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Out of ideas

CAV

CAV

Dazed and Cornfused
I have a problem that has got me stumped, so I thought I'd troll for suggestions.

I have a '02 female Miami that is growing well and has a sizable appetite. Unfortunately, she refuses to eat fuzzies. She'll play with it and push it around the tub, but will not eat it. Eventually, I throw in pinkies and she quickly gobbles them down. She is up to six now. :eek:

I've tried scenting, offering the fuzzy with a couple of pinks, washing the fuzzy in water, ect.

I'm tiring of this "game of wills" between myself and this prissy like snake! :mad: :)

Any suggestions? :confused:
 
sorry

i have nothing and wasn't even gonna post, but cav i found this post to be really humerous. Feeding it 6 pinkies! lol. very prissy snake indeed!
 
What works for me

Hello cav. what has worked for me with picky eaters, i will take the size of mouse you are trying to feed to your pet and either rub it a little with wood chips where my breeder mice urinate or rub it on the side of tank i keep a male mouse. the scents are very strong. i have had good succes with these two things when it comes to picky juveniles or adults.
 
2 ideas.

1. Have you tried something in between pinkies and fuzzies. Like big pinkies. Maybe you could just gradually increase the size to get her going.

2. Could it be a color thing. I have some juvies that like lighter color fuzzies better than dark ones.

Mark
 
What about tease feeding? I know my snakes seem to forget everything when their food starts "dancing" in front of them. The constrict and eat.
 
It may be the fuzziness of the fuzzies that bothers her too . . .sounds strange, but since many corns are natural lizard eaters, it may not be too far out???

Try braining a fuzzy, and let her get her nose stuck in that mess. I think she may well jump on it from the scent of the blood alone.
 
I know your frustration. One of my sons Corns did this and I thought I would go nuts trying to feed him:D I got him switched over using a method similar to what Mark suggested. I went through my bags of pinkies and pulled out the biggest ones that were just starting to get a little fuzz. I went through my bags of fuzzies and pulled out the ones that were less "fuzzy". I offered the big pinkies first and he would eat them, but I never gave him enough to make a full meal. I left him a little hungry. We did that a few times and then I started offering the near naked fuzzie with the pinkie. He turned up his nose at it the first time but by the second feeding that it was offered he ate it and we never looked back:D I don't know where you get your mice, I get mine from RodentPro and the bags have a variety of sizes to choose from. I sure hope you get it resolved, it gets expensive for them to live on pinkies;)
 
Hmmm. There are some good suggestions here..........

I've tried many different sizes and it hasn't seemed to matter much. I buy in bulk and on any given week I go through about 100 pinkies and fuzzies. I've tried large pinkies that are the same size as a small fuzzies. You would think I could find something that would work, but NOOOOOO.......

If it isn't smell, or size, or even "the look" of the fuzzy ;) could there be something similar that I am simply overlooking?? I've never seen anything like this before.

Stupid snake! :mad: :D
 
It could be intimidated by the size as well. I would try gradually offering slightly larger (and fuzzier) pinks each time you feed her. Or you may want to try skipping a feeding or two so she really gets hungry enough to try something new.
 
I have almost the same problem with one of my milk snakes...

However, she will only eat fuzzies. I've tried offering her hoppers, but she will NEVER take them even though she is definitely big enough. She eats anywhere from 4-6 fuzzies per feeding.

It's frustrating, huh?
 
have you tried the ol' bait and switch?

If you are feeding several snakes, try thawing a fuzzy out with the pinks. Pinks have a weak scent, but I'm convinced it's different than older mice. If braining and the "starvation diet" don't work, try putting a pinkie in and pulling it out with hemostats as soon as the snake is stimulated to feed; replacing with the fuzzy. I've even "followed one up" by putting the head of one mouse in the snake's mouth while it was reaching the end of the first. This requires a little luck and watching the feeding (without closing the drawer) but has worked for skinny neonates and barely-feeding females after clutching. I'd say it's a 50% success rate at best, though. They have to be in just the right position for you to reach them without getting spooked. There are always lizards and tree frogs you can scent with, they work wonders on milks and corns that won't take pinks. May be worth a shot to see if that'll change it's mind.
Good luck. And remember, it will move up eventually! There is no way when this snake is grown it will be eating 25 pinkies a week!:)
 
If your snake is big enough, you could also try newborn rat pups (you do have to watch the size as some newborn rat pups may be too big...if you can find a local breeder, young new mother rats tend to have the smallest pups).
 
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