THICK HEADED SNAKE! [aka possible eye injury]

I've had some luck with feeding a picky ball by just thumping the mouse (or rat) on something to stun it and/or scramble its brains. May sound disturbing to some but the prey is fresh, entirely warm and hopefully still twitching. Not sure how humane that is but I'm thinking a good scrambly brain impairs accurate pain perception ;) I've seen it work anyway....snakes gotta eat right? lol I agree with using tongs as well if your snake is picky or weird about eating.

Oh and if you do try it this way, do it somewhere thats easy to clean- they usually bleed from the nose or ears if whacked hard enough...

I will warn to make sure if you try to stun the rat...Make sure it's STUNNED and not just ticked off or will shake it off quickly. Cause if you don't get it enough it can turn right back around to bite with all it's got. It's tough to find that in between hurting it enough to get it dizzy and...well, straight up smashing it's brains out.

Agreed. Stunning the rat or mouse can be rather difficult. I tried whacking a stubborn rat over the head once and ended up making it incredibly stupid. But most of the time of they're feisty I just give them a good thump and if necessary hold their legs until they become weak enough that they can't scratch too bad.

As to the f/t from a breeder, the set up makes a huge difference. I tried feeding my new Dumeril in her feeding box a few days ago and she refused. So I emailed the breeder and asked about the setup, and thy said that she had been fed in an enclosure with really thick bedding, and usually at night. So, I threw some thick bedding down and tried feeding a live rat pup a few minutes ago now that it's night and I heard some serious squealing. I can't find f/t in small quantities at the petstores nearby, so she was stuck with live. But I'm considering ordering in bulk. If only I knew for sure she'd take it. :/

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Originally Posted by WarriorPrincess90

Agreed. Stunning the rat or mouse can be rather difficult. I tried whacking a stubborn rat over the head once and ended up making it incredibly stupid. But most of the time of they're feisty I just give them a good thump and if necessary hold their legs until they become weak enough that they can't scratch too bad.

As to the f/t from a breeder, the set up makes a huge difference. I tried feeding my new Dumeril in her feeding box a few days ago and she refused. So I emailed the breeder and asked about the setup, and thy said that she had been fed in an enclosure with really thick bedding, and usually at night. So, I threw some thick bedding down and tried feeding a live rat pup a few minutes ago now that it's night and I heard some serious squealing. I can't find f/t in small quantities at the petstores nearby, so she was stuck with live. But I'm considering ordering in bulk. If only I knew for sure she'd take it. :/

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If she's even remotely anything like my Dumerils, Dixie, she'll take it....and scare you half to death, doing so.

Dixie's first feeding was uneventful and boring.
She just nonchalantly slithered over to it and started swallowing.
[she'd been kept with no heat and no bedding for 7 years]

After she'd warmed up and got "comfy", I was very grateful I'd decided to use the long tongs when I dangled her dead rat in front of her.

She nearly launched herself halfway out of her condo to get it.

I screamed like a girl.....:D

Now, I stand beside the condo and extend the tongs in at an angle with the door nearly closed.

Fool me once....LOL

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Originally Posted by purplemuffin

Yeah I can see how that can happen. I've seen it happen before where the rat was really defensive, it's horrifying, especially when it gets to the larger rats with stronger bites. This is why I tried (and occassionally still try) to get Maru to eat f/t. Dang wild caught ball python.

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This was just an itty-bitty "teen" mouse.

Heaven forfend I ever try it with a big rat!

I've been trying to switch hm to F/T by offering a live mouse to get his feeding frenzy going and just as he's finishing the first small mouse, offering a second larger mouse that he just keeps swallowing, in hopes of making him understand that dead food is still food.

Needless to say, it did not go as planned, this time.

That little mouse, as small as he seemed, was apparently a miniature street fighting thug of the highest order.

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Originally Posted by heathers*bps

I'm sorry, really I am, but I couldn't help but giggle reading your post. I know this is serious, but the words you used made me laugh. Guess I'm a simple person.......:clap:

Like I said, I'm not sure about using the neosporin on its eye, but I would definitely move your snake onto paper towel or newspaper substrate, if it isn't already, and keep it clean and dry for now.

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That's okay...all horror should have a little humor mixed in.

[part of my life's credo: "If I don't keep laughing, I just might start screaming"]....;)

The spoiled little snit has newspaper with ReptiCarpet overlaying it.
He's clean, dry and wonderfully content in his little bachelor pad.

:rolleyes:

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Originally Posted by Domepiece

I had a kenyan sand boa years ago that had a very bad injury to his eye as well. I thought the eye was gone but I put neosporin on it every few days to keep it from getting infected. It healed over and looked like it was gone but after a few sheds his eye was pretty much back to normal. Hope all goes well for you. Good luck

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Thank you!

:)

If you pre-kill correctly about the only thing that'll be working on your prey are the kicking back legs until their nerves settle down a bit. Careful tossing them into the enclosure right away, sometimes them legs are kicking so hard they'll vault right back out or into the snake causing them to get all defensive, killing their hunger drive.

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Originally Posted by blackcrystal22

If the breeder said he was eating f/t. I have reason to believe you may be doing something differently here.

What size cage is it in? Sometimes a jump in cage size will suppress their feeding response. What types of f/t have you tried. Mice, rats? Have you tried warming the head up with a blowdryer or hot water? Do you use tongs? (the heat of your hand can be quite distracting).
Have you tried leaving the f/t rodent in with the snake overnight?

Feeding live is not dangerous. I feel that most live feeding injuries occur either by negligence or with an inexperienced keeper (say, someone who only has 1 or 2 snakes).

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And....there's the rub.

After the money had changed hands and I came back around later to ask again, just to be 100% sure, the breeder expanded the F/T statement by saying he was "in the process of switching to F/T" and he was pretty sure the snake had eaten a dead mouse.

But it was too late, by then.

I have tried every proven method and even improvised some pretty bizarre [and ghoulish] ones of my own.

Ever made a Mouse Marionette?

I have.

It didn't work.

Big mice, little mice, little rats.
Brained, wet, dry, hot, warm, bloody, blown, infra-red-ed, zombie danced, held still, left overnight, offered every hour of the day/night 'just in case', had decoy live mice in secure but perforated cages so as to work up his appetite, held live ones for him to grab then substituted F/T at the last second [zoomed over that and grabbed the live one], offered in the dark, in the light, marinated in mouse bedding and gerbil, offered F/T that live mice had tap-danced all over for 20 minutes to really give it that fresh, mousey stink....all to absolutely no avail.

If it ain't alive and kickin' [and in this instance, biting] he will not eat it.

He is scary smart and there's no "fooling" him.

He is an exasperating snake....but loveable, nonetheless.

:)
He's in the same enclosure that he's been in since day one.
Nothing's changed.
He simply will not eat dead and/or dying things so "stunning" is not an option.
He's had pre-killed so fresh, it was literally breathing its last gasp into his face and he refused it.

It must be completely conscious, mobile and alive.

No exceptions.

This is who he is and I seriously doubt I'm going to be able to change him.

[the thick headed little nit]

:)

Photo of eye:

http://www.walagata.com/w/the-salamander/spidereye.jpg

The pinkish streak below/behind is possibly the continuation of the scratch.

He's just started going blue.