Feeding

[gnarhimself]

Howdy to everyone

I have a female snow motley that is giving me endless S**t,i have had her eat for me (14th March 2006) once since i got her.Ive done everything that has been suggested,and told not to stress too much that she's not eating right now,and that chances are she's just a bit of a slow starter or slow eater,because she has eaten before...apparently if she's done this before...she's gonna do it again.

I got home last night to find that she has shed (that would explain why she didnt eat this week)
The latest bit of advice i was give was to place her in a smaller container and try and get her to eat in that container because she is probaly a little insecure about her new place.
I did this yesterday,and have decided not to try feed her yet,even though she has just shed,i dont want to have to stress about new (smaller)place to stay,and rather want her to settle.
The temperature is a between 26 -30 Degrees (celcius) on the warm side and about 21-25 degress on the cooler side of her old "big" cage.
I have put the smaller cage onto the heating pad,so that just one small portion of the smaller cage is heated up,hereby creating the temperature gradient.

I am going to try an feed her on Thursday,and i hope that this IS the problem otherwise im back to square one.

I have tried everything possible,dead pinks,live pinks,brained pinks (she took this once),thawed pinks.

INTROBOOST was a suggestion,but then it was advised against it,as this could "mess: the critter up.

I have also heard that picky eaters WILL eat baby lizards,and that this is basically only a last resort (Never feed wild animals to captive ones tho!!)
Has anyone been successfult with Lizards?? How did you get captive bread lizards??

DOES ANYONE have a "SureFire" method that they use for picky eaters if she doesnt eat on Thursday night??

:eek1:

 

[diamondlil]

Since my girl Lil hasn't eaten voluntarily since January 17th, and is only alive through syringe feeding puree mouse, you have my sympathy. I have tried every sure-fire feeding strategy, but Lil doesn't read these posts! good luck, at least your snake has eaten recently, so hopefully it will do so again. lil just pooped on the brained pink when I tried it

 

[gnarhimself]

Im sorry DiamondLil

:sobstory:
Thats really aweful...its a cr*ppy feeling when one panics and worries like this

I hope yours eats soon

 

[diamondlil]

She'll eat one day............this forum great for help, I just wish Lil would listen to the theories
If brained worked once, I'd be inclined to stick to that for a while. these snakes do seem to stress us a bit, I bet your snake is happily cruising the viv oblivious to the worry it's causing

 

[gnarhimself]

Aint that the truth
mine's as active as ever,doesnt stop for a moment.
One would assume the more energy you use the more you would need to sustain yourself.

I agree with paying attention to the forums...would make me a lot happier

 

[diamondlil]

The really irritating thing is, all my snakes kept in identical conditions, same size tubs, same temps etc, but all the others no problems at all. If there was only a glaring problem that I could fix...........I've got Lil some fake greenery to put in, perhaps she wants a more luxury appartment feel to her tub

 

[gnarhimself]

i got the exact problem,all the cages are identical,3 of them are thriving at the perfection
1 is being a little B**ch,and giving me an ulcer

:grin01:

 

[diamondlil]

oh I forgot, apparently there is a product that makes the mouse smell like a lizard for picky eaters, I think it's called 'lizard maker' but I haven't been able to get it in the UK, also scenting the mouse with chicken broth or tuna water is supposed to work. (Again Lil pooped on the tuna-scented mouse, and the chicken skin-scented mouse)

 

[gnarhimself]

mmmm>
was gonna try the tuna scenting...was told the salt in the water could upset the balance

:shrugs:

 

[diamondlil]

I got tuna canned in spring water, it still was only good enough for pooping on......... :roflmao:

 

[gnarhimself]

LOL @ Diamondlil
:crazy02:

 

[diamondlil]

Honestly I don't know why I just didn't take her back to the shop and swap her when the guy offered. Luckily she is very pretty and sweetnatured. Actually I'm mad enough that even if she was pug-ugly and bit the heck out of me I still would keep her. a guy on an english forum says he force fed for 2 years before the snake ate voluntarily, so I'm by no means ready to give up yet.

 

[gnarhimself]

I agree...not gonna give up,either she has to give up (die )
or i have to give up (die )

I feel the same,im in this with her till the end,i dont have the courage to give her up for adoption or give away...
Its like being married ...for better or worse...and thats all i have to say about that.... :cheers:

 

[Ratsicles]

Ive noticed in alot of forums that colubrids are going off feed right now. Spring time is their mating season, so anything mature could be off feed for that reason. My snakes always go off feed during their breeding season.

One other method that works for boas is to dip the prey into chicken broth. This gets some of them to start eating.

Bryan

 

[Albino Billy]

I know you posted this thread over a month ago but just in case you still have a picky eater on your hands, I have found something that WORKS!! I was talking to a herpetologist about corn snakes and just snakes in general and he told me that he has a few picky eaters. I asked him what he does and he said he uses this stuff by T-Rex called Mouse Maker. Well, Billy started refusing food and I just figured it was spring time and mating season and I would just try once a week to get him to feed. He would go up to the F/T rat pup and act like he was really hungry and then move on. I thought maybe the thing really didn't smell like he wants it to smell. SO, after him not eating for 4 weeks, I ordered the Mouse Maker. This stuff is awesome! I thawed my rat pup, warmed him up and then just added a few drops of this stuff to it's head and laid it in there with Billy.. He gobbled it up like he was starving and then went searching for another. I heard that this product was being discontinued so I bought a few bottles of it. I don't know if it is true or not but I am glad I got it. It's a little bottle but you only need a few drops and this stuff will last a long time. AND it's only like $5.50 a bottle. Anyway, just thought I would share... I hope your picky eaters are doing better. :wavey:

 

[BeckyG]

I'm glad Billy is eating again. I've never tried Mouse Maker, but I've also heard opposite stories. It seems some snakes are actually repulsed by the stuff.

So it depends on the snake. If it works for you, great. But if it doesn't, don't worry about it.

 

[Amadeo]

a guy on an english forum says he force fed for 2 years before the snake ate voluntarily

Your not talking about J9 on the aboutsnakes forum there are you?
In which case we all got sick of the un moderated spam bots and changed boards.
The new links there

 

[gnarhimself]

So here's my Update

Its been a few months,the original breeder still has my Snow Motley female,and she is eating,the problem is that she STILL doent seem to be interested in taking live feed.
Since the breeder had her taking live before i bought her.
Once a week i get my update from him,she seems to have become a very "greedy" eater,but its unfortunalty only F/T pinks..

The breeder has told me that UNTILL she IS eating live pinks again,he's not gonna be giving her back to me,he feels its his responisbility to get her 100% before i can get her back.(that to me is just awesome)!

She is apparently growing very nicely,and the breeder is hopeful that soon she will be taking live pinks...

-Bryan-
:wavey:

 

[diamondlil]

surely you'd be happy to have the snake taking f/t pinks? if you can't buy them you could freeze a live one then thaw it?

 

[diamondlil]

Your not talking about J9 on the aboutsnakes forum there are you?
In which case we all got sick of the un moderated spam bots and changed boards.
The new links there

I know! yes Diamond Lil is my naughty snake, and I'm Janine, or /J9 for short!