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Week 4, still not eating.

Joshadel!c

Joshadel!c

- Satori -
I made a thread about my candy cane corn not eating last week. I just tried offering a frozen pinkie, and she totally ignored it. I offered live 3 times before, about 5 days apart. I work at a pet store, and everyone is telling me to cut a live pinkie in half, or else brain it. I have moral issues against that, and i'm not willing to do it.

Do I have any other options than mutilating a living creature or else starvation?
 
Heat the pinky in chicken broth and offer it HOT. Leave the hatchling in a small deli cup alone with the pinky OVERNIGHT.

Make sure there are air holes in the deli cup.
 
Right now I have the mouse on a large feeding bowl, under the light. I only put in one hide, and it's facing the mouse. I was gonna leave it there a few hours ... becuse dangling it didn't do anything.
 
hmmm if you are just going to do what you want to anyway.... why ask for suggestions?? :shrugs: I dont know of Any problem feeders that will come out to eat out of a bowl... just no way. You need to try other things that have a chance of working. try putting it in a small container with the mouse.. the pink needs to be really warm, about 102 F.. and if that doesnt work... then try other things.... there are many suggestions on here about things that have worked for others :) I wish you luck but there is just no way a problem feeder will come out and eat like that...
 
Cutting a live pinky in half is not cool. You've tried every method that has been discussed on this site? I'm kind of doubting that since the method you're using (i.e., pinky on a bowl under light) wouldn't be suggested by anyone who knows what they're talking about. If you want your snake to live, do some research. If you're unwilling to do that, at least try this:

Thaw pink and wash pink in mild soap and rinse thoroughly. At sunset, place snake and pink in a very small container. Place container in a warm, dark, no-traffic area. Do not peek or otherwise disturb the snake until morning.

:-offtopic
Your signature area is too long. The max is four lines, and blank lines count...
 
Joshadel!c said:
Right now I have the mouse on a large feeding bowl, under the light. I only put in one hide, and it's facing the mouse. I was gonna leave it there a few hours ... becuse dangling it didn't do anything.
Click to expand...



cateyedlady is right, why ask for help if your not going to take any advice. Snakes are night creatures, when you want them to eat and their giving you a hard time, you feed them in a small deli cup with a lid because its DARK. A snake isnt going to eat under a light, thats for sure.

If I fed like that my snakes would be non feeders too.
 
I never said I wasn't going to take any of your advise, I only said I refuse to cut up a living mouse. And as far as eating under a light ... my roomates corn has eaten fine under a bright light, with both of us watching him. Too bad they aren't all like that, haha.

So when I put her in the deli cup, should I leave her a live pinkie or a f/t?

I figure the live would be better because of the movment, and the warmth ... but can a pinkie bite? In a way I think they can't, but I could be wrong.


p.s. I left the pinkie in her cage overnight, I used the black heat lamp - so it was completely dark. The pinkie WAS moved ... just not eaten. :shrugs:
 
One more thing ... every pinkie i've gotten my hands on seems WAY to big for my little girl to eat. Could that be the reason she seems to fear her food? I don't know how to find anything smaller.

I know thy can eat somthing quite larger than their head, but I mean it's a biiig difference.
 
No one's suggesting butchering a live pinky. Make sure it's dead, then slice it. But before doing that, try the chick broth, or rubbing it on an anole. Mine ate after I put him and the smallest live pinky I could find (and I did *very gently* even wash the pinky first) into a small paper bag, and put that bag-o-snake-n-pinky back into the viv and left them like that for about 8 hours. Do it at the time of day you see your snake being most active.

Good luck and let us know...
 
Feeding, under a light, is not the way to go ... even, more so, if the pink is in a bowl (where a hatchling would have to climb ~in~ rather than, easily, sliding ~on~). If feeding in its enclosure, it is, also, best that the feed is placed at the hide's location ... like the hide's entrance.

Mutilating, as you say, a live pink is out of the question, as far as I am concerned, so can understand your not wanting to do this (I wouldn't either). However, cutting a frozen pink does not bother me since, at that point, it is just a carcass (just "meat" and not a living/breathing critter).

Would you have a problem cutting a frozen/thawed pinkie?

I had a newborn refuse his meal and would not eat while in a deli cup either.
Since newborns (and young hatchlings) are kept on paper towel, I decided to feed him by placing the pinkie at the entrance of his favored hide and leaving him, totally, in peace & quiet. Before placing the pinkie there, I gutted it (deflates the "chubby" belly making the pinkie even smaller... & guess it adds a further scent too). This worked. Move was made on to whole (non-gutted) newborn pinks without incident.

Some folks will cut off the pinkie head and just offer the head (its being smaller than a whole pinkie) until the hatchling is, reliably, eating. That, or a pink is cut in half (best done while pinkie is still frozen).

Other suggestions:
Braining the pink may work (you can do this with a f/t, it need not be live).
Warming the pink may work.
Leaving hatchling, overnight, in a deli cup, along with a pink (f/t or live), may work.
Scenting the pink may work (scenting via commercial product or rubbing pink on a lizard, or with mouse bedding <not urine/poo soaked bedding>, etc.).
Dipping the pink in chicken broth may work.
Washing the pink may work (using mild soap & making sure it is well rinsed).
Would suggest trying live, if it has only been offered f/t, but .. it seems you have tried this.;)

Of course, you can do a combination of the suggestions ... like warming ~and~ scenting, or washing ~and~ warming, etc., etc.

Remember that each snake is an individual. Therefore, you may have to try different things because ... what may work, for one, may not work for another.

Keep in mind, too, that temps could play a part, as well, but I am assuming that your viv temps are correct/appropriate.
 
My temps are 80 on the warm side, and 75 on the cool side. I have a hide on both sides as well. Shes always active, actually she spends at least 3 to 4 hours roaming around the viv durring the daylight hours. Shes also out at night. So i'm not too concerned about her health yet.

Today when I leave work i'll pick up a live pinkie and the small plastic dishes we sell the critters in. I'll just put both of them in there around 7 p.m. [when shes most active] and leave then in the viv overnight. I might dip the pinkie in broth as well, that sounds like a good idea.

Unfortunatley I don't have access to any lizards, so rubbing the pinkie on one isn't an option. Pasodama - Thank you so much for your reply, there was sooo much useful information in there. I wouldn't have a problem cutting f/t since it's already dead. It's just that I was told it had to be alive.
 
Joshadel!c said:
My temps are 80 on the warm side, and 75 on the cool side.
Click to expand...


You may want to bump the heat up, on the warm side, a few degrees. Ideal is 85 degrees but ... If you can get it somewhere between 83 - 86 it should be good. Your cool side temp is fine (though you'd not really want it to be lower). Also, temps should be taken at substrate level.:)
 
I second pasodam 's advice to increase its habitat heat. I have seen a raise to 83 and 84 work to get hatchlings to eat. With a increase in temps it may eat a plain f/t'd. Just be sure to use a digital therm with a probe to get a accurite reading on its flooring. Dont want to burn its lil belly.
You say you will place it in a deli cup you leave for work at 7. May i suggest you litely cover it to make it darkish? It seems here most eat with in two hrs and here at 7 it is not dark. Just a suggestion.
As for feeding it live. I believe it possible you were misinformed. A great percentage start with f/t and continue with it thru out its life time.
Hope your lil one eats and continues to eat well....Good luck
 
Well I just put the live pinkie and Satori in the plastic dish. I have a few holes punched i nthe top for air, nice size, but not beg enough for her to escape. I put the dish inside her viv and pretty much covered it with the bark, except the top. I have the black night heat lamp on ... and hopefully the mouse will be gone in a few hours.

I tried a similar method with a paper bag about 2 weeks ago ... that didn't work. Hopefully shes more hungry this time.
 
satori.jpg
 
You should leave her in there all night with the pinky. And fight the urge to keep checking to see if she ate. She needs her privacy to eat. Since she is a problem feeder, she needs extra time to feel comfortable to feed.
 
How long will the pinkie live for though?

I heard it's bad for them if they eat a mouse that is dying, or has just passed away.
 
I have had them live over night before. It should be safe. Especially since you are trying to get a problem feeder to eat.
 
Don't give up!!

I have a little snow hatchling that is a problem feeder. We got him 4 weeks ago and finally got him to eat today. We had been offering him F/T like you in a variety of ways and he acted like he didn't even know it was there. I got all excited when he finally pooped, but a week later he still did not eat. I went to the pet store to get a live pinky and asked for a small one. They happened to have day old pinkies and they were at least 1/4 of the size of the frozen which made me feel like maybe he wouldn't be intimidated. We put him in a dark box on paper towel with the live pinky hoping he would eat last night (the lady in the pet store let me know they can live much longer than we think they can). I checked on him this morning and he was in the opposite corner of the box from the still living pinky. At this point I was determined. I closed the box top and decided to leave him in it for the day. This afternoon I checked on him and he was eating (mid swallow). I shut the box back slowly and went to the living room to tell my husband our baby was eating!!! I hoped I didn't mess it up by accidentally peeking at him. My husband let me know at this point that he had brained it about an hour prior. I HATE the thought of this!!! BUT I hate the thought of Casper dying of starvation even more. He didn't slice him at all. What he did (at the suggestion of the pet store) was take a thumbtack and just poke it enough to get a drop of blood.

Again, I understand not wanting to do this. But he hadn't eating for 4 weeks like yours, and within an hour of this - he ate, swallowed, and 3 hours later everything still looks good.

The pet store here (not a franchise, but a small place) offered to do this for us if we had an aversion to it. Maybe you could have them do it prior to you taking it home....kind of "out of sight - out of mind". See if it works. If it doesn't, you don't have to do it again. If it does work, you may have saved your snake!

Good luck! I hope everyting works well for you and your little one!
 
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