So this happened yesterday....

So yesterday I get an email from the local shelter posting they have a "special needs" snake.

Well some of you know that's my thing, adopting snakes needing a good home.


So I send them an email (I'm at work) and they call me back 15 minutes later saying the snake is being transported to their

satellite adoption store which is Pet Smart a half a mile away from my work. They give me the number to Pet Smart.


I call the store talk someone and they say, they don't know if the shelter is transporting or not. I said no worries, I just talked to them

and the snake is on it's way, and could you please hold it until 7pm I'll be there before then, I'm working and right around the corner.


I explain I can take care of the snake with no issues, and have every thing I need to do it. They took my name and said it will be waiting for you.

So this came home with me last night, They gave me the 20 gallon long tank with everything inside (Lego's included).


Of course no belly heat of any type, I did get a package of food, I took the stick on thermometer out already (that was some sticky tape)

I put a couple small reptile basic hides in there for the night and left him? alone. I'll redo the enclosure today and add a heat mat / thermostat.

I'm sure most of you can guess what it is. (in the 2nd pic) So it would probably be wild caught?

https://ball-pythons.net/forums/cach...630-191024.jpg

https://ball-pythons.net/forums/cach...630-191130.jpg

Northern Mole Kingsnake? I would imagine it's likely to be wild-caught (w/c)- not knowing the legalities of captive-breeding the local snakes in Virginia? I hope he's okay- what are the "special needs"?

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Originally Posted by Bogertophis

Northern Mole Kingsnake? I would imagine it's likely to be wild-caught (w/c)- not knowing the legalities of captive-breeding the local snakes in Virginia? I hope he's okay- what are the "special needs"?

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It's a Dasypeltis (Egg Eating Snake),

Quote from the shelter......

"Special needs. this is an egg eating snake and will require a special diet and housing to adopt to her needs." They estimate 1 to 3 years old

Ah, you sort of implied it was a local when you asked about it being w/c, & very hard to tell much from that photo, as to your local "candidates". Very interesting addition (I have zero experience with these) & I hope he does well with you. Very likely a w/c then- I think your guess is likely correct. Funny they built him a Lego-hut- at least they knew he needed "something" to hide in, lol.

Sorry didn't mean to imply it was a local breed.

The reason I ask about WC was I found the following info "Captive breeding is virtually unknown, so almost all specimens available are wild caught"

Housing requirements seem to be 90* hot side / 70* cold side, that's quite a swing over a 20 gallon long.

and I have quail eggs but even those seem huge compared to it's head, but..

"They have extremely flexible jaws and necks for eating eggs much larger than their head"

so first feeding should be interesting if I can catch it eating

https://ball-pythons.net/forums/cach...ltis_atra3.jpg

Never had an egg eating snake but I do know that quail eggs come in a variety of sizes and I have raised quail. Coturnix seem to be the easiest to find of course. Might try to find someone who raises button quail if he can't manage to eat coturnix eggs.

That's a pretty cool find! He sure is pretty. Glad he got to end up with someone who will take great care of him :)

Well I cleaned out his enclosure (I'm guessing it's a male due to his size, females look a lot larger).

I hope he wont get mad because I took all his legos out. He now has a proper thermostat controlled heat pad and 4 small Reptile Basics hides

2 on the hot side 2 on the cold side, various sticks and plastic leaves (I'll never find him in there). I'm going to find a small birds nest at the

pet store and put it in there for his eggs, hopefully that will be kind of realistic, and maybe I can catch him eating and get a few pics.

I have some Coturnix Quail eggs they gave me but they look huge, I'll look for button quail eggs at the Asian markets around me, there's a couple

I looked for mites, checked him over, checked for eye caps ect with a 10x jewelers loupe I have, he was very patient with me.

1st pic is all the legos they had in his enclosure (owned by a kid/young adult I guess) the second picture is his new enclosure

You can see him in the pic, in the center of the sticks going to the left.

I'll try to get better pics of him in a few days

https://ball-pythons.net/forums/cach...701-185800.jpg

https://ball-pythons.net/forums/cach...701-185452.jpg

Sweet set-up for him. Somehow, I don't think he'll miss the Lego's...:cool: I sure hope he eats okay- you'll know soon enough.

I bet he will be much happier with his new enclosure design and heating. He probably doesn't care much between legos and pvc, but surely will like that he has more than one hiding spot now.

Put a coturnix quail egg in Saturday night, and no go still hasn't touched it. I have no clue last time he ate so might not be hungry.

The egg looks HUGE compared to the snake but they gave me 1/2 a carton so hopefully he eats. I did order some button quail eggs I should

get them this weekend so maybe a smaller egg might help. I let the egg warm up to room temp then put it in his enclosure and let it in there for him at

his convenience. I'll try a different egg, once he eats one then I can get a schedule going for him.

I found 3 different stores that carry coturnix quail eggs near me so supply is not a problem. And button quail I can re-order if needed

(Well I put him back in his enclosure and he got a big drink of water hanging off my arm, so hopefully thats a good sign)

Here's a few pics I got of him when we had him out for a short time.

https://ball-pythons.net/forums/cach...6-141634-1.jpg

https://ball-pythons.net/forums/cach...6-143855-1.jpg

https://ball-pythons.net/forums/cach...5023022217.png

Very cute! I think it's safe to say that he's literally "in good hands". ;)

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Originally Posted by Bogertophis

Very cute! I think it's safe to say that he's literally "in good hands". ;)

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,

Yep he's in good hands in the pictures, just not mine there... :D, those are my daughters

What a little beauty! Almost certainly wild-caught. Juveniles do well on button quail eggs, adults on coturnix, though the people I know with egg-eaters say the males do fine on button quail eggs and never need to be bumped up to coturnix. It's hard to say why your snake hasn't eaten yet - maybe adjustment stress, maybe a timing thing, maybe the eggs aren't fresh enough.

In the wild they tend to chow down on a nest full of eggs and then fast for long periods of time - one keeper I know feeds hers 4-5 eggs once a month. Also, if they feel the eggs aren't fresh enough they won't eat them. Quail eggs are traditionally not washed or refrigerated. If washed, they'll go bad in 5-7 days, and the snake would certainly detect this. If unwashed they last much longer. So optimally you'll be offering fresh, unwashed eggs. Sometimes you can find folks via local Craigslist to supply them.

Good luck! I'm glad you took this cutie in and I hope it decides to eat for you.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Caitlin

...Quail eggs are traditionally not washed or refrigerated. If washed, they'll go bad in 5-7 days, and the snake would certainly detect this. If unwashed they last much longer. So optimally you'll be offering fresh, unwashed eggs...

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Interesting that washing makes them go bad sooner, & rather counter-intuitive.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Bogertophis

Interesting that washing makes them go bad sooner, & rather counter-intuitive.

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Washing eggs removes the bloom/cuticle which is a natural antibacterial barrier. Unwashed eggs can be left at room temp for two weeks or so and remain edible. Most other countries besides the US don't wash and refrigerate their eggs at the grocery store.

Wow, very uncommon to see an egg eater! Looks like you have a great set up for him and I'm glad he has a good home :) I've heard it can be hard to get egg eaters to eat in captivity so I hope he'll accept an egg from you soon

I ordered some button quail eggs, 10 of them, 4 were broken on delivery, infertile eggs for reptiles.

Had Mr eggeater out and wanted to see if he would eat. Smelled them and looked as if what do I do with that? :rolleyes:

so just scattered them in his enclosure and will let them a week to see what happens. hopefully he eats.

going on 10 days with me without eating.

No clue when he ate last, could be full from one of those big eggs if he ate one before I got him.

Still seems active, curious ect. Don't notice any issues with him, hasn't shed or used bathroom yet.

https://ball-pythons.net/forums/cach...709-192048.jpg

https://ball-pythons.net/forums/cach...709-192249.jpg

Handling a snake (even just briefly) or taking them out of their "home" when you expect or want them to eat may totally turn off their appetite- it's stressful, even if they don't appear to be bothered by it. I'd suggest not doing that from now on- simply put the eggs in his home where he can find them & wait patiently, & btw, I have no specific experience with this species, just giving you a general suggestion based on decades of getting all sorts of snakes to feed, including wild-caughts. Feeling safe is a snake's absolute first concern...not being out in the open like in your photo & expected to pounce on the eggs. In the wild, these snakes would be stealthily searching for eggs in nests- not interacting with "giants" & getting "selfies". ;)

[emoji3595]Exactly. And you shouldn’t be handling at all until it’s had 3 consecutive meals without issue either.


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Quote:

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Originally Posted by jmcrook

...you shouldn’t be handling at all until it’s had 3 consecutive meals without issue either...

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Just when I think we've said this so many times that we'd never need to repeat it again, lol. :cool:

OP, you were also given some good advice in your first thread here exactly 2yrs ago on the subject of this animal.

https://ball-pythons.net/forums/show...-eating-snakes


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^ ^ ^ Especially this post- https://ball-pythons.net/forums/show...=1#post2703403

Well, Uhh don't know what to say.

You guys are Absolutely Correct, that's 1st week on the forum learning stuff. I Should and Do know better than that.

I don't know where my mindset or judgement went too, or what I was thinking but it was totally Not Correct.

My Apologies for the complete lack of judgement in that action.

My Snake Deserves and Will receive better treatment from now on!

Thanks for the "Nudge" in the right direction, and to take the Corrective Action.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Gocntry

Well, Uhh don't know what to say.

You guys are Absolutely Correct, that's 1st week on the forum learning stuff. I Should and Do know better than that.

I don't know where my mindset or judgement went too, or what I was thinking but it was totally Not Correct.

My Apologies for the complete lack of judgement in that action.

My Snake Deserves and Will receive better treatment from now on!

Thanks for the "Nudge" in the right direction, and to take the Corrective Action.

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Well that took honesty & guts. :colbert2: We don't often hear many "oops, my bad" around here. Everyone makes mistakes too, just not always so public...;)

So he (assuming due to size) has a name also. He is now known as Worm.

I haven't touched or disturbed him since. I haven't seen him, and he still hasn't eaten.

But this morning my daughter saw this in his enclosure, verified eye caps and tail tip are on the shed.

Only opened enclosure to remove it. That would explain him hiding for a few weeks, Now maybe he will be hungry and eat an egg or two

I have button quail and coturnix quail eggs in there for size choosing. Working on getting finch eggs to if he wants something smaller.

https://ball-pythons.net/forums/cach...5678064062.jpg

Nice update, let's hope he'll eat now. :gj:

As of today, still hasn't eaten for me :(,(3 months)

When I picked him up I was given the snake and 1/2 box of quail eggs. Did he eat the other 6?, that was not known. (local shelter adoption)

I haven't touched him at all, he is active at night and I can catch him moving around his enclosure.

he has shed once since I got him.

I have put button quail eggs, coturnix quail, and blue coturnix quail eggs in there for him. 1 week on, 1 week off.

I know in nature he would not eat, due to no eggs being laid.

My BP has went on food strike before for 6 months, but she's a lot bigger.

I don't want anything bad to happen in my care, so where do I go next?

Do I need to try to syringe feed him some egg? (never done that for any snake)

Just continue to let him alone? I am just unsure where to go next?

As with everybody else, I can get into my vet but it's a pain, and I don't want to disrupt him if he's just getting comfortable.

Thoughts from anybody??

Given that most of these are WC, if he does have a bowel movement ask the vet if they will test for parasites without actually bringing in the snake. Some will, some won't.

If you haven't changed the enclosure since the picture after you redid it, it might help to cover 3 sides for more security. Try feeding a fresh egg, rather than one refrigerated and reheated (I just read this in some care sheets), some local quail or finch breeders might be able to help with this.
If you still can't get him to eat you could try moving him to a vertical enclosure, they're semi-arboreal/arboreal, an enclosure with more climbing opportunities will help.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by bcr229

Given that most of these are WC, if he does have a bowel movement ask the vet if they will test for parasites without actually bringing in the snake. Some will, some won't.

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My local vet does this, they had me do it for the Boa I re-homed from CL.

I also have Stahl Exotic Vet (SEAVS) about 45 minutes from me if needed too.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Erie_herps

If you haven't changed the enclosure since the picture after you redid it, it might help to cover 3 sides for more security. Try feeding a fresh egg, rather than one refrigerated and reheated (I just read this in some care sheets), some local quail or finch breeders might be able to help with this.
If you still can't get him to eat you could try moving him to a vertical enclosure, they're semi-arboreal/arboreal, an enclosure with more climbing opportunities will help.

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Enclosure is still the same, He does come out an roam around, I can catch him late at night If I watch close enough.

The button quail eggs I tried were fresh, not ones I bought in the store, as were the blue Coturnix quail eggs.

The normal Coturnix quail eggs were from a local Asian market.