, so I did that, placed her in a separate container with a lid and a warmed pinky, left her alone for around 20-30 mins, and when I came back, she had not eaten.

How, and when should I try to feed her? The terrarium is running at a good temperature, and she has many hides.

Thanks
 
There are several people that have had no luck with feeding their snakes outside their vivs. If you're placing the pink on some newspaper or even a paper plate inside her viv and she eats fine, then I say...if it ain't broke, don't fix it! Most people just worry about too much substrate (i.e. aspen shavings) being swallowed along with the prey item, which may lead to an impaction. If you take the appropriate steps, like laying down newspaper, you shouldn't have that problem.
 
What kind of container are you putting him/her in? Is it transparent?

I'm thinking the issue may be that he/she doesn't feel secure enough outside of his/her viv to eat. They're probably too freaked out/scared so they're worried about not dying instead of eating.

If the container is see-through I recommend covering it with a shirt or something so that they are in complete darkness/can't see anything other than dinner. It worked for me when I had a picky eater on my hands, now he's so comfortable he'll strike at the pinky before he even gets outta my hands!
 
Porro said:
What kind of container are you putting him/her in? Is it transparent?

I'm thinking the issue may be that he/she doesn't feel secure enough outside of his/her viv to eat. They're probably too freaked out/scared so they're worried about not dying instead of eating.

If the container is see-through I recommend covering it with a shirt or something so that they are in complete darkness/can't see anything other than dinner. It worked for me when I had a picky eater on my hands, now he's so comfortable he'll strike at the pinky before he even gets outta my hands!
Click to expand...

Thanks for the replys guys. The container is white, and not transparent. I guess I will try the paper plate idea again and just hope that the snake eats on it, instead of pulling the pinky off and getting substrate on it.
 
Jase82 said:
Thanks for the replys guys. The container is white, and not transparent. I guess I will try the paper plate idea again and just hope that the snake eats on it, instead of pulling the pinky off and getting substrate on it.
Click to expand...

Another way to ensure that little to no substrate sticks to the prey is to make sure it is very dry. Good luck and let us know how it goes!
 
jlindp said:
Another way to ensure that little to no substrate sticks to the prey is to make sure it is very dry. Good luck and let us know how it goes!
Click to expand...

Hmmm, well. I put the pinky in next to where my snake was hiding, and after about an hour nothing had happened, so I tried to coax the snake a bit with no luck. Not really sure what to do now
 
Hmm... Do you know if she's going into a shed? If not, you can try slitting the pink, braining it, or heating up it to very hot. I'm assuming she's a hatchling...Do you have a deli cup or something as small? Sometimes being in close proximity will do the trick. Put her in a deli cup with the pink, put her in her tank near, but not on, the warm side and leave her for an hour. If nothing, reheat the pink and leave her with it in the deli cup overnight.

Edit: I'd probably attempt feeding in another 3-4 days.
 
Cover up the top of the deli cup so she can't see out. But is she active as usual? If not, she may be getting ready to shed.
 
Also Place the deli cup or container inside the viv. If it will fit. This sometimes will work too. Do not place the cup over the heat side though.....
 
Jase82 said:
Hmmm, well. I put the pinky in next to where my snake was hiding, and after about an hour nothing had happened, so I tried to coax the snake a bit with no luck. Not really sure what to do now
Click to expand...

What did you do to coax the snake?

Did you put the pinkie on the end of some tweezers and shake it around a little for movement? I would recommend hemostats, or the equivalent; this works for me usually. This past weekend, I fed my new snake for the first time in her tank as well. I lured her over to a clear plastic container on its side with a pinkie on the end of the tweezers. She ate the pinkie while on the plastic container, but I kept thinking to myself "what if she drags the pinkie off the container and into the aspen", but everything went OK.

If I had the pinkie between my fingers, that may have presented too large of a target, and scared her. The locking tweezers were a big help in this regard. For her next feeding, I will put her into that same container, except not on it's side anymore, with a lid and then I will do the same thing as before when I shake the pinkie around just enough to make it move.
 
Nanci said:
Cover up the top of the deli cup so she can't see out. But is she active as usual? If not, she may be getting ready to shed.
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She has been very inactive, even at night, but I thought that was normal for babies. There dont seem to be any visual ques indicating that she is getting ready to shed.
 
What color is your snake? Some morphs are hard to tell when they are in blue and getting ready to shed. It sounds to me like that is what is going on.
 
carnivorouszoo said:
What color is your snake? Some morphs are hard to tell when they are in blue and getting ready to shed. It sounds to me like that is what is going on.
Click to expand...

yea, on my snow corn it's really hard to notice if he's in "blue" or not, I have to really look at his eyes and see if they're more pink and not red....
 
I think the _best_ shot you have at successful feeding depends on:

A. The snake not wandering off and forgetting to eat. Put the snake in a deli cup.

B. The conditions being "right:" snake is hungry after a decent interval (five days), it's evening, a natural time for feeding, snake is relaxed from not being handled right before eating, snake has peace and quiet and darkness for feeding (cover the deli cup with a dish towel, dim or turn off the lights, do not disturb for 60 minutes).

C. The prey being hot enough. You want a pink to be about 101F. I thaw it quickly under running tap water, then after a minute or so, run it under the very hottest water, cut a few slits on the back, put it in the deli, put the snake in the deli, and leave the snake alone.
 
Nanci said:
I think the _best_ shot you have at successful feeding depends on:

A. The snake not wandering off and forgetting to eat. Put the snake in a deli cup.

B. The conditions being "right:" snake is hungry after a decent interval (five days), it's evening, a natural time for feeding, snake is relaxed from not being handled right before eating, snake has peace and quiet and darkness for feeding (cover the deli cup with a dish towel, dim or turn off the lights, do not disturb for 60 minutes).

C. The prey being hot enough. You want a pink to be about 101F. I thaw it quickly under running tap water, then after a minute or so, run it under the very hottest water, cut a few slits on the back, put it in the deli, put the snake in the deli, and leave the snake alone.
Click to expand...

I have always wondered something. I understand how handling is stressful. I don't understand how putting the snake in a small deli cup is:

a. not stressful
b. not considered handling

I was going to start a thread where I asked what is "handling" and does it differ from handling? Moving the snake to a different feeding container requires handling. When people on here say not to handle a new snake for X period of time, what exactly do they usually mean by that? Is "handling" defined by the period of time spent holding the snake?

Instead of starting that thread, I'll just ask it here (sorry OP).
 
What I mean is don't be playing with the snake for half an hour before you try to feed it. It's not so stressful to quickly and as uneventfully as possible catch the baby, quickly weigh it even, pop it in the feeding bin. When I move babies back, I've noticed they have a tendency to fly out of the deli cup, so I carry the cup to the viv and don't even open the cup till it is inside the viv. Then usually the baby will cling to the cup for dear life, as opposed to flying out like a jack in the box if you open it away from the viv.

Especially with new, unestablished babies (those that have not fed reliably and relatively easily for me for several times, say four-six times) I pretty much don't handle them. You've got years to enjoy the snake- the most important thing is to first instill good feeding habits.
 
Nanci said:
What I mean is don't be playing with the snake for half an hour before you try to feed it. It's not so stressful to quickly and as uneventfully as possible catch the baby, quickly weigh it even, pop it in the feeding bin.
Click to expand...

Yea, that's what I always assumed it meant, minimal literal handling = "no handling"
 
Hmmm, alright well, I just attempted to feed her again, with no luck. This is the 14th day that she has not eaten, What should I do?
 
How long did you leave her with the pink? I would wait at least 5 days then cut the thawed and warmed pink in 3 parts then place in feed box with the snake, put it in the viv and leave over night. This worked when my normal het amel stripe refused a meal. Then the next meal do the same only cut the pink in 2 pieces instead of 3. The third feed just slit the back or poke a hole in the head with the other steps. Be prepared to totally ignore the snake until the next morning. They won't eat if you hover staring at them like a TV set.
 
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