Here is how I force feed.. **PICS**

Well after 9 weeks since hatching I figured it was time my first Pewter ever got a meal in her. I think more people have this problem this time of the year so I thought I show you how I do it. I take a tail of a medium mouse and put the tip of the tail in the mouth. I pri the mouth open with a probe. I push the tail a bit into the throath. Then I gently close the mouth and pull the tail so it gets stuck on the teeth.


Then I carefully place back the snake into it's box.


And yes, it starts to swallow..


Job well done


So, how do you guys do it?

whoa that is very interesting.. Thank you for that post!!

Once you do that, do they start eating on their own, or what?

Well, in fact normally I let none feeders starve themselve to death. I don't want to promote 'none feeding' in my bloodlines. But this year was the first year I produced Pewters (3 of them) and none are feeding so I will do my best on these ones. Last year I had a none feeder Bloodred which I did not want to loose eighter so I force fed her twice in 7 days (after three months of none feeding) and she ate 5 days after the second force feed. I really hope this Pewter will start soon. But I will continue to force feed every 14 days untill she start feeding on her own. Even if it takes a year

I usually

force feed the tail in the other direction because of those little hairs, they go from the base of the tail to the tip, so it seem that the tail goes down easier that way. I also let non eaters die, with few exceptions.

Marcel, I'm sure you know from your own experience that the tail method has worked and can work, but I've also heard that doing this can be dangerous if the tail is too long because parts of the tail may not be in the stomach digesting, but rotting up above. That seems like a logical enough possibility. Do you take this into consideration when using the method? How would you know what's too long?

Thanks!

there can't be much nutrition in a mouse tail.

Amdek said:

there can't be much nutrition in a mouse tail.

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You're right -- a mouse's tail probably isn't a 100% balanced meal like an entire mouse would be. However, if you have an non-feeding hatchling, some food is better than no food!

I agree about turning the tail around so the hairs go the other way. It's less abrasive that way, and the tail goes down easy once you dip it in water for a little lubrication. Depending on the size of the hatchling, I use tails from hopper to small adult mice. Those shouldn't be too long to fit in the snake's stomach.

That is why I feed the smaller end first. The corn will push the tail towards the stomac. And because the thin part will bend in the stomac the whole tail will go in the stomac. If you feed the thick part first they might indeed leave a piece of tail outside the stomac. I don't feed the mouse tail because it is nutricous but to trigger the feeding respsonce. Feeding a tail is not very stressfull on them.

you can do the same thing with a hind mouse leg believe it or not - its a little more aggresive but not by much and the snake gets a reasonable meal

How cruel

Marcel Poots said:

Well, in fact normally I let none feeders starve themselve to death.

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No offence intended Jicin but surely you mean 'sad' rather than 'cruel' I am sure in the wild they would stand even the slightest chance if they wouldn't eat. It is survival of the fittest I am afraid.

I very interesting topic by the way, thanks for sharing.

rspier said:

force feed the tail in the other direction because of those little hairs, they go from the base of the tail to the tip, so it seem that the tail goes down easier that way. I also let non eaters die, with few exceptions.

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Thats bad to say. Ok take this for example. WARNING :-offtopic
A child is just born, and the baby wont eat. The doctors wont help it becuase they believe if the babys want to survive they would eat.
Now if that really happened the doctor would be considered inhumane. How are you different if the animal is a snake?

Yeah, smart comparison. Snakes and humans.. I am sorry but I feel it is not worth a dime when it doesn't eat. And getting all problem feeders to start eating will mean nothing but promoting that bad habit.

So by that logic, are to round up all non-feeding animals worldwide and start a force feeding campaign?

What these breeders are doing is to try to keep weaker, non-feeding snakes out of the gene pool, just like nature would in the wild. It keeps the captive population healthy.

Then at least kill it. Don't let him suffer for weeks.

Or perhaps the snake doesn't eat because it has some wilder genes in it and doesn't do well in captivety. Or perhaps a little encouragement would help. Like the mouse tail force feed. Might be a great snake for the rest of his live. Why give up that fast?
And if you 'don't want to keep those in the bloodline' why do you do it with your Pewters? Because there worth more? Sell better? And the common ones can just starve? I'm sorry, i'm really not looking for a fight here, but i do feel great pity for the poor snakes that die a slow death because they happened to be non-Pewters. Is it proved it even passes onto the next generation?

I'd say your responsible for your animal. Either do everything for it and sell it as a pet, or be humane and end it.

I don't really know what that 'force feeding compaign' comment came from. You know, in the wild non-eaters would become weak and killed off by predators. Or perhaps they recieve so much stimulance they simply would eat in the wild. Perhaps non-eaters don't excist in the wild i don't know. All i know these snakes didn't ask to be born a pet do it's not their fault. We humans choose to do so. And that simply gives us a responsibility.

I do not literrally starve them to death. At the point where they actually start loosing weight I feed them to kingsnakes or hognoses or give them to people who care to give it a shot at saving them. I just don't want to hang on to them. But up untill that point I have tried every trick in the book trying to get them to eat. When they really are not interrested in food is it fair to keep them months alive by force feeding? Some of them (most actually) die anyways. Even when you force feed them. It is very stressfull on them. So is that fair? Keeping them alive?

About why I keep my first Pewter that I ever hatched? Do you not have the slightest imagination why I would try to keep my first ever Pewter keep alive? No, not to produce more Pewters with her. In fact, I have ordered new Bloodline Pewters from Finland with Bas. That way I would not have to use this Pewter ever. She will be show off animal..

Alright. You didn't mention that in your earlier posts. I didn't know you did try to keep them alive. Well that's different then. I seriously thought you'd throw them a pinkie every once in a while untill you found them upside down 2 months later.

Hey. Your Dutch to. Great i finally meet a dutch herper and i go fight.

The hind leg option is a very good one for non-feeders, more nutritious and if you offer the foot first it goes down very easy. The real objective is to get them to start swollowing something though, not really to get nutrition into them, if it only takes one or two.

When we used tails, we cut them to about 1.5 inch length and used the thickest part of the tail only and put it in so the snake swollowed with the hairs, not against them. We used only a couple tails before we hoped to get a feeding response, and then progressed to using legs instead for a couple meals. If corns didn't start after that, we found hibernation worked for about half of the non-feeders. The rest of ours tended to persist in not feeding even after hibernation and were euthanized.

mary v.