Any assist feeding tips?

Get a pair of feeder tongs and make sure the item is dead and warm. Hold the snake behind the head to control her and put the food's head in her mouth. If she is hungry she will take it fast, all you have to do is let her go.

She can go for quite some time without a meal, regardless of how haggard she looks. As long as she's not stressed, she'll be fine. Stress is what will kill them.

Try a LIVE mouse or a LIVE rat pup. Just drop it in, turn off the light and move away. Try to leave her alone for about 30 minutes.

So, you want to force feed an adult snake that just doesn't want to eat? Just so she will recover so you can get more eggs out of her this fall? Ok, I'm playing devil's advocate and I'm sure you want the best for your snake. But if she doesn't want to eat, she doesn't want to eat. I have a girl that layed a month ago, ate once and hasn't eaten since. I have a male that hasn't eaten since March. I offer food, they don't want it. They don't live on a schedule - they will eat when they are hungry.

Balls can go months and months without eating. Females that incubate their eggs usually don't eat till the babies hatch anyway- if she hasn't lost a lot of weight let her go.

Now, saying that, I just assisted 2 babies tonight that hatched 7 weeks ago. I've tried everything I could think of to get them to eat. They were both 60-65gms when they hatched and they were both down to 50gm...

Just my 2 cents..... :)

Richard,

I have an assist feed female snake, but she is very young.

I tend to err on the side of letting her be till she starts eating.

Has she lost weight since she laid?

I know breeders that have imported adults from the wild that took 22 months (or longer) to get back on feed.

Also, has her clutch hatched, excuse me if I missed that detail...?

Some females will not eat till after their clutch hatches.

Bruce

SUCCESS!! Thanks for all the great suggestions, I put a rat pup in there with her and she took it! I didn't get to see her strike but I peaked in before I left the room and all I could see was a tail, i hope she killed it first. It is a small meal but it's a start. I am so glad i didn't have to assist feed.

Loftlizard, she has lost about 100g since she laid, she is looking very bad around 1200g, her eggs are on day 45.

JenH, thanks for your concern, I know your just playing devils advocate but it still feels like a kick to the groin. It's not about more eggs its about getting my girl back eating, i have seen rescues in better shape. I pulled her from breeding when she stopped eating because I thought she would be too small at 1600g, she produced 2 110g eggs, a boob egg that is probably not going to make it and a slug. If I could have stopped her from producing I would but I couldn't, she went ahead and laid eggs anyways.

Well I am going back to see if she will take another one..

Thanks for everyone's input.

Richard

:banana::banana::banana::banana::banana::banana::banana::banana:

That deserves some dancing nonsensical bananas!

Bruce

She took a second rat, this time it was a weaned rat she refused last feed. I saw her drop it and cruise around then go back and eat it. Hopefully that will lead to F/T next feed..

Here is a few more nonsensical bananas

:banana::banana::banana::banana::banana::banana::banana::banana:

Thanks for all the input and encouragement. In the end I did get some good tips on assist feeding too. I hope I won't need them however.

Richard

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Somed00d

SUCCESS!!
JenH, thanks for your concern, I know your just playing devils advocate but it still feels like a kick to the groin. It's not about more eggs its about getting my girl back eating, i have seen rescues in better shape. I pulled her from breeding when she stopped eating because I thought she would be too small at 1600g, she produced 2 110g eggs, a boob egg that is probably not going to make it and a slug. If I could have stopped her from producing I would but I couldn't, she went ahead and laid eggs anyways.

Well I am going back to see if she will take another one..

Thanks for everyone's input.

Richard

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Sorry - that was pretty mean. I apologize - I know you were just worried.

I’m glad she ate for you!! They usually do right when you start freaking out becasue they haven’t eaten for 6-8 months!!

Jen

Quote:

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Originally Posted by JenH

Sorry - that was pretty mean. I apologize - I know you were just worried.

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No problems, I was just trying to educate myself in case I had to assist feed. I have a few other girls off feed for just as long but I am not worried about those very healthy looking girls.

Richard

Glad to read she ate for you, Richard. We've always been told to make sure the first couple of feeds offered to a female after she lays her eggs are smaller than normal. Just something easy to hunt (we feed live) that will get her interested in eating again. So far it's worked really well for us. We do the washing up of the female and her enclosure, give her a few days and then offer a live rat pup/large fuzzy. Usually they snap it up pretty quickly and will take another. Then the next week we kick it up a notch to a bigger pup or two and so on until she's back full force eating and gaining back her weight. :)

We've assist fed hatchlings. I've never had to assist an adult. Usually we've found other ways to encourage their feeding response. I cannot imagine the stress assist feeding puts on a struggling adult snake so I'm always going to try and avoid that and look for other options.