Trouble Feeding My Milksnake?

[Flower Boy69]

I got a Pueblan Milkshake a few weeks back in the mail, and ever since day one she has been very shy and just wants to stay burrowed. It worked out fine at first, she stayed burrowed and when I wanted to interact with her I would dig her up. Exactly a week after I got her I tried feeding for the first time. After struggling for around 30 minutes, I decided to just leave the dethawed pinky in her terrarium over night, and it was gone by morning! So, I figured I would just feed her this way. Its now been 2 weeks after that, and I've gone through around 3 or 4 dethawed pinkies trying to feed her again with this method, with no prevail. Every morning I will wake up and the pinky will be just where I left it. This led me to trying to feed her again by digging her up and trying to get her interested, and then I even took out some substrate so it's hard for her to burrow, but she will burrow in the tiniest amount! And if there isn't enough, then she seems to panic and seems to scared to eat. I am stumped now. Babies are supposed to eat every 5-7 days, so I've read, and she's already gone a little over two weeks without eating! I'm stumped on what I should do :no:

[Scubadiver59]

My suggestion, after recently dealing with juvenile corn and king snakes is to ditch the substrate and use paper towels. Put in two layers of paper towels, put in your water dish, have hides at the cold end and warm end, and put in fake vines you can get at most any crafts shop...the more the merrier. Then you'll be able to see your snake more often and feeding will be less stressful for both of you. My adult Peublan still plays hide and seek but it feeds more often now that it can't burrow and I don't waste as many prey.

[kazz]

This is so often thread from beginners.
There's the video answers most questions.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ly5w25kT-hM

[EL Ziggy]

Milk snakes are known to be pretty shy and some will hide a lot. Make sure your temps are good. A couple of weeks without food isn't an issue. How are you thawing and heating your prey item? Once the prey item is completely thawed I usually super heat it with a hairdryer to about 100F before offering it to my snakes. Every 5-7 days is a good guideline for very young snakes but if she won't eat consistently on that schedule try spacing her feedings out to every 7-10 days. Sometimes it takes new snakes a while to acclimate to their environments and to start eating regularly. Congrats and best wishes with the new critter. Keep us posted on your progress.

[kazz]

as far as youtube video didn't embedded there's the link https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ly5w25kT-hM