new snake feeding questions??

do you know when her last shed was? Some snakes will refuse to eat as they near shed time.

Did the person that sold her to you tell you when she ate last? Did they tell you if she was Tong fed? Are you presenting the mouse slightly warmer than room temp? If the mouse is steaming hot or too cold she may not take it. (A live mouse will have a body temp similar to ours)

And are the temps right in the cage? If a corn snake is too cool it may not eat. Have you noticed if she is spending more time on her cool side or the hot side?

You could wait a few days, and then try again inside her tank.

As my baby just taught me, sometimes they not you choose the location. My baby eats fine in a covered deli cup, but runs from the pinky elsewhere. If your snake lived a tub in a rack, odds are she was fed there. Besides the warm mouse, leave her overnight with it in the dark in an enclosed place, unless she's in shed as was mentioned previously. Best wishes.

I emailed her breeder and she was fed in her enclosure, I think by hand. She last ate 14 days ago. Last shed unknown? She doesn't look to be going into shed that my inexperienced eyes can tell, as of last night anyway. No dull colors, no milky eyes, she's a hider anyway so she's hiding as usual. I have found that she uses one specific hide, and will choose it almost no matter where in the tank I put it. I placed it about half on/half off the heat mat and that's where she camps out.

I think in a couple days I'll try again, and present it to her in the enclosure. I'll just set it with her in her favorite hide if she doesn't take it right away?

So here's what I did, specifically:
I thawed the mouse in a paper towel at room temperature for about an hour, maybe 90 minutes. I used the paper towel to put the mouse in a ziploc, and let it sit in comfortably warm (not hot) water for about 15-20 minutes to heat it up a bit. Used the tongs to grab the mouse out of the ziploc and place it into the feeding tub. Picked her up out of the enclosure, and held her for 3-4 minutes until she settled a bit, and then let her head into the feeding tub under her own power. I tried jiggling with the tongs after a couple minutes of no interest. She did look interested, but also scared. She sniffed and rubbed the mouse a bunch after the wiggling, but no eating. I shut off the lights, and locked her in for quite awhile thinking to give her privacy, but by then I think it was too late.

The tub is clear, and I felt like she felt insecure. I realized this somewhat in retrospect.

Temperature on the warm side in the hide under mostly under substrate is 86. Cooler area is ~70

My snake usually takes the mouse the moment I dangle it over his head. I'm not kidding, it's usually less than 5 seconds.

On the other hand, I have a friend with a female Corn snake that is about 3 years old, and she has to dangle the mouse and jiggle it and jiggle it and the snake sort of ignores it and even goes the other way. So my friend has started bumping the snake's head with the mouse, actually touching it to the snake and she just persists and eventually the snake does take the mouse.

She told me the last time she did a feeding, she had to fuss with the snake about 15 minutes before it finally took the mouse, but it eventually did.

Maybe your snake is sort of like her's. Maybe next time don't give up too fast.

I'd try not handling her next time. That may be upsetting her. Most of us, even when feeding out of viv, keep handling to a minimum the entire day before feeding.

Try waiting for evening after dark and try to catch her out and about. If she's already hunting there's a better chance she'll eat.

If she's hiding all the time she may very well be in shed. They don't always look dull. In fact much of the time they are in shed it is little to not visible. The increased hiding is actually the way many of us tell our snakes are in shed. Some of them hide so much during that time that you never actually see the relatively few hours they are in blue.

Thank you for the words of wisdom guys I'll give her a couple days and see how we do next time! No handling the day prior or day of feeding, try to see if she's shed or about to, and offer in the enclosure. Check!

ZELDA ATE!!!!!!

Around 10 last night, she and I had a very one-sided discussion about 5 minutes long about how I really needed her to eat because I was a worry-wart and I just wanted to know she was happy and comfortable in her new home, so if she wanted to eat tonight, to give me a sign. About 10 min later, I glanced into her enclosure as I walked by and she was head and neck out of her favorite hide, staring right at me, like "Hey. Get that mouse ready."

I thawed out her mouse, and it did have a bit of bloody drainage from the nose and mouth so maybe that smelled extra tasty to her. I offered it to her in her enclosure with tongs. She struck, missed, tried again and missed, and at this point I accidentally dropped the mouse right on her head basically. And then she scooted away

I thought for sure I had ruined it, and I was so sad. I put everything back in her house, shut off the lights, and left the mouse in her hide. This morning, the mouse is gone and there is a suspicious mouse-sized lump in her middle!!! YAAAAY!

It's great when they eat! Yeah, when they're older it's no big deal, but every time my 3 month old eats it's cause for celebration. Glad yours was hungry!

yeah I like approach it sort of like I do "Fishing."

The first few times I fed Rufus I dangled the mouse with the tongs, and when he'd strike I'd let go of the thing. I dropped the mouse a time or two myself.

But now I hold the mouse in the tongs until I feel the snake tugging back. He will usually strike and hang on so once he has a grip on the mouse I just gently lay them both down.

I always fed my Boas Live rats, so I never really did the Frozen Thawed stuff until about 5 or 6 months ago when I got Rufus. He and I have both learned a lot through trial and error.