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  1. #21
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    Re: Fun stuff for snakes?

    Quote Originally Posted by Caitlin View Post
    I LOVE hearing this. Good job, and it's just wonderful to hear how well your little guy responded to this. There are lots of studies demonstrating that snakes provided with enrichment are better able to cope with changes, are more apt to explore, and are quicker to learn than snakes without those opportunities. But actually seeing it happen with your own pet is a wonderful feeling.

    Congratulations! Please keep us updated!
    Aww, thank you. it makes me feel good to give my pets happy, healthy, interesting lives (looks down at dachshunds under blankies in lap). I never thought about snakes needing enrichment, and I don't think the ball pythons really care much - they have stuff but don't interact with it much - but this little boy obviously does! He's SO MUCH more active now that he's got some interesting toys, and it's so entertaining to sit and watch him climb and dig and be so active. I even go in every couple days and purposely fluff up his substrate, and he immediately starts digging new holes, lol. He's doing it right now, in fact!

  2. #22
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    Thought I'd give a little update on my boy! Totoro is growing like crazy, I'm about to have to upgrade all his toys because he's getting too big to climb on most of them. He still uses the cat toys and vines I have in his tub, and he even climbs all over the little tinsel Christmas tree I got him, lol. I saw some fun balls made for dogs that have holes all in them that I want to get him, and I definitely plan to go to the garden store for a strawberry pot that was recommended here. HE's not ready for a bigger tub yet, but soon, and I have a new, teensy baby cornsnake I can move into Totoro's current tub when he outgrows it.

    Toto continues to be the absolute sweetest boy, especially for a baby bullsnake - Emily from Snake Discovery did a video recently about her holdbacks from this year, and she held back two of his siblings, which she said are very hissy and attitude-y, but Totoro is just lovely to handle, so calm and trustworthy, never hisses or bites. HE's obviously very smart and curious and still watches me all the time!

    The only problem I've had with him is that he REFUSES to upgrade to eating hoppers, they seem to scare him to bits. It's the only time I see him upset. He wasn't growing and I was startled to see how much smaller he is than his siblings, so I started just feeding him two fuzzies at mealtimes, and he'll down those with no problems. Since I figured that out, he's growing again, thankfully! I keep his sheds and I can see that he's getting bigger by the size of the newer ones compared to the older ones.

    Anyway, just thought I'd share! I'll try to take some pics and post them soon. He's still the prettiest thing I've ever seen (false ghost/Trumbower-whiteside) and just so sweet I can't wait to see what he's like as an adult!
    Last edited by OoohShiny; 12-31-2020 at 01:45 AM.

  3. #23
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    Re: Fun stuff for snakes?

    Quote Originally Posted by OoohShiny View Post
    ...

    The only problem I've had with him is that he REFUSES to upgrade to eating hoppers, they seem to scare him to bits. It's the only time I see him upset. He wasn't growing and I was startled to see how much smaller he is than his siblings, so I started just feeding him two fuzzies at mealtimes, and he'll down those with no problems. Since I figured that out, he's growing again, thankfully! I keep his sheds and I can see that he's getting bigger by the size of the newer ones compared to the older ones...
    Are you feeding live rodents? If so, try offering a fresh-killed or frozen-thawed hopper. If he's good & hungry, he should take it alright. It's NOT okay to keep feeding 2 fuzzies instead- BECAUSE the more mature the rodents are, the better nutrition they are for your snake, in terms of more protein & larger bones providing minerals so he grows & is healthy. The younger "baby" rodents are less filling due to being more digestible (tiny bones, less hair, etc) and they're higher in fat because they're still nursing. So you see, it's not a good trade off, your boy needs to grow up & "eat his Wheaties". Don't baby him, he needs to grow strong, not just fat.
    Rudeness is the weak man's imitation of strength.
    Eric Hoffer (1902 - 1983)

  4. #24
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    Re: Fun stuff for snakes?

    Quote Originally Posted by Bogertophis View Post
    Are you feeding live rodents? If so, try offering a fresh-killed or frozen-thawed hopper. If he's good & hungry, he should take it alright. It's NOT okay to keep feeding 2 fuzzies instead- BECAUSE the more mature the rodents are, the better nutrition they are for your snake, in terms of more protein & larger bones providing minerals so he grows & is healthy. The younger "baby" rodents are less filling due to being more digestible (tiny bones, less hair, etc) and they're higher in fat because they're still nursing. So you see, it's not a good trade off, your boy needs to grow up & "eat his Wheaties". Don't baby him, he needs to grow strong, not just fat.
    I only feed F/T, so he's not scared of live hoppers, he's scared of DEAD ones, lol. I've only done the two-fuzzies-at-once thing 3 times (so, less than a month), and I was going to try another hopper at his next feeding tomorrow, though he may not eat since he's in blue. I know he needs to move up in prey size, but if the other option is him not eating at all, and thus not growing or shedding, I'd rather give him what he will eat even if it's for a limited time, ya know? He had gone almost a month without eating, which I know isn't that long, but he hadn't shed since early November so I know he wasn't growing, and he was about 1/3 the size of his siblings in the SD video and it worried me. At least now he's having a growth spurt and about to shed again, so I feel better that he's back on track and plan to offer him another hopper now that he's bigger - maybe it won't be so scary this time, lol.
    Last edited by OoohShiny; 01-03-2021 at 08:53 PM.

  5. #25
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    Re: Fun stuff for snakes?

    Quote Originally Posted by OoohShiny View Post
    I only feed F/T, so he's not scared of live hoppers, he's scared of DEAD ones, lol. I've only done the two-fuzzies-at-once thing 3 times (so, less than a month), and I was going to try another hopper at his next feeding tomorrow, though he may not eat since he's in blue. I know he needs to move up in prey size, but if the other option is him not eating at all, and thus not growing or shedding, I'd rather give him what he will eat even if it's for a limited time, ya know? He had gone almost a month without eating, which I know isn't that long, but he hadn't shed since early November so I know he wasn't growing, and he was about 1/3 the size of his siblings in the SD video and it worried me. At least now he's having a growth spurt and about to shed again, so I feel better that he's back on track and plan to offer him another hopper now that he's bigger - maybe it won't be so scary this time, lol.
    Shouldn't be scared of dead hoppers...was it only this time? Because snakes know (can feel) they're going into shed before we can see it, & many snakes act afraid of food when they don't want to eat because of their impending shed. Hopefully this will self-correct once he sheds. I wouldn't bother offering food when he's in blue...snakes don't eat in the wild when in blue, & it's totally not necessary even if they have "room service". Better not to push food on snakes...just be patient, they usually know what they're doing, & there's nothing wrong with growing slowly- in fact, it's better for them.
    Rudeness is the weak man's imitation of strength.
    Eric Hoffer (1902 - 1983)

  6. #26
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    Re: Fun stuff for snakes?

    Quote Originally Posted by Bogertophis View Post
    Shouldn't be scared of dead hoppers...was it only this time? Because snakes know (can feel) they're going into shed before we can see it, & many snakes act afraid of food when they don't want to eat because of their impending shed. Hopefully this will self-correct once he sheds. I wouldn't bother offering food when he's in blue...snakes don't eat in the wild when in blue, & it's totally not necessary even if they have "room service". Better not to push food on snakes...just be patient, they usually know what they're doing, & there's nothing wrong with growing slowly- in fact, it's better for them.
    I offered him hoppers 4 weeks in a row, and each time he responded with hissing, striking, and trying desperately to get away. He's normally very calm, very easy to handle, these were the only situations I saw him behave this way which definitely looked like fear to me. When I offered him fuzzies again, he didn't display the same behavior and ate readily. I did assume he refused to eat the first time (this was early November when it all started) because he was in blue, but he continued to show this behavior with hoppers for 3 weeks after shedding then ate the fuzzies without a problem when I offered them, so I figured it wasn't that. Thankfully my ball python Tonks is a garbage disposal who will eat anything, any day, any time, so the hoppers didn't go to waste!

    I think I'm spoiled because my other 3 snakes - 2 ball pythons and a corn snake - all eat no matter if they're in blue or not, so I always offer food regardless. Totoro is the only snake that has refused food, and he's my sweet little guy so I worry about him, and I sometimes wonder if it's because he's my only snake that's not a wild type. I know there's theories that fancy morphs can be difficult eaters, and he's definitely got a lot of special genetics going on. I definitely don't agree with power feeding and that's never my goal, I was just shocked at how HUGE his siblings were in the video and felt like maybe his growth was being delayed with the refusal to eat, and now at least he's growing. But he definitely needs to start eating hoppers soon, he's almost too big for them already!

  7. #27
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    Re: Fun stuff for snakes?

    Quote Originally Posted by OoohShiny View Post
    I offered him hoppers 4 weeks in a row, and each time he responded with hissing, striking, and trying desperately to get away. He's normally very calm, very easy to handle, these were the only situations I saw him behave this way which definitely looked like fear to me. When I offered him fuzzies again, he didn't display the same behavior and ate readily. I did assume he refused to eat the first time (this was early November when it all started) because he was in blue, but he continued to show this behavior with hoppers for 3 weeks after shedding then ate the fuzzies without a problem when I offered them, so I figured it wasn't that. Thankfully my ball python Tonks is a garbage disposal who will eat anything, any day, any time, so the hoppers didn't go to waste!

    I think I'm spoiled because my other 3 snakes - 2 ball pythons and a corn snake - all eat no matter if they're in blue or not, so I always offer food regardless. Totoro is the only snake that has refused food, and he's my sweet little guy so I worry about him, and I sometimes wonder if it's because he's my only snake that's not a wild type. I know there's theories that fancy morphs can be difficult eaters, and he's definitely got a lot of special genetics going on. I definitely don't agree with power feeding and that's never my goal, I was just shocked at how HUGE his siblings were in the video and felt like maybe his growth was being delayed with the refusal to eat, and now at least he's growing. But he definitely needs to start eating hoppers soon, he's almost too big for them already!
    So exactly how are you offering them? Some snakes will take food that seems to approach them, but it terrifies others. Could that be it? It's often best to elicit a chase, by moving the prey slightly away from the snake, never toward them. (using tongs of course) Also, some snakes (like BPs, that are ambush predators) prefer to grab prey from inside their hides when it appears near their doorway (& never while they're "out in the open") & still others prefer that we "drop feed" (just leave it & go away). I even have snakes that like to eat while I'm holding them, lol. You just have to find out their preference. But others (mellow snakes like yours) may eat poorly because of too much handling- that can distract from their feeding instincts. You might try leaving him alone for a couple days before you feed him (until he outgrows this phase). If he's just a shy feeder, try feeding him in seclusion (in a container). I'm surprised you're having this problem with a bull snake, to be honest- it's not typical of them at all.
    Last edited by Bogertophis; 01-04-2021 at 01:32 AM.
    Rudeness is the weak man's imitation of strength.
    Eric Hoffer (1902 - 1983)

  8. #28
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    Re: Fun stuff for snakes?

    Quote Originally Posted by Bogertophis View Post
    So exactly how are you offering them? Some snakes will take food that seems to approach them, but it terrifies others. Could that be it? It's often best to elicit a chase, by moving the prey slightly away from the snake, never toward them. (using tongs of course) Also, some snakes (like BPs, that are ambush predators) prefer to grab prey from inside their hides when it appears near their doorway (& never while they're "out in the open") & still others prefer that we "drop feed" (just leave it & go away). I even have snakes that like to eat while I'm holding them, lol. You just have to find out their preference. But others (mellow snakes like yours) may eat poorly because of too much handling- that can distract from their feeding instincts. You might try leaving him alone for a couple days before you feed him (until he outgrows this phase). If he's just a shy feeder, try feeding him in seclusion (in a container). I'm surprised you're having this problem with a bull snake, to be honest- it's not typical of them at all.
    Sorry, got busy and forgot to respond! How i offer prey depends on the snake - one of my BPs likes to strike and wrap her prey so I dangle and wiggle it a little, never takes more than 10 seconds for her to grab it. The other BP prefers me to leave her prey and she'll always eat it, usually within an hour, but she's not much of a striker, she just wants to come out and eat at her leisure. My corn snake needs his pinky to touch his lips before he'll bite, but he grabs it the moment it touches him (and he will eat while I'm holding him, too! He's the only one of mine that eats while being held).

    Totoro is pickier, but in general he wants his prey to be just lying there waiting for him to eat. If he sees it move, he acts scared and either tries to get away, or hisses and fear-strikes. So with him, I usually put his prey in a small tupperware container, let the scent fill the container for a minute or two, then put him in and he always eats within a few minutes. Except when I tried to move him up to hoppers, then he refused to eat no matter what I tried, but he ate right away if it was two fuzzies. It's definitely weird, because everything I hear about bullsnakes is that they are such good eaters!

    And I don't *think* I handle him too much? I handle all my snakes maybe twice a week each, for about 10 minutes at a time. Never in the two days after being fed. Totoro generally very sweet and easy to handle, but I still don't want to stress him so I keep it to a minimum to keep them used to being handled while mostly letting them just be snakes.

    That said, he finally ate a hopper yesterday! I checked my notes - I fed him two fuzzies at a time for 4 feedings, once a week, and in that time he put on significant weight (he's almost 80g now), had a good shed last week, and visually looks a lot bulkier. I offered him a hopper yesterday, there was no fear response and he ate pretty much immediately! I still think the size of the hoppers must have scared him, since he ate fuzzies just fine, and once he got bigger the hopper didn't seem as intimidating. Either way, he's finally eating the size he should be!
    Last edited by OoohShiny; 01-10-2021 at 10:00 PM.

  9. #29
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    Great news! Your "little guy" is growing up... And yes, it could be his fancy genetics at work, who knows?
    Last edited by Bogertophis; 01-10-2021 at 10:21 PM.
    Rudeness is the weak man's imitation of strength.
    Eric Hoffer (1902 - 1983)

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