• Hello!

    Either you have not registered on this site yet, or you are registered but have not logged in. In either case, you will not be able to use the full functionality of this site until you have registered, and then logged in after your registration has been approved.

    Registration is FREE, so please register so you can participate instead of remaining a lurker....

    Please be certain that the location field is correctly filled out when you register. All registrations that appear to be bogus will be rejected. Which means that if your location field does NOT match the actual location of your registration IP address, then your registration will be rejected.

    Sorry about the strictness of this requirement, but it is necessary to block spammers and scammers at the door as much as possible.

Eat, damn you!

Im sorry to hear your baby is not eating. Mine ate for the first time today after I tried washing the pinky in soap and warm water.
I seriously tried almost everything other than force feeding and it worked!
I used dove sensitive skin and warm water on the live pink and she ate it in her deli cup within an hour.

Good luck!!
 
Nastassja said:
BTW, I've already tried looking for live pinkies, and none of the stores around here sell any. The closest pet store is a half hour away as it is, I wouldn't know where else to look, short of buying two mice and breeding them.
Click to expand...


Find a local reptile show. Check with a local herp society to see if anyone nearby breeds mice. Find a local feeder breeder. There are tons of them in the midwest, one that goes to my local show comes from Iowa, though I don't know what area. Or, as you said, get 2 mice and let them breed. Look for pregnant mice in the feeder bin at your pet store. Mouse gestation is 3 weeks and you could get lucky and get a pair that hit it off right away.

Where did the snake come from? Had it eaten ever? That source should have been feeding it something, they might have newborn live mouse pinks. Feeding a hatchliing a live pink to get it started eating should be done BEFORE all of these crazy "tricks" if it won't take F/T easily.
 
Flagg said:
Find a local reptile show. Check with a local herp society to see if anyone nearby breeds mice. Find a local feeder breeder. There are tons of them in the midwest, one that goes to my local show comes from Iowa, though I don't know what area. Or, as you said, get 2 mice and let them breed. Look for pregnant mice in the feeder bin at your pet store. Mouse gestation is 3 weeks and you could get lucky and get a pair that hit it off right away.
Click to expand...

I will look as much as I can, but seeing as the snake is not even mine, I'm really not willing to take the step to buying two mice and breeding them. If the snake's owner is willing to do that, I'll give him that suggestion..

Where did the snake come from? Had it eaten ever? That source should have been feeding it something, they might have newborn live mouse pinks. Feeding a hatchliing a live pink to get it started eating should be done BEFORE all of these crazy "tricks" if it won't take F/T easily.
Click to expand...

The snake came from the Tampa FL expo that went on like .. almost a month ago. My ex's brother was there, and he bought the snakes for us and shipped them. My snake and his snake were from different breeders... And all the information we got is just hearsay. From what I understand, the snake was eating before it was purchased, and it was never fed live.
 
We've just made a shocking discovery about Calcifer that probably has a lot to do with why he's not eating.

His bottom jaw is recessed... It looks like somebody punched him in the face. I don't know why we never noticed it before, but he's just so tiny, it's barely noticable. I drew a diagram really quickly to show what I saw. I looked at Frost to see how his face looked, and the red lines is how Calcifer's face looks.

If this is what is causing him to not eat.... What can we do!? I will take pictures as soon as I can, but I'm not sure if my camera can zoom in far enough... I will do my best. For now a drawing will have to suffice.
 

Attachments

  • calciferjaw.JPG
    calciferjaw.JPG
    11.2 KB · Views: 77
My little Sparkster isn't eating either...according to his feeding records from the store, he hasn't taken food since Friday, Aug. 31st. But he has the sitting quietly behavior and such that make me think he's going to want to shed...I've been trying to feed him yesterday and today, I think I'll stop for a couple days and see how he does so I won't make him bored of food. :) He acted like he wanted the pinky yesterday night, looking like he would strike, but he never did. Maybe he's only just starting to get the munchies or something...
 
So, I travelled far and wide, and found a petshop about an hour or so away that had live pinkies. This will be tonight's attempt. Wish us luck..
 
I noted in my last post that we were going to try a live pinkie.

The pinkie was put in his house where it stayed all night. This morning we checked the cage, and.. pinkie was gone.. Checked everywhere. There's noplace else it could've gone, except the plastic reptile log that the snake's been hiding in... My ex thinks Calcifer took the live pinkie while we weren't looking... But I am skeptical until I see the snake come out of the hole he's in and I see a bump in his tummy. :p
 
Well, if it was a small enough pinky I doubt it was very agile or able to hide or go very far.

Congrats on getting your snake to eat. I hope he starts taking F/T for you soon or you might be doing a lot of driving =)
 
I was right to be skeptical.

The pinkie was found dead behind a hide, I don't know how it was missed when checking the viv over. The fight to feed continues..
 
Yay, Sparkster ate for the first time tonight! :D I dipped the pinky in warm chicken broth and once he got a whiff of it, he went right for it! ^^ I'm so relieved...though he did make a small mess. (pinkies can get kinda goopy, yuck!) :puke01:
 
I'm doing the chicken broth thing right now, but so far, it doesn't seem to be working. He'll be left overnight with the chickenbroth pinkie in a small box.. but I don't have very high hopes.
 
ummmm didnt you just try to feed him last night?? It is best not to try too often because you will condition the baby to refuse... better to try about every 3-4 days at the most. :)
 
Cat_Eyed_Lady said:
ummmm didnt you just try to feed him last night?? It is best not to try too often because you will condition the baby to refuse... better to try about every 3-4 days at the most. :)
Click to expand...

I don't think the snake even knew the live pinkie was in there. The snake was hiding up inside a plastic log, and to my knowledge, it didn't come out. By the time we found out where the pinkie was, it had died, and the snake was still stuck up in that stupid plastic log. It was a waste of a drive, a dollar, and a suffering death for a small life. *sigh*
 
It was a waste of a drive, a dollar, and a suffering death for a small life. *sigh*[/QUOTE]


That's why when I tried a live pinky I only left it in for a day. When I saw it was still alive (and looking for milk) I euthanized it, froze it, then used it later to force feed f/t.

I too had a very stubborn eater. I tried every trick in the book with pinkies. I finally gave in yesterday and my hubby put my little guy in with a live anole. Within 10 minutes the anole had been eaten!! Now I have the challenge of getting the snake to actually try pinkies again, but at least he finally took a meal on his own. It was a treat for me to not have to force feed him this time. Good luck with your little one.
 
I really want to try an anole... It's the only thing we haven't tried yet. I swear we've tried EVERYTHING else. EVERYTHING. But anoles are $10, and the snake's owner is getting frustrated with trying to get Calcifer to eat. I think he's going to ask his brother to take the snake back.

I've continued to monitor Calcifer's behavior, and his activity levels are starting to drop, even during peak hours. I held him yesterday, he feels like nothing but skin and bones..

There's a reptile sale coming up on the 23rd of this month. I've emailed one of the representatives of the sale to see if he might know anyone in our area who would be willing to help us do something to help the snake, or even just take it for free, if they think they could give the snake a better chance at living than being subjected to us novices.

I'm starting to concede defeat. This snake's behavior boggles my mind! No matter what we try, the snake is scared to death of pinky mice, and when left alone with a meal, the snake ignores it like it's just a block in its way of escaping. I just don't understand... :crying:
 
Nastassja said:
I don't think the snake even knew the live pinkie was in there. The snake was hiding up inside a plastic log, and to my knowledge, it didn't come out. By the time we found out where the pinkie was, it had died, and the snake was still stuck up in that stupid plastic log. It was a waste of a drive, a dollar, and a suffering death for a small life. *sigh*
Click to expand...

Have you tryed feeding in a small container? It does no good to even try if the snake does'nt even see it.
I use small containers and very very warm pinkies. Those that are shy are kept in the small containers so they get use to it. If im not feeding them they have the napkin, water and small hide.
Im sorry if im covering old ground... You did recheck the temps in its housing right? Some like higher heat then others to eat.... Just a suggestion...I sure wish you luck.....
 
I hope all is well I spent the last 20 minutes catching up on this thread. I honestly don't have enough experience to be any help my little guy is a trash can so I don't know I would defiantly look into local pros and see if someone might be able to help!
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top