Still no sucess in feeding

[sneakerpro]

I know what you mean. It would be about a 40 minute drive to the nearest pet store to get live feeders for me.

[andwhy6]

Try live.

i agree let its instincts kick in... and make its meal smaller than normal. live mice worked for me in a situation similar to this. good luck!

[sneakerpro]

i agree let its instincts kick in... and make its meal smaller than normal. live mice worked for me in a situation similar to this. good luck!

Wouldn't a "smaller meal than normal" imply that there have been normal meals before this?

I guess I need something about the size of the fuzzy I've been trying. It is definitely smaller than his girth, and seems to be the size I should be shootin' for. I'm just worried that he isn't going to be interested in eating, and I'm going to have to keep the little b*stard feeder as a "pet".

[BLOCK 213]

How long have you had your snake.
Is it CB or WC.
I was in a similar situation with a WC last year, it eventually started feeding after 15 weeks.
I had tried everything I could.
I was at the point where I thought that I would have to force feed (a last resort) then to my amazement she took the mouse straight out of my fingers, coiled and then swallowed it.
She has fed reguarly ever since.
I think the best advice is from Philippe de Vosjoli (author of The Ball Python Manual) Don't Panic !

[sneakerpro]

How long have you had your snake.
Is it CB or WC.
I was in a similar situation with a WC last year, it eventually started feeding after 15 weeks.
I had tried everything I could.
I was at the point where I thought that I would have to force feed (a last resort) then to my amazement she took the mouse straight out of my fingers, coiled and then swallowed it.
She has fed reguarly ever since.
I think the best advice is from Philippe de Vosjoli (author of The Ball Python Manual) Don't Panic !

I have had him for about a month

I was told it is CB

I don't think I would consider myself in a state of panic, but in a state of frustration. I'm sure after 15 weeks you were quite frustrated, and can relate.

[ajeff]

I would stick a live rat chubby or fuzzy in the cage and let him have at it. Do this while he is camped out in one of his hide spots and not cruising the cage. Before you do this though, stick the rat chub in a bowl or something near his tank for a while, maybe and hour or so to let the scent get to him, then just drop the rat in near him. Maybe 8 inch in front of him so the wriggling will get his attention and just leave the room for a while.

Hopefully this will trigger him

[sneakerpro]

I thought about that.. but I'm quite worried about him taking in some mulch with his meal. Will live prey stay on a plate/piece of cardboard if I place that on top of the mulch?

[ajeff]

I thought about that.. but I'm quite worried about him taking in some mulch with his meal. Will live prey stay on a plate/piece of cardboard if I place that on top of the mulch?

It might wriggle off the plate. Then again a white plate may blend in with a white rat... I have seen pics and vids of snakes eating on the mulch and even cypress mulch with out problems but every so often we will see a post here about a snake getting some bedding stuck in its mouth. It can be removed but tricky. I never had to do it myself since I use news paper for bedding.

You could always remove the animal and place him in a seperate box and feed him there. Just stick him in a vented shoe box like a sterilite 6qt (I think, its been a while since I used em so I am not sure of the numbers) with a live rat chub in a dark area for a couple hours and see if that works

[b8byjenny]

Ok, he's a pretty young snake, but I can't say that anything screams wrong with your husbandry. I would just get that probe so you can always know how hot his hot spot it. Just good to know and not guess that sort of thing.

Just a few more questions, does he sit in his hide all day, or have his body in with only his head sitting out of the entrance? Or does he hide somewhere else or move all around?

Just trying to narrow some things down. Also, what time of day do you offer prey?

This is my suggestions for certain answers:
If he does not hide all day, chances are he is stressed out. To remedy this, you can fill his tank with crumpled newspaper, papertowel, decorations etc. Anything that he can feel on all sides when he's moving around the tank. It may not look pretty, but security is number one with babies BP's.

Stuffing his enclosure will help him feel safe, you will be able to remove a piece at a time over the weeks as he continues to eat.

Go to a pet store and get some soiled rat/mouse bedding. Whatever you happen to be feeding. Put the frozen mouse/rat in a paper bag/ tupperware, anything that you can poke holes into that he can't get into. Put that into his enclosure an hour before he's going to eat, around 8:30-9 at night.

Make sure to leave him alone, you could even cover most of the front of his enclosure with paper or a towel to make it dark for him while your thawing the rat.

When it's thawed, probably around 9:30 pm, pull out the rat/mouse and bedding and heat the head under your heat lamp. Make it warm, so he has no trouble seeing that heat when you offer it.

Make sure it's quiet, dark, and offer him the rat/mouse. Do the zombie rat dance, make it twitch a little, get him interested in it.

When he strikes and has a good grip, tug the leg like the rat is kicking a little, he should tighten up his coil and get really into feeding mode.

If he does not strike, do not despair, leave him alone in the tank with the prey for a half an hour, pull out the rat again, heat up the head and offer again. If he resists your attempts, leave the rat in the cage over night. Check on it in the morning.

If it's gone, congrats, if not, try the exact same thing next week. If he continues, you may have to resort to live.
Hope that made some sense. Let me know how it turns out.

What does it mean when they keep their body inside the hide and stick only their head out? He appears to do that a lot..

[littleindiangirl]

What does it mean when they keep their body inside the hide and stick only their head out? He appears to do that a lot..

For my snakes, when they have their head out of the hide, they are in hunting mode. BP's will keep their body in the hide, and wait for prey to come along.

When snakes sleep, their pupils contract down to just a sliver to minimize the amount of light going in. They don't flick their tongue and are quite literally on a hair trigger if are disturbed.

It's instinctive for them to strike at whatever disturbs them when they are sleeping because chances are it's a meal!

A lot of snakes use this ambush method, and sometimes it's good to know how they sleep and why they strike for tough feeders like yours.

Why not next time he's "sleeping" with his head out of the hide (dont matter what time of day), dangle that extra warm stinky rat next to him with no warning. Hopefully you can spur his instinct to strike and constrict.


If that doesnt work, have you considered feeding him in a separate container? I don't totally condemn feeding in separate containers, I just think the reasons people do it are pretty false.

My corn snake has tried live, and lately he's been refusing FT (which we always fed him till we ran out a few weeks ago) We pulled him out, wrangled him into a tub, threw in a chubby rat (fuzzy) and put the lid on. Took him to a quite room, threw a blanket over it and let him alone for a half an hour.

Came back, rat was gone. Some BP's will eat if they are in a small container like a 12 qt, and you put that rat in there. Make it quiet, dark, and no real way for him to avoid crossing paths with the rat.

Always worth a try if several attempts at feeding in the enclosure just aren't working. If not still, you should probably try live.