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The snake who won't bite

K

kickflare

Crazy snake Lady
Hey people,

^^; as you all know i've been having some issues with Sterling and i'm pretty much assist feeding him constantly. I also have noticed he won't strike. AT ALL.

I've been poked and annoyed him with the pinkie and he still won't strike. He's NEVER struck at me or my friend [who comes around to see them] am I doing something wrong?

Ayesha is pretty normal her bitey self although on thursday she turned her nose up at food having the sunday i got back, she snatched the pinkie out of my hands and curled around it.

I'm thinking maybe i'm trying to feed her twice a week is a bit idea... espeically as she's on the bigger pinkies.
 
When they are on pinkies every five days is a good feeding interval.

Not all snakes strike, especially when young. My Cleo only started to strike (and coil) when she got to hoppers. Before that she opened her mouth, put it on the mouse, and very slowly and methodically ate.
 
Maybe agitating them isn't the way to go. Corns are nervous and shy and beating them up with a mouse every week is going to stress them out at meal times. Until Sterling is eating normally, you should try to keep its stress level as low as possible. Don't feed it from tongs or by hand. No music or tapping on the enclosure. Once it's eating on its own, then you can pester it however you want, but for now, that's obviously not working.


Wait a few days from the last attempt. Feed the non-feeder outside its enclosure. Get a very small plastic container with a secure lid, poke some air holes in the lid, put the snake and the pinkie in, cover it up with a towel or something, and leave it alone for a couple of hours at least. No peeking.

If you don't want to bother with the small container, you can use a small paper bag. Put the snake and the mouse in the paper bag, then roll the top down so the bag's closed and the snake can't get out right away. Put it back in its normal enclosure. Leave it alone for several hours.
 
i tried all of that when i didn't know how to assist feed. I did EVERY thing and he refused to eat from the time I got until about 3 weeks ago where i assist fed him. All i have to do now is put the pinkie in his mouth and he does the rest.

Ayesha however has gone milky and she's refused her food so i'm going to try her again in a couple of days [although she did try and chunk out of me]. Hopefully she'll eat something before her shed.

Also noticed that after eating Sterling;s eyes have gone a bit milky as well... so i think he's coming up for shed as well.
 
You aren't going to go from assist feeding to staking behavior.

You need to go from assist feeding to him eating on his own without you there.

Wether you do that by braiding a pink and leaving it under his hide, or by putting him in a paper bag is up to you.

~Beau
 
"I've been poked and annoyed him with the pinkie and he still won't strike."

Might be the problem. When i first got my corn, it struck the mouse pretty fast, however i did wait a bit before the first feed. Afterwards, when i would put the mouse in, he would look interested, and i would move the mouse closer to him, and kind of put it near his head causing him to become nervous and too afraid to actually strike the prey item.

What worked for me was: Take the mouse by the tail using some sort of forceps or tweezers. Place the mouse down near the snake in front if it so it can see the mouse. Once the snake shoes interest, the key is to slowly pull the mouse using the tweezers away from the snake. The snake should start moving in for the strike, continue to move the mouse slowly away from the snake and it will strike it.

I found that my corn would become very agitated if the mouse touched it at any point of the feeding before it was in its jaws. Snakes are ambush predators and feeding them a dead mouse out in the open is kind of unnatural. I feel like hes smart enough to know that he cannot see when the striking action is executed, and therefore would prefer for the mouse to not be near their bodies, and be directly in front of their view, when they strike for fear of hitting themselves. I dunno just my feeling, maybe im giving them too much credit for having this kind of logic.
 
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