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snake not striking at food

B

blackorchid77

New member
My new snake I've had for about a month does not strike its food. It will only eat the mouse if its left on the food dish. Is this normal? I was told he was 2 years old (if that helps) but the guy might have been not telling the truth.
 
Snakes are lazy normally.

If you WANT to get a strike, you can try doing the 'zombie mouse dance' and getting the snake to hunt the mouse and strike.
I have a few snakes that really enjoy me putting the mouse in their mouths, though.
And a few of my snakes will only eat if I leave them alone with the mouse and cover them with a towel.

Eating is a scary time for a snake. Snakes in the wild are helpless when eating. There is no reason for your snake to trust you, so it may not strike for you for now.
 
yes ive already done the zombie mouse dance, lol!

I guess different snakes have their personalities. my first snake wouls always strike its prey.
 
when you leave it alone with the snake in it's dish , do u watch?

because if not you could be missing him strike

my Bruge stuck pinkies very well, and when on fuzzies she wouldn't strike, so I left it in her feeding, for her to eat (after braining)

then i brained it again and jus hand it in tweezers and just moved it about while she was in "strike" position and she struck

then i didnt brain it, and did a little shake with it, and she struck

just make sure if defrosted, it is dry and at room temp
 
i have two that strike and coil. a few that just strike and others that if the mouse is laying in the tub they pay no attention to it... And when it is laying on the tub the slowly crawl up put their mouth on it, get the head in the right spot and swallow. They all just have their own way of eating, your snake is completely normal!
 
I have one nonstriker that eats in my hands. He outgrew his feeding tank so I put him in a mixing bowl with my wrist as an anchor, the lower third of his body coils around my arm as he eats.
 
My first corn is and always has been a lazy eater. She just slithers us and starts eating. I even to do the zombie dance sometimes but she just looks at me like, "Will you just give it to me already?"
 
I have snakes that if you do the zombie dance they will try and run away. Not one of my snakes strikes at their food unless I make them.
 
Tease the snake with mouse by making the snake think it's alive. I do this to my gravid females to make them strike and constrict their food for extra exercise. Helps tone their muscles for egg laying. Otherwise they will just gobble their dinners.
 
I'm gonna go with Gungirl on this - be happy it's eating. We have around 30 Corns here and there are quite a few feeding responses from them. Some will strike and constrict an already dead mouse (F/T) while others will do exactly what yours is doing - just slither up to it and start eating.

Now, I don't know what kind of setup your snake has but, if it's eating regularly, then I'm gonna guess that you've done a good job with it's setup so you definately get 2 thumbs up from me.
 
I agree with the above. So long as they are eating regularly and gaining weight while young or maintaining a good weight when older....life is very good.
 
Same here. I have a couple that give a defrosted mouse the roly-poly-kill treatment, but most just eat and I'm happy with that. It's an individual behaviour really. It doesn't make sense for a cold-blooded animal to waste precious energy "killing" something that's already dead.

If it goes down the hatch and stays down, I'm happy!
 
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