Young Pine Snake Trouble feeding
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!!
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