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live pinky in my hand.. hmm what to do...

V

Velox415

New member
I got a miami phase corn snake from cornsnake.net on the 7th that was supposed to be started on f/t pinks, put the deli cup she came in in the 10 gallon tank I had for her and left her alone for 3 days while she settled in. On the forth day I held her for a small bit then put her back then tried the feed her that night using a completely thawed and slightly warmed pinky mouse. I put her in the smallest kritter keeper they make picked the pinky up with the tongs and offered it to her only then realising how incredibly small she is! (or how large the pinky is!) She struck at the pinky but let go so I put the pinky in with her and put the lid on.. she put her mouth on it a couple times but didnt really make an attempt to eat it. So I left her in a warm dark place over night but she still didn't eat.

I check my temps and everything, 81ish on warm side 72 on cool, her eyes are clears and color bright, but since then I must have gone through a dozen pinks trying to get her to eat, everything from braining and feeding her in a smaller deli cup to leaving it in the cage with her over night. Last night I even tried lizard-scenting though I'm not sure I did it right.. I basically gently held my pet anole and rub him on the pink and had him lay on it a bit, he even fell asleep on it lol! She still wouldn't take it though, just moved away from it. She's very placid and didn't even strike at the mouse when I tried to agitate her with it as someone suggested previously.

Anyways! right now I have a live pinky mouse in my hand trying to keep it warm enough to live and I can't decide if I want to go down this road because Im not sure how hard it will be to get my snake to switch back to f/t mice. It's my second to last option.. I say that because out of despartation I can take a 1 hr 40min drive to a place I know has cb anole hatchlings.. I head miami phase snakes prefer these as first meals anyways...

Soooo! Advice??
 
How often have you been trying to feed her?
According to various sources from this site, as I have no personal experience, you should only try once a week or so.
Please someone with more knowledge correct me if I have given incorrect advice :)
Cheers,
 
3 weeks and a dozen attempts is too much. You'll just make snaky think that food is plentifull. Wait a week and try again.
 
Every 3-4 days I'd say except today. I remember reading some place they can get jaded really quick if you bug them to much with a mouse :p

Forgot to mention too, besides the no eating thing she seems to be a very active happy snake. I'll often sit very still and watch her come out especially at night. She'll climb around, drink, etc then go back into hiding, quick lil thing too, doesn't seem lethargic or otherwise distressed at all. I really really attached to her already if that makes any sense.. she means a lot to me since I got her the same day I suffered a very big loss.. half a pick me up or something *shrug* I'll stfu about that now ;p
 
~slither~ said:
3 weeks and a dozen attempts is too much. You'll just make snaky think that food is plentifull. Wait a week and try again.
Click to expand...

tehe wish there was an edit button ;p bit of an exaggeration on my part, apologies, more like 6 realistically feels like a dozen tho ;p
 
I ended up with two non-feeders this year. With one, I had tried f/t, brained, overnight deli cupping, scented. She went right after live. She is currently being "reconditioned" to recognize f/t as food. She takes f/t about half the time now.

The other, I'd tried overnight deli cup enclosure, brained, scented, live. I managed to entice her into eating f/t by washing the pinks with Ivory soap. She's not crazy about being "fed" so I usually end up putting the pink in a deli cup inside her tub. Once I go away and leave her alone, she eats in less than 30 minutes.

I only hope that's the extent of my problem-eaters (yeah, right!) 'cause that's just too nerve-wracking!
 
In my opinion it might be easier to get her to take f/t pinkies after feeding her a live pinky rather than an anole. My snow refused two meals, I fed her one live pink and she's been eating f/t like a pig ever since. I don't have any experience feeding lizards or even lizard scenting. But if you do want to scent it, try to get your anole to bite the pinkie. A lot of people scent pinkies by putting them in the mouth of a dead lizard or getting one to bite it, it's the saliva I guess.
 
I have an '06 cb Georgia Mole King that was feeding solely on live pinks when I acquired her, and subsequently refused every offer of f/t (brained, scented, etc.).

A few live pinks later, I offered her f/t again and she took it with no problems whatsoever - now she's just as happy taking either.

Point being, I wouldn't worry too much about 'spoiling' your snake with live ...it'll come around.

Just my $.02
 
Thanks for all the input everyone! Good news is, she ate! I'm very relieved. This is my first snake btw, and I desperately didnt want to go down the live mice/possible injuries road but I put the pinky in the same hide as her on the warm side and checked back an hour later, because if she didn't eat it I was going to give it to my beardie. And and! magic happened! She made the pink disappear! ..although she seems to have put on some weight herself! XD

I'm wondering now if maybe I the mice I got were just too big or had gone bad or maybe I just wasn't warming them up correctly. They came in a 6 pack cup frozen and were twice the size of the pink I got today, the guy was nice enough to go through and find the absolute smallest for moi. *^_^* Or maybe just the fact she felt more secure in her hidey thingy and the mouse was wiggling.

For future reference, whats the best way to thoroughly defrost a pinky and how long can a very young, very small snake safely go without food? Thanks :D
 
I thaw my mice directly in very warm water (no baggie) in a small cup. When the water starts cooling i pour it out and replace it with warm water again. I feel the pinkies, press them in between my fingers, when they feel warm all the way through (the head will be a bit soft, or squishy) I rinse them in warm water, dry them off and put them in a deli cup with the snake. Dinner. The smaller the pinkie, the less time it takes to defreeze.
 
Oh, and something I forgot to add. I wouldn't feed my corn in her viv. The aspen or whatever type of bedding you use (unless it's paper towels or newspaper) could be swallowed and cause impaction, which can kill your snake. The easiest thing to do is get a cheap disposable tupperware container (like gladware), poke air holes in it put a paper towel in the bottom of it (or not, I don't most of the time) and put the snake and pinkie inside. I leave my container partially over the heat mat, and partially on the cool side. Sometimes she starts eating before I sit the container in her viv, then I just let her crawl right back out. It's up to you, I don't have any bad experiences feeding in the viv, but I haven't tried it either.
 
:wavey: I'd leave out the paper towel, after reading Desertanimal's thread about a hatchling that swallowed it along with the mouse
 
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