• Hello!

    Either you have not registered on this site yet, or you are registered but have not logged in. In either case, you will not be able to use the full functionality of this site until you have registered, and then logged in after your registration has been approved.

    Registration is FREE, so please register so you can participate instead of remaining a lurker....

    Please be certain that the location field is correctly filled out when you register. All registrations that appear to be bogus will be rejected. Which means that if your location field does NOT match the actual location of your registration IP address, then your registration will be rejected.

    Sorry about the strictness of this requirement, but it is necessary to block spammers and scammers at the door as much as possible.

teaching my baby how to KILL first before swallowing?

B

BNR34RB26DETT

New member
so the title pretty much explains it all. my baby corn has always refused to eat F/T so ive been feeding her live. but she still doesnt know how to wrap around and kill the pray first.
she usually goes head first (while the mouse is still alive) and kills it.
but today she went tail first......
i was wondering if there was a way to teach my snake how to kill pray before swallowing it alive???
any comments/ suggestions would be great.
thanks
 
BNR34RB26DETT said:
so the title pretty much explains it all. my baby corn has always refused to eat F/T so ive been feeding her live. but she still doesnt know how to wrap around and kill the pray first.
she usually goes head first (while the mouse is still alive) and kills it.
but today she went tail first......
i was wondering if there was a way to teach my snake how to kill pray before swallowing it alive???
any comments/ suggestions would be great.
thanks
Click to expand...

I never heard of anyone teaching a snake, condition a snake maybe but teaching it to kill a meal .....no.
I would be more concern on getting the snake to eat f/t. Maybe you could serve the f/t very hot (using tap water) to your snake. To condition it to eat f/t, which will be better when you have to start feeding it larger food.
 
They won't kill pinkies and small fuzzies. I don't know why, but for whatever reason, they never start to constrict until larger fuzzies on upwards.

She will figure it out - no way she'll be able to eat an adult mouse w/o first killing it.

But I agree, keep trying to switch it to f/t. 99.9% of corns will eventually switch.
 
Some babies are indeed picky eaters, and while f/t is the better choice for a lot of reasons, a baby that eats live is better than a baby who won't eat at all. That said, do try to switch your little one over to f/t. Matthew's right about the lack of constriction when feeding on little mice. (I hate to think what that experience must be like for the mice.)

You CAN switch your snake to f/t prey. You say she's refused f/t in the past. Some info will help with recommending how to do this. Where and how do you offer the food? How did you prepare f/t items? How long did you give her before counting it as a refusal? Have you tried wiggling the prey (the ever-popular "zombie mouse dance") with forceps/hemostats/etc.?

Teaching constriction is neither practical nor necessary. For your snake's good health, concentrate on conditioning her to accept f/t food.
 
Hmm... unfortunately you cannot teach her to kill first. She will start killing as the mice get older, but for now she'll just keeping eating them alive. It's very unusal for a corn snake to refuse prekilled foods. Here are some things you can try, don't be afraid to combine the techniques.

Feed her in a very small separate container.
Leave her in with the food overnight.
Make the pinky/fuzzy super duper hot.
Scent it with chicken broth or lizards.
"Tease feeding" were you bump the food item into the snake and it strikes out of defense or frustration, and ends up eating the food.
Dangling the food in front of the snake until it strikes.
"Braining" were you open up the pinkies skull and expose the brains... it's gross, but it's worked for some snakes.
"Slitting" were you cut slits in the pinky. Apparently this helps with digestion too.
Putting a hide in the feeding container, waiting for the snake to be in the hide, then dangling the food outside of the entrance.

That's all I can think of for now. Just keep trying, she'll more than likely make the switch. <3
 
VickyChaiTea said:
Hmm... unfortunately you cannot teach her to kill first. She will start killing as the mice get older, but for now she'll just keeping eating them alive. It's very unusal for a corn snake to refuse prekilled foods. Here are some things you can try, don't be afraid to combine the techniques.

Feed her in a very small separate container.
Leave her in with the food overnight.
Make the pinky/fuzzy super duper hot.
Scent it with chicken broth or lizards.
"Tease feeding" were you bump the food item into the snake and it strikes out of defense or frustration, and ends up eating the food.
Dangling the food in front of the snake until it strikes.
"Braining" were you open up the pinkies skull and expose the brains... it's gross, but it's worked for some snakes.
"Slitting" were you cut slits in the pinky. Apparently this helps with digestion too.
Putting a hide in the feeding container, waiting for the snake to be in the hide, then dangling the food outside of the entrance.

That's all I can think of for now. Just keep trying, she'll more than likely make the switch. <3
Click to expand...

thanks for the replies everyone.


Feed her in a very small separate container.
done

Leave her in with the food overnight.
done

Make the pinky/fuzzy super duper hot.
I will give this a try

Scent it with chicken broth or lizards.
I have tried chicken but i cant find a lizard to scent with..

"Tease feeding" were you bump the food item into the snake and it strikes out of defense or frustration, and ends up eating the food.
done

Dangling the food in front of the snake until it strikes.
done

"Braining" were you open up the pinkies skull and expose the brains... it's gross, but it's worked for some snakes.
done

"Slitting" were you cut slits in the pinky. Apparently this helps with digestion too.
are you talking about in stomach or something?? how deep of a cut are you talking about?

Putting a hide in the feeding container, waiting for the snake to be in the hide, then dangling the food outside of the entrance.
done
 
It's hard to get a corn to constrict a pinky or fuzzy. About the only way is shake it after the snake grabs it and it should constrict thinking it might get away.
 
I have held a live pinky in forceps and not let go when the hatchling struck at it with some success. But it isn't 100%. Holding the pinky did get the snake to coil, but when offered a pinky without using forceps, it just swallowed the pinkie live. As cruel as it sounds, this is just nature.
 
Slitting is cutting about 4-6 shallow slits down the back of a pink or whatever, crosswise. A small scissors, like a fingernail scissors, works well.
 
What Nanci said. And ComoxCorn, it's hardly "just nature". It's not natural to keep animals in containers and feed them.
 
Do remember that just because these things haven't worked in the past, it doesn't mean they never will. It's not uncommon, from what I understand, to have to start babies on live, and they usually do come over to f/t eventually. You could also try to ease him/her into it by killing the pinky right before you offer it a couple of times. Might help. And a quick flick to the head has to be more pleasant for the mouse than being eaten alive.
 
wretchedprocess said:
Do remember that just because these things haven't worked in the past, it doesn't mean they never will.
Click to expand...

Indeed. Your baby has been eating and growing; this is a good thing. You care about her or you wouldn't be asking questions; this is also a good thing. Feeding live long-term is not a good thing for your snake.

How often are you feeding her? Healthy snakes, even babies, can go a surprisingly long time between meals. You might consider waiting 10 days (about the length of time many fast during a shed cycle) after the last feeding and then offering a really warm f/t pinky. You might also try not washing the feeding container after her next live meal and offering her next f/t pinky in that. The familiar scent may help her make the connection.

Be patient, but don't give up on switching her. Be aware of your baby's personality/personal preferences in evaluating which tricks to try. Some shy little ones go for food in a covered deli cup or a brown paper bag (inside the viv for safety) where they have privacy. Aggressive little hatelings are more likely to strike with tease feeding. It really does depend on the individual, and no one trick works for all of them.

That said, I firmly believe that there IS a trick that WILL work for every single one. It takes patience, time, sensitivity and yes, luck to find the one that works. I've switched difficult ones from live to f/t, and I've taken on a variety of nonfeeders who've come to me having had a whole host of different feeding methods tried with them. I'm delighted to say that they're all FORMER nonfeeders and doing well. I know, you're not in the nonfeeding ballpark - and thank God for that! You have plenty of time to condition your snake to take f/t. Don't give up.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top