• 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.

what to do with the pinky

D

dara

New member
Snake is grouchy and not eating again, which I've learned means a shed is coming (it's time anyway). My question is, what do I do with this pinky (a rat this time, actually). I feel so bad- I have no problems when it's a quick kill but I'm feeling quite sympathetic for this poor little baby, as it's been in the feeding container and eventually in the viv almost all day with Leonard showing no interest whatsoever. Is there something I can do with the pinky (that doesn't involve thwacking!)?

Thanks,

Dara
 
FREEZE IT

I would put it in a plastic baggy and freeze it! Thaw it out later for some good eating!!!
 
For one, NEVER EVER leave a live rodent in a snake cage for any amount of time without supervision. If they snake is not taking a live rodent after a few minutes, chances are it won't be eating and you should remove it. The danger of live pinkies may be small, but as the rodents get larger the danger to your snake in feeding live becomes VERY real. Be extremely careful.

I would just freeze the rodent and wait a few days until the shed has happened.

bmm
 
For the record, he's not alone- someone's been watching all day and I took it out the times when no one could (believe me, I was scared enough by the pictures of snakes harmed by live rodents!). I left it in there because the last time it took him over an hour. He kept on showing interest in the food- snapping at it but never actually killing and eating. But I think last time he was just psyching himself up, this time he's genuinely not interested (the shed thing) so in the freezer it goes (well, went actually, last night). Thanks,

Dara
 
Dara,

I don't want to judge, or jump up and down on a soap box but I'm curious, why do you feed live rodents if you know your snake can be injured? Is it all your snake will eat, or are live rodents what's available and you don't like "thwacking" them or...?

I only ask because feeding dead prey is so easy and it's done with no risk to your snake. Just curious....


Jason
 
Dara,
What's amazing is that snakes lived millions of years through many different climate changes eating live rodents, before human kind decided to intervene. Amazing how all these snakes survived before humans stepped in to kill their food for them. I agree the prey should never be left alone, but I own snakes to watch them do what GOD intended them to do , constrict and devour live prey. If you want a scavenger, buy a monitor.:)
 
...I own snakes to watch them do what GOD intended them to do , constrict and devour live prey
Click to expand...

Sychoram, watching your snake strike its prey squeeze and enjoy might just be a thrill but what are you going to do when you watch your snake strike a rat and miss the head and get the belly instead? Then as it begins to coil the rat sinks it’s incisors through the top of your snake’s head?

This same thing happened to a friend’s python. It was going to enjoy a snack but instead a one pound rat killed his six year old breeder and no one was fast enough to stop it. You may enjoy nature in action but why risk the life of your pet?
 
*sigh* People who say "its natures way" when keeping a snake in a cage in their home always make me laugh. Sorry but its true.

What God inteneded the snake to do was eat live in the wild. In the wild this gives both the snake and prey a chance to retreat. In a confined space, a feeder mouse automatically gets more defensive and downright nasty as it has no escape. An eye can be taken out in SECONDS even if you are right there watching.

I'd also liek to point out live feeders have a HUGE risk of passing parasites to your snakes. Like hookworm and other internal nasties. Tons and tons if not almost all, feeder mice carry these parasites. Most are killed by the freezing which is another reason I won't give my snakes live.

I prefer to keep my snakes scar free, health problem free and parasite free, thanks.

bmm
 
Like Bmm I can't see the way people use the 'it's nature' thing when keeping an animal in captivity okay my cats have mice and birds etc but THEY hunt and catch it and nobody has any right to take their 'prize' from them but buying a rodent to put in a snake tank isn't hunting and the mouse etc probably knows what's gonna happen and is scared out of its wits personally I could NEVER feed live to my snakes and if that's the only way they would eat i know people who would do it so they'd be more than welcome to the snake but feeding live ugh no! Anyway personal opinion we all have em just don't agree eith introducing live food.

Rachel
 
about why I feed live

Unfortunately, it's all my snake will eat. I had a heck of a time getting him to eat his first meal after I got him (which is how I found these forums in the first place- looking for resources on how to get my new baby to eat!). I tried all the tricks on a frozen pink- braining, the head, the tail, scenting (the people at the pet store thought I was crazy when brought in a dead mouse and asked them to rub it on an anole!), teasing, the deli cup, the paper bag, and many combinations of the above. Because I read the information on what a live rodent can do to a snake. But after trying everything I could with a f/t pinky (with ample destress time in between too) it was about the time where he needed to eat. So I asked my local (and by local I mean 60 miles away) reptile store expert people and they said that I had to try live. So live it was, and live he ate with no problems, as if he never was a problem starter at all. Since then (about four months ago) I've tried periodically to get him to eat frozen- I've teased with the f/t, I've even tried feeding a live and a f/t one at the same time to trick him. But every attempt has failed- he totally ignores the dead mouse. So we play the game where in to the feeding container he goes, with the live pinky (or fuzzy now) and I wait ready to spring on the pair if something looks like it should go awry. Once he moves up a food stage again I'll try with dead food again (and again) but after four months and many attempts, unfortunately all he'll eat is live. I wish it were otherwise, but what are you gonna do- when I decided to get a snake feeding it what it would eat was part of the deal.

Dara
 
you tried fresh killed sometimes if it's still wamr and twitching the snake takes it i've heard then you just increase the time in between kill and feed and then try a f/t. Just my 2 cents lol

Rach
 
Hi everyone .
I too have a snake that wil only eat live fizzies . ithink it was Rich or Don , had said their adult snakes all eat ft. mice even if they were live feaders as yearlings. I guess now is as good a time as any for all the tricks to be told as how to switch them over tol ft. I tried feeding ft right after a live ,tried over night in a bag made him go hungry , tried to make him mad and strike it .Maybe after a brumation?
Thanks
Happy New Year to you all
 
I am really suprised every time someone tells me they have a CB cornsnake who refuses anything but live. I KNOW it happens but so far I have been able to switch all my snakes (even species who get stuck on live easier than corns) to FT with little to no trouble.

First what I would do is skip a feeding. Get them nice and hungry. This doesn't mean "oh i didnt feed him for four days" I am talking more like two weeks, or slightly less. Then I would make a feeding attempt when the snake is in its hiding spot so I can wiggle/dangle a *REALLY* warm prey item and hopefully the snake will strike out and grab it.

Unless a snake is a hatchling or otherwise fragile, here if they don't eat what I want them too, they don't eat. The longest I have had one refuse FT was like two weeks. It never goes far at all and hunger will do a lot to make a snake eat something thats dead.

bmm
 
I have had my share of them

Maybe one per two clutches that steadfastly refuse frozen/thawed. I have a hatchling now that has gone almost a month more than once when no live was availible. They may or may not show interest, but the dead pink is uneaten by morning, no matter how hungry the snake acts. Corns aren't as bad as milks and some others, but it does happen.
Live fuzzie mice aren't a real danger to your snake. Mice in general aren't, but it's the ones left uneaten (and hungry, thirsty or scared) to worry about, more so than defensive bites. Rats are another matter all together. Either way, I don't feed live to anything that doesn't insist on it. There is no upside (for the animal) I can see for doing it. Just keep a close eye on your live feedings, they should be instantaneous, and don't feed live rats to your corn and you should be fine. I'd still try it on freshly killed when super hungry. That usually works, contricting and all. :cheers:
 
I agree with everyone about not feeding live. I have a BP that when I got him, was told that he ate F/T. I tried for over a month to get him to eat F/T. I contacted the breeder and he told me to try a live mouse. I REALLY didn't want to do that, but I had no choice, I had to get him to eat. I went to a local herp show and talked to everyone that had BP's, they all told me the same thing. BP's don't eat F/T, they only eat live. I did pick up a live hopper mouse, and fed him live under close supervision. He did eat it. The next time, I "stunned" the mouse before feeding, and he ate that. After a couple of times of stunning the mouse and making sure he went for it right away, I took one out of the freezer that I had accidently killed, and decided to try that one. I made sure it was nice and warm, and dangled it in front of him, and he grabbed it and ate it within minutes. Ever since then, he has been eating F/T every week with no problems. I do have to play with him and make him think it is alive by dangling it, but he takes it with no problems. He has been eating F/T now for about 1 year. I guess I have one of the only BP's that will take F/T, at least around my area.
If I were you, I would keep trying to switch over to F/T. It may take a few feedings, but your corn should switch. Try stunning the mouse first, then gradually switch over. It is much safer for your snake, and easier for you.
Good Luck!!!
 
The problem is that I don't know if he's CB or not. I didn't get him from a pet store, I got him from a shelter. And I'm almost certain that before I got him, he had never eaten at all before. So I agree, it'd be hard to find a CB that didn't eat f/t, but I don't think he is.

Dara
 
Sparda- Actually almost 100% of ALL C.B. ball pythons can be switched over to F/T if they aren't eating FT already! You must have been talking to some fairly "odd" breeders because most all the big breeders feed F/T and usually sell all CB babies as feeding on F/T.

Wild caught Ball pythons are another story, but even those can easily be switched to FT.

bmm
 
bmm said:
For one, NEVER EVER leave a live rodent in a snake cage for any amount of time without supervision. If they snake is not taking a live rodent after a few minutes, chances are it won't be eating and you should remove it. The danger of live pinkies may be small, but as the rodents get larger the danger to your snake in feeding live becomes VERY real. Be extremely careful.

I would just freeze the rodent and wait a few days until the shed has happened.

bmm
Click to expand...

The danger of live pinkies may be small
Small? How about non-existant?
The warnings about older rodents are spot-on, but cautioning people against leaving snakes with -pinkies- is getting to the point of ridiculousness.
Just trying to clear up that the old method of leaving a snake and a live pinkie alone for a couple hours is still perfectly acceptable.
 
I totally agree

that leaving a live hopper, adult or especially a live rat in the viv with the snake is playing with danger and shouldn't be done. But, come on, a live pinky??? Or even a live fuzzy?? Who is worried that a pinky is going to bit a hole in their snakes head? I think that is going a bit far, myself.
I have purchased a few hatchlings that decided to be stubborn feeders which I tried the tricks on and got them to eat f/t after a short while, but I have one that is a yearling that absolutely refused every trick in the book, even fresh killed. She will push the mouse around with her nose because she is hungry but will not take it no matter what I do (and refuses to look at it if I try to wiggle it to make it look alive). So I have been feeding her 2 live fuzzies a feeding but she is now in brumation so I hope that when she comes out, I can convince her to switch over.
I have gotten quite a few non-feeders from people that I am trying to rehabilitate and I will not hesitate to leave them overnight in a deli cup with a live pinky if need be. I know that if they do not eat it, then I don't have a stinky dead pink and I can put the baby back in with the mother and she will continue to care for it.
As I said, I totally agree with the fact that it is dangerous and not necessary to put live prey into a viv that can and will harm your snake, but I don't think anyone should be paniking or putting down someone who leaves a pinky with their snake.
JMHO
 
Maybe I'm just lucky, I've never lost a snake or had an injury from a live rodent. Like anything else, ultimately it is the owners choice what to feed. I've read the no parasite statements, but have also read that most people have to supplement vitamins with f/t. I do not leave live rodents with my snakes unattended and they all pretty much grab the rodent as soon as it hits the feeding container, ( I never feed them in their cages) If they haven't hit the rodent within 5 mins, I take it out and give it a few more days.

Thank You
James Maloy
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top