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Rainier

Irish Eyes (Mrs.Z)

Irish Eyes (Mrs.Z)

Zookeeper
This is Rainier, my lavender that I picked up a little over a month ago. I think he's so pretty, and he is just the nicest fellow! In fact, his personality makes him one of both mine and Z's favorites:

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Thing is, he has never eaten for me. Guy told us he had been converted to F/T. Saw him at the Expo on Saturday, and he THEN told us that Rainy had only ever eaten live or fresh killed. Well, I can't kill, and I won't feed live. I don't want to give this handsome boy up--I want him to eat F/T! Anyone have any advice over and above the usual, which we've tried?
 
I'm glad you love this guy, but that stinks that the previous owner lied to you. I don't know what to tell you for the feeding issue but to keep trying.
 
I love the name!
I'm sorry to hear that the previous owner lied. :(

I have ferrets that are good dispatchers, maybe you can get a private bred ferret, that is used to whole prey as food. Have them do the dirty work.
I don't like dispatching either. When I had my own colony, I had the ferrets take care of that, they're quick & efficient. That was before I had snakes.
I hope you're able to get him to eat f/t.

Maybe ask someone who's had WC snakes, that they've transitioned to f/t, maybe they can help. ....?
 
Awesome lavender!

1- there is a diff. between killing a mouse and euthanizing it. a co2 chamber is very humane. someone else had to do it so that you could fill your freezer, right?

I had a '2', but it was meant to be a statement and i would have sounded like an a$$hat. So instead, might i ask why you dont feed live?

What exactly have you tried, in regards to offering him food?
 
Fyrefocks, I am not able to kill, no matter how. I cannot, therefore, feed live for both safety and philosophical reasons. I don't want the snake to be endangered by a living animal who might harm it, and as one who worked as a euthanasia technician in animal shelters for years, I am traumatized beyond bearing by the thought of bringing about the demise of any creature. Heck, we even use humane traps to trap and release wild mice that make it into our bird rooms.

So I will not kill or euthanize any animal, nor feed a potentially dangerous "meal" to an animal I love. There are others out there who don't mind doing the dirty work, so I'll leave them to it. I don't judge others for their choice--in fact, the very fact that I can now purchase pre-killed prey is the only reason I can keep snakes at all.

As for what we've tried--thawing and feeding warm. In feeding bin. In viv. Covered. Uncovered. Left overnight both in bin and in viv. I have yet to brain anything or otherwise cut it up. That will be tried at next feeding. With luck, it will work.
 
Irish Eyes (Mrs.Z) said:
Fyrefocks, I am not able to kill, no matter how. I cannot, therefore, feed live for both safety and philosophical reasons. I don't want the snake to be endangered by a living animal who might harm it, and as one who worked as a euthanasia technician in animal shelters for years, I am traumatized beyond bearing by the thought of bringing about the demise of any creature. Heck, we even use humane traps to trap and release wild mice that make it into our bird rooms.

So I will not kill or euthanize any animal, nor feed a potentially dangerous "meal" to an animal I love. There are others out there who don't mind doing the dirty work, so I'll leave them to it. I don't judge others for their choice--in fact, the very fact that I can now purchase pre-killed prey is the only reason I can keep snakes at all.

As for what we've tried--thawing and feeding warm. In feeding bin. In viv. Covered. Uncovered. Left overnight both in bin and in viv. I have yet to brain anything or otherwise cut it up. That will be tried at next feeding. With luck, it will work.
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Im assuming Z shares your thoughts and feelings? Fair enough. I let someone else do the dirty work, but im not above doing it myself.

Out of curiosity, where do you thaw the rodents before you feed them to the snakes? And which of the many processes do you use to thaw your rodents?
 
Zombie mouse dance, make him think it's still alive. Tease feeding, in other words.

Scent it with used mouse bedding. Or maybe lizard / anole bedding.

Random thought, are corn snakes opportunistic enough to eat eggs if they come across them? I would think so. If so, it may not be ideal but the right sized egg could get some nutrition into him. Anyone know?

Last resort, there is force feeding. May be best done by a vet. I know I wouldn't be able. I'd be too scared of hurting the snake.
 
Oh, and you might want to list the owner's details in the board of inquiry. If they are a dealer, then others should be warned of his/her/its prevarication.
 
fyrefocks said:
Im assuming Z shares your thoughts and feelings? Fair enough. I let someone else do the dirty work, but im not above doing it myself.

Out of curiosity, where do you thaw the rodents before you feed them to the snakes? And which of the many processes do you use to thaw your rodents?
Click to expand...

Yes, Z does feel the same way I do. He's a kind soul who couldn't even trap and kill the moles who dig up our yard, or the bees and spiders who make their way into our home. It's one of the many things I love so much about him.

I don't feel as if I am "above" killing. I feel as if I have done enough in my lifetime to last several more. It's been the mid-80s since I did that job, and I STILL have nightmares about it. I am grateful for people like yourself that don't have the same feelings about killing food animals, otherwise I wouldn't have snakes, and I wouldn't be able to enjoy chicken, venison, etc., myself.

We put them into a ziplock bag, and stick the bag into a cup of hot water until the rodent is thawed and warm. Other than using the nuke, which I've read is not recommended, putting the prey item in a cup or bowl of warm water is the only way I've heard of to thaw and heat a mouse.
 
GothPixel said:
Zombie mouse dance, make him think it's still alive. Tease feeding, in other words.

Scent it with used mouse bedding. Or maybe lizard / anole bedding.

Random thought, are corn snakes opportunistic enough to eat eggs if they come across them? I would think so. If so, it may not be ideal but the right sized egg could get some nutrition into him. Anyone know?

Last resort, there is force feeding. May be best done by a vet. I know I wouldn't be able. I'd be too scared of hurting the snake.
Click to expand...

We've tried the zombie mouse dance :). No luck. I don't raise mice, so I don't have mouse bedding. Ditto with lizards/anoles. I could get the odd quail egg from a friend of mine who has them, though. I'd think a chicken egg would be too big, though.

Force feeding I don't think I would have a clue how to do, but I could learn, I suppose. If it came to that, though, I'd probably be more likely to simply give Rainy to one of our local members, here, who doesn't have my inability to feed live.

I don't know that the guy we got him from was a breeder--at least not one whom I've seen selling on here or on Fauna. First name of Ken, from Vancouver, is all I really know about him. He's raised corns, if I remember correctly, but not large scale, so I imagine he's only sold a few snakes here and there. He was getting out of corns because he preferred his rosy boas.
 
Get the mouse good and warm with a lamp or hot water, then make it rustle around the snake bedding like its digging, when u grab it with the tongs grab it horizontally not vertically.. what i mean is have the tongs all the way from the shoulders to the butt of the mouse, and root around gentle with it. I've had a few I've had to convert. fact is when he gets good and hungry, he will strike without looking to see if its dead as long as its good and hot lol
 
What about Tuna juice or chicken broth? I have heard of people dunking the item in those two choices then using a blow drier to heat it up and make the smell profuse more.

Perhaps your guy can't smell? lol that would suck, has he shed since you have had him?
 
Next time you want to offer food, try something a little different. When my hognoses go off feed for weeks at a time, ill drop a mouse in a bowl of steaming hot water - no ziplock bag- and i allow the mouse to thaw right outside the snakes cage. I normally wait half an hour for the thawing to be done. The snakes are normally waiting right at the front of their enclosures for the food, and none of them seem to mind wet food.
 
Good ideas, and we'll give them a try. Thankfully, Rainy came to us somewhat of a chunky-monkey, so a few weeks of self-imposed starvation won't hurt him much--for now.

No, Rainy hasn't shed since we brought him home. He hasn't at any point looked blue, though, either.
 
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