Any suggestions to how I can feed my baby milksnake?

[KEG22]

I have a baby Pueblan milksnake. Got it July 5. This is the third time I have tried to feed it a live pinky & it will not eat. All it does is go the other way. I've tried in the enclosure & out. I've tried holding the snake by the neck and kind of hitting it with the pinky like a video I saw. That did not work either. I do not want it to die. Other than not eating it seems fine. Very flighty & colors are bright. It was in shed when i got it so that's not the problem. It seems like all it does is want to burrow & hide somewhere & I understand snakes do this but both my ball pythons eat! The milksnake is in a 10 gallon tank & using newspaper right now for substrate but about to put the aspen back in. I had to spray provent a mite bc my ball pythons had the mites but i sprayed his just in case & did it outside & let air dry for an hour or so. He has 2 hides use the light for heat on one side during the day when my air is set at 80 while I'm at work. I wet a washcloth & sit on the cool side of the tank for humidity. It drinks water. Does anybody have suggestions? I've thought maybe try to find a baby lizard or something. Or take him to pet smart & see if somebody there may can get him to eat bc I know for a fact I'm stressing this snake out trying to feed it but if I leave it in the tank the thing will just die like the last 2 did. The weird thing is the guy I got it from was claiming it was eating pinkys when i bought it.

[John1982]

I'd try scenting with a frog or lizard before offering a new prey item entirely.

[KEG22]

I'd try scenting with a frog or lizard before offering a new prey item entirely.

Ok I will try that. This guy told me he had the momma but then he also told me that he catches snakes in the wild as well but I'm in Alabama not Southern Mexico. LOL I thought it had been eating pinkys already the frozen/thawed kind. Is there any way that a snake who was started on F/T would NOT take live?

[Stewart_Reptiles]

I am curious what are your temps?

What I would do is put him in a 6 quarts tub with aspen bedding for the next several months, while Milk are not as prone to snakes than BP are an hatchling in a 10 gallons tank with no substrate to bury himself in may feel insecure.

I would offer food in the tub and leave it overnight with him.

[KEG22]

I am curious what are your temps?

What I would do is put him in a 6 quarts tub with aspen bedding for the next several months, while Milk are not as prone to snakes than BP are an hatchling in a 10 gallons tank with no substrate to bury himself in may feel insecure.

I would offer food in the tub and leave it overnight with him.

I do not have a proper thermometer. It is the sticky kind that came with the aquarium I got. It says 80-82 on the side that the light is not on. Where I live there is no pet store close & Walmart doesn't have that accurite one but I'm planning to go there today & get one for all 3 tanks. I did have aspen & a skull hide & a little half coconut shell hide & a limb & since the spraying over a week ago (he didn't have mites but I did it precautionary) I started putting the limb & stuff back but haven't put the aspen back in there. I left them together in a critter keeper overnight & just as always they are still there snuggling at the moment. Or lying beside each other. I have not tried the thing where you have to cut open the pinky's head & I really don't want to but if it will work, I would try anything.

Can you buy those tubs with the holes drilled in them already or do you do it yourself? Is the difference of that & the tank of people not walking by it & spooking the snake? I have thought about putting the aspen back in that one early. And I've been keeping my door to my room shut & I sleep on the couch. You are right this one is A LOT different than the ball pythons. Even though they have different attitudes, they eat very well & always have & don't seem to spook when you walk by to check them out.

[wilomn]

Do NOT scent with lizard or frog. Before you do anything else you need to know what the temps are in your hot spot. Cool side shouldn't go below 65 but anything above that and below 80 is fine. It will never need to be over 84 and 80-82 is just fine. Put the bedding back it. Get a small paper bag, like the kind you get at fast food restaurants, put a live small pinky and the snake in the bag, double fold the bag so it's difficult for the snake to escape, put the bag with the snake and the pinky back in the tank and secure that. Leave the snake alone overnight. Chances are that doing this once or twice will get him back on feed. I've produced several hundred peublans and have used this method on them and thousands of other milks and kings.

[KEG22]

Do NOT scent with lizard or frog. Before you do anything else you need to know what the temps are in your hot spot. Cool side shouldn't go below 65 but anything above that and below 80 is fine. It will never need to be over 84 and 80-82 is just fine. Put the bedding back it. Get a small paper bag, like the kind you get at fast food restaurants, put a live small pinky and the snake in the bag, double fold the bag so it's difficult for the snake to escape, put the bag with the snake and the pinky back in the tank and secure that. Leave the snake alone overnight. Chances are that doing this once or twice will get him back on feed. I've produced several hundred peublans and have used this method on them and thousands of other milks and kings.

Hmm...thank-you. I'm going to try this. I keep hearing they can go a long time without eating well to me 3 weeks is too long. Will these little snakes actually starve themselves to death?

[wilomn]

Hmm...thank-you. I'm going to try this. I keep hearing they can go a long time without eating well to me 3 weeks is too long. Will these little snakes actually starve themselves to death?

They will, but I've had them go a couple of months without eating. Post up a pic, but I wouldn't be worrying yet.

[KEG22]

They will, but I've had them go a couple of months without eating. Post up a pic, but I wouldn't be worrying yet.

Well I got him on July the 5th and he was shedding. The guy said he had eaten F/T pinkys and said that it had been 3 days before that he had eaten last. The next day his tail finally shed off so I tried to feed a live pinky with no luck. Every week since then I've tried the same thing and last night I tried putting in a small plastic bowl with holes all in the top with the pinky and the pinky had a little blood on it either from the tongs I used to try to make him mad enough to strike or either he did strike at him while I wasn't looking. I tried the putting the thing in egg yolk. That did not work so I rinsed the pinky off and was going to try to do the force feed myself but I couldn't even get him to open his mouth and when I put the pinky's face up to his face he pulled back and I didn't want to hurt his head because I do not know what I am doing. I'm just scared that maybe this little guy was one of the hatchlings that may not have been intended to live or something. He moves around very well though and his color is not faded. I do not know how to put a picture up on here do you have to put one on photobucket and then put it in the URL code or can you just upload it? I do have a picture of the ad that I bought him from which is still on Craigslist but he does look a little thinner now than this:

http://bham.craigslist.org/pet/3116263578.html

I have talked to him last weekend and he said not to worry yet but I can't help it. He lives over an hour away too and I have just thought about seeing if I can find a reptile vet. Does anybody know how much something like that will cost?

[Kodieh]

Vets can be costly or inexpensive, kind of like a doctor; you don't know till all te tests are done.

However, contact the breeder and go over everything he did to feed the snake. See if there's something he did you're not or something you're doing he didn't.

Some times it's a matter of consistency.


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