typical beginner feeding questions

[oscar]

on sept 12th we got a gopher snake and a cal king, both babies. when we got them home they were placed in a sterlite showoff (14 1/4" x 9 1/2" x 6 7/8" or http://www.sterilite.com/Category.html?Section=Storage&ProductCategory=42##) with upside deli cups for hides and water dishes on a substrate of cell sorb plus. their enclosures are heated by a heating pad and range from 80-90. the king shed the day we brought him home and ate a f/t pinkie the next day. neither have eaten since though after 3 tries. my wife read that you shouldnt feed them in their enclosure and someone recommended the bathtub lined w/ a towel. we tried that, but the poor gopher looked petrified.. and trying to tease feed him made it worse. lat nite when i was putting a pink in the kings he struck at it while it was on the tongs, but nothing after.

any suggestions? i dont know what to think or whether to worry yet, but want to get some feedback. oh.. and we havnet been handling them at all.

[Vengeance]

You keep refering to feeding as them, are these snakes in the same cage? If that is the case, then I wouldn't worry about feeding your king snake, because he will eat your gopher snake as soon as he get's hungry. Cali Kings are canabalistic and are also snake eaters, so if I were you I'd seperate the snakes into 2 diffrent cages or your Cali King will solve the not feeding problem for you.

[vanderkm]

Like Vengeance says - definitely house them separately if you aren't already.

We find hatchlings feed best if left in their container, so we use paper towel for bedding so they can't ingest any. We have never experienced aggression from feeding colubrids in their own enclosure rather than removing them.

We give them at least 5 days without any handling or disturbance to settle in to a new enclosure and provide them with a tight, dark secure hiding place - plastic puppy dishes that are hollow underneath that they can crawl under are perfect. The deli cups you are using may be too large for them to feel secure. I would leave the snakes completely alone for at least 5 days - no feeding efforts - then try again -

We offer a very warm, f/t pinky and we pinch the head so a bit of brain squeezes out of the nose. We stick its nose into the opening of the snake's hide (under the water dish) when we know the snake is in there. We offer last thing at night and leave the room. The pinky is usually eaten by morning.

Other options include putting the snake and a warmed f/t pink in a deli cup in the dark overnight, washing the pinky first, or scenting the pinky (lizard). We have found tease feeding by touching the pinky to the snake often seems to scare the snake, but teasing the snake by gently pulling the pinky back from it (so the snake wants to 'chase' it) or gently 'twitching' the pinky in front of the snake (but not toward the snake - always away from it) will sometimes stimulate them to bite.

good luck with them,

mary v.

[Brent Strande]

Originally posted by oscar
their enclosures are heated by a heating pad and range from 80-90.

I'm gonna assume that you are housing them separately since you said their enclosures (plural) and I hope that that is correct!

I would thaw out the meals in room temp water, then run hot water for 30seconds or so to really heat the prey item. Then dangle the prey item by its tail with a pair of tongs and let its nose 'bounce around' on the floor of the cage (NOTE: I'd recommend paper towel or newspaper substrate for the first few months... for many reasons!)

The 'dancing' prey should be enough to hopefully set them off. If not, let the snake be for a good 5 days or so before trying again. They most likely are just stressed from being in a new environment, let them settle.

Also, DON'T use the bathtub for such a small snake, that would be too large of a space for them to feel secure. If you feed outside of the enclosure get a smaller rubbermaid to place them in with the prey item.

Good luck!

[oscar]

thanks mary.. i will give those ideas a try. i hadnt tried squeezing the head, but i did have one thaw w/out its head as it broke off when i seperated it from the frozen mass.. that didnt seem to do a thing either. i was doing the teasing thing when he struck at it too so maybe i'll give that a shot again.

as for housing them together... what? you think i'm stupid!?!? lol.. just kidding. i do do my homework before purchasing animals and never house them together regardless. i did know that kings were canibalistic too so that was never an option anyway. i was gonna go back and make sure that was clear as i writing, but forgot.

[Vengeance]

Yea sorry, just sounded like I put "them" in a steralite, I take "them" out of the cage to feed. Sounded plural, sorry for assuming.

As for feeding, other things you can try is pre killed. When I fed my cali king I feed him out of the cage in a small rubbermaid. I put the rat in with him and close the lid, he usually does the rest. Also make sure the prey item is really hot, I find that helps as well.

[oscar]

np Vengeance. i used 'them' because i have been using the same techniques for both.

i have been thawing the pinks in hot water for about 30 mins and then reheat them for about 5 in really hot water to get the body temp up.

i didnt think the tub was such a great idea either, but my wife had read it somewhere else online and both of us being new to snakes, i had no basis to say so. i'm going to grab a small(er) rubbermaid for my next try which i'll wait til monday or so to do (last try was tuesday).

thanks all!

[oscar]

just a quick update to say that 1/2 my problem seems solved. the king kept true to form and became very agressive when i wagged a f/t pinkie in front of his face. he struck and dragged it back into his hide only to emerge about 15 mins later fatter. the gopher though just seems to docile. she is such a sweetheart, all she was interested in was the tongs. she ignored the pinkie all together.. and she was the one the breeder said was eating no problems on f/t.