Young Pine Snake Trouble feeding

[kep028]

Hey snake people,

I hope you guys can help me with feeding a young Pine Snake. The store I bought her from stated she was eating fuzzies once a week without problem but have had troubles from the start and I'm lucky for her to eat in 2 weeks.

TL;DR - Young pine snake won't eat in a timely fashion.

For a background, she is roughly 10 months old and have had her for about 5 months. She's roughly the width of a pencil and 1'6" in length. I have her in a a 10 gallon tank with wood shavings, temperatures from 90°C (plus or minus a few degrees) for basking and mid 70s on the cool side. She's handled almost daily and acts like a typical pine snake.

The first two months went alright with some issues but the last three months have been rough. I have her schedule from when trouble started. I forgot to document so I'll write estimated times.

Feb 17: 1 fuzzy
Feb 23: refused
Early March: 1 fuzzy
March 14: 1 fuzzy
March 21: refused
March 28: refused
April 10: 1 pinky, 1 fuzzy (took to the pinky and put a fuzzy in right after)
April 17: refused
Late April: refused
Early May: refused
May 11: 1 pinky
May 18: refused
May 24: refused

Around early March was when I tried different techniques to get her to eat. I would mostly cut a mouse open and rub its blood on a different mouse which she would take to sometimes. On April 10 I tried using a pinky to feed and she took to that which I train fed with a fuzzy right after. All attempts after were with both a pinky, a fuzzy, and then cutting the pinky and bloodying the fuzzy.

I've always fed her in a separate feeding tub usually in the evening. I'd usually have the lights on. Other techniques I've tried were:
- Warming mice under heat lamp: successful
- Warming mice in warm water: unsuccessful
- Scenting pinky onto fuzzy (rubbing each other): unsuccessful
- Feeding in with lights off: successful once
- Feeding with a heavy blanket covered (just a little light): 50/50 successful
- Left alone with a mouse: successful once
- Feeding in her tank itself: unsuccessful


At the moment I'm stuck. She's only shed twice since I've had her and I know these snakes get big fast. I'd say I'm a knowledgeable novice with reptiles and I have a young corn snake without any issues. I had an adult pine snake and didn't nearly have as many complications (but had some).

Any recommendations people?

Thanks!!

[Andy_G]

Try feeding in the enclosure and see how that goes.

[eminart]

I'm assuming those temps are actually Fahrenheit?

[EL Ziggy]

Pits are usually pretty aggresive at feeding time. I'd start by double checking your husbandry. Is your heat source controlled by a thermostat and how are you measuring the temps? Those analog thermometers can be somewhat inaccurate. 90F might also be a little too hot for your snake. My pits prefer cooler temps. My warm side doesn't get over 84-86F. Do you have hides on the hot and cool sides of the enclosure? Are you serving your prey items hot enough? I typically thaw my feeders inside a ziploc bag submerged in a bowl of warm water. When the feeder is completely thawed I use a blow dryer to heat it to about 100F. I also agree with the others that it's less stressful to feed the snake inside it's enclosure. If all else fails you could try a live prey item.

[Andy_G]

I now see in your post that you tried to feed in the enclosure, but has this been tried consistently Have you tried rat pinkies? Also I would really limit handling until shes on a good feeding schedule. Did you give her time to settle in before handling when you first got her? You may want to lower the hot spot by a few degrees as well.

[Albert Clark]

Great looking pine snake btw!

[kep028]

Hey everyone!

Thanks for all of the replies, extremely helpful.
First, I derped pretty hard and yes those are Fahrenheit temps. I use a digital probe thermometer for my measurements.
She has a few hides on the warm and cool side which she frequents either side.
I gave her about two weeks before I fed her. I did handle her a few times in that period (I couldn't help myself).
I'm not sure what the temps of the mice are, fairly warm to touch. Like hot tea in a bottle for comparison.

With what you guys have told me, I think my plan of action will be to:
- Feed in her tank the next time (most likely with mouse pinkies at first)
- Use the heating method of warm water and a hair dryer
- Get an infrared thermometer
- Avoid handling

Should I continue to blood scent the mice? Or will an extra toasty mouse be enticing enough? Does it stress them out to have both a non bloody mouse and a bloody mouse to offer?
Do you guys feed in the dark or doesn't matter?

You guys are fantastic.

Cheers!