Doing well

[molly]

OK,so Dave ate meal number three tonight.
I didn't put him in the container, just put the pinky in with him. We stood and watched as well and he ate it after about 1 minute.
My question is...Do i continue with 5 day feedings and for how long?
Also..Is he likely to shed again soon? He is now 4 weeks old and has shed once and eaten 3 times.

Thanx

[Shrimply]

Sounds like he is doing well. Five day feeds are fine. You will probably up it to six days when he moves up to fuzzies. Now he is feeding well he should shed quite regularly, it really depends how fast he is growing. My anery who is a pig last shed 3 and a half weeks after her previous one.

[John Pilling]

Glad things are coming good for you and the lttle one. Shed wise, don't worry, usuallyat this young age anywhere between 3-5 weeks is normal, with the odd snake that doesn't eat (like yours started out) may take a little longer to get into a shedding routine.

I would be very suppriesed tho, if within, 2 weeks you havn't had another shed, that is ih he keeps eating otherwise it may be a little longer.

[jason]

I still have two that will not feed, even with the small tub method I suggested. In fact I've tried every trick in the book except scenting the food, so I'm going to pick up a bottle of Lizard Maker tomorrow and see if that does the trick. They're up to 30 days without feeding and even I'm starting to get nervous now and normally I don't worry at all about slow feeders as all the previous ones had all eaten by 15 days.

[lozzer]

Try tease feeding jason it works for us.

[jason]

I've tried that, wiggling it in front of them and gently bumping under the body and on the sides, nothing makes them strike, they are the most docile snakes I have ever had.

I've also tried braining the pink, halving the pink, rubbing the pink in the bedding of our guinea pigs(!), using a small container, bumping up the heat a little, trying at different times of the day and leaving the pink over night (yeeeeuuuch smelly)...

I'm going to try the lizard maker and the tease feed method at the same time tomorrow.

[lee]

reptilelover.co.uk/feedinghatchlings.htm
this might give you a few ideas
lee

[jason]

Cheers Lee, I've done everything on that page except force feeding and that was my next step after the scenting option - I'm not looking forward to that at all, but if needs must...

[lee]

do any of your mates keep lizards
ask if they have any skin and rub it a pink
it worked for me
lee

[jason]

Funnily enough, yes, one person who bought a snake from me last week also got a lizard from somewhere else... I'll ask them to keep a shed. I'm picking up a bottle of Lizard Maker from the local reptile shop tomorrow, so hopefully that will do the trick.

[Vicki]

I found a good scent it Tuna or Tinned Salmon, defrost the pinkie in a tin of tuna, then heat up with the hairdryer before feeding.

Also assist feeding worked for the other. Get them out and while they are still being snappy hold the snake just behind the head and put the pinkie infront of its nose, give the head a little slack and allow it to strike. I find you need to keep hold of the hatchling until it has completely eaten the food or it will just spit it back out. Do this a few times then it should just eat normally. I did force feed on of mine but only needed to do it once then it ate willingly.

Tease feeding does work, but you need to be persistant and keep annoying the snake, it can sometimes take upto an hour, trick is BE PATIENT.

Scenting is really effective, I have had good results with rats (just slit them open then rub the pinky on it), snails and Tuna. I found the mouse maker totally useless with the hatchling although the guy who runs our reptile shop swears by it.

If you need any more help let me know, I have had quite a few difficult starters and tried all the tricks, and I mean all of them! Every one of them ate in the end

[jason]

I think the answer lies in tease feeding with a scented pinkie. I tried normal tease feeding several times for over an hour with no success at all, they just won't strike at it. Now I had this problem last year and as you say, most of them do eventually strike when being fed like this, but these two are just plain awkward. I'm thinking they have just come out of the egg with a hankering for lizard, insect, or frog, but definitely not mouse. Either that or they now associate the smell of mouse with being grabbed and tormented for an hour, or trapped in a small container, time for a change I think.

I tell ya, if someone insisted on waving my staple diet... ok, mexican food or curry in front of me, it wouldn't take me over an hour to get the message... I just don't get it... It's alien to me!

In regards to Mouse Maker, Yep... Mouse Maker is useless in these situations because all that will do is make the mouse smell like... well mouse! What I have is Lizard Maker, so later tonight I'll wash a pink, pat it dry, drop some Lizard scent on it, place a piece of lizard shed on the pinks snout and make it dance in front of the snake. It's a good job it's dead otherwise that would be pretty humiliating ;D

Nice tip with the tuna scenting, I'll give that a try if lizard doesn't work.

hmmm... curried mouse... I wonder...

[lozzer]

lol well my fingers are crossed for you.It helps though if the snake is snappy like my delila as i hardly have to prod it and anoy it as its already mardy with me all the time.Only problem is that it won't eat the mouse if i dont tease feed it.
1.its scared of the tweasers
and 2 it won't eat the mouse if its left in its viv so.

[jason]

Cheers... I'm not sure these two are scared of anything, if they were then I'd expect them to be snappy but it just simply isnt the case... I just don't think they like mice. I'm going to wait until dark and then try them on the Lizard Maker.

[jason]

2 hours later and they didn't eat, not one jot of interest, not even striking... If there is anybody near Milton Keynes who wants to have an attempt then please feel free to contact me, otherwise I don't have high hopes for their survival at this rate... Apart from force feeding them I'm all out of ideas. Help!

[molly]

I am so pleased that Dave is eating. He's really growing as well. We now handle him for about 5 minutes a day.He is so quick when we lift his hide but settles down after a minute or two in our hands. The kids love him (well 2 out of 3 aint bad!!!!!)

[Vicki]

Im going to the CSFC show on 31st (hopefully) so if I have time I could pop by and see what I can do. Will let you know

[jason]

Thanks Vicki, I'm just going to attempt to feed them in the small pot every two days now, no more tease feeding as I think two hours for each snake last night is a good indication that it's not going to work. One thing I did notice was that one pooped on me, is that odd for a snake that has not eaten at all, not ever, in 8 weeks?

[jason]

I just spoke to a guy at the Northampton Reptile Centre (great place to visit if you're in the area) and he said that rather than force feed, just pop the pinkie into the mouth of the snake and it may just gobble it down. He wasn't keen on force feeding at all, unless it has become too week to feed itself, which they're not yet. So I'll leave it until Wendesday and try that method.

[Vicki]

vicki said:

Also assist feeding worked for the other. Get them out and while they are still being snappy hold the snake just behind the head and put the pinkie infront of its nose, give the head a little slack and allow it to strike. I find you need to keep hold of the hatchling until it has completely eaten the food or it will just spit it back out. Do this a few times then it should just eat normally. I did force feed on of mine but only needed to do it once then it ate willingly.

This is what i meant... assist feeding worked wonders for me, but once you have done it 2 or 3 times then try just letting it eat normally (i.e leave the pinkie in the viv/container) as if you keep doing it it may take a while to wean them back to feeding normally, the 4 of mine I did it with ate normally after 3 assist feeds.

I used force feeding only as a very last resort, as if not done properly it choke the snake, and if you get it wrong it may totally put the snake off food.