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  1. #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.

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