snake not eating; should I be concerned?

[airman_miller]

Originally Posted by Nismo89

Pinkie mice don't have teeth or nails yet so they can't harm your snake so yes it is okay to leave it overnight

i kindof did that last night, and figured it would be ok but left it in the box with the top open to be sure. tonight will be an all night, no box affair.

[airman_miller]

didn't eat. this is starting to get old.....attempting a f/t thursday or friday.

[lady_bug87]

damn stubborn thing

[airman_miller]

well up to today the snake has not eaten. this has been 3 MONTHS! took it to last month, talked to some breeders, all noting no reason for the snake not to be eating. decided to tell the breeder about the situation and to ask about getting part of my money back i gave to cover a mis-shipment he made, and he told me then that "i know it eats anoles, feed it one of those." ARE YOU KIDDING ME!?!?! went to the pet store, found a long-tail lizard. brought it home and fed it to the snake AND IT ATE IMMEDIATELY!!

I am beyond pissed, how can this breeder tell people a reptile eats mice, but then wait 3 MONTHS to tell them that it was eating lizards the whole time? The breeder made NO mention that it EVER ate lizards, adding to my frustration. I feel absolutely awful that I practically starved the poor snake and it just wanted a lizard....

overall i am happy that the snake ate, and now will develop a game plan to swap him over to f/t: I cut the tail off of the lizard and froze it. I will try just rubbing the tail on a f/t mouse and see if it eats it. if not, i will cut a bit off of the tail and put it in the mouse's mouth. hopefully he can be switched peacefully...

[airman_miller]

"took it to last month" whoops! it was supposted to say "took it to the vet last month"

[Gungirl]

Glad it finally ate. Hope you can get it to switch over to f/t mice fairly soon.

[millertime89]

try the same techniques people use to switch from mice to rats to switch it from anoles to mice. worth a shot.

[airman_miller]

Originally Posted by millertime89

try the same techniques people use to switch from mice to rats to switch it from anoles to mice. worth a shot.

what are these techniques of which you speak?

[alessia55]

Here are 2 techniques that might help switch your kingsnake from anoles to mice:

1. Scenting. Use an anole to "scent" a f/t mouse. You can do this by rubbing the anole on the mouse so that the mouse smells like an anole. It'll help convince your kingsnake to eat the mouse if it smells like an anole.

2. Braining. Take a f/t mouse, thaw it, and then cut open the head of it a bit to open up the smell of the mouse. Sometimes the strong smell of a mouse can entice a snake to eat it.

Good luck! Hopefully someone on here has more ideas for you.

[airman_miller]

Originally Posted by alessia55

Here are 2 techniques that might help switch your kingsnake from anoles to mice:

1. Scenting. Use an anole to "scent" a f/t mouse. You can do this by rubbing the anole on the mouse so that the mouse smells like an anole. It'll help convince your kingsnake to eat the mouse if it smells like an anole.

2. Braining. Take a f/t mouse, thaw it, and then cut open the head of it a bit to open up the smell of the mouse. Sometimes the strong smell of a mouse can entice a snake to eat it.

Good luck! Hopefully someone on here has more ideas for you.

i have tried braining with mice and that was a no-go. snake doesn't care. I am going to try to do the scenting next feed. thanks for the encouragement!

[Gungirl]

Another Idea to get him to switch over would be to feed him anole then as he gets the last bite in his mouth you start putting in a small pink. I had to feed my BP small mice and then right at the end of him eating it place a rat in his mouth. After a few times he started taking rats without the assistance of a mouse.

Good luck to you!

[alessia55]

Originally Posted by Gungirl

Another Idea to get him to switch over would be to feed him anole then as he gets the last bite in his mouth you start putting in a small pink. I had to feed my BP small mice and then right at the end of him eating it place a rat in his mouth. After a few times he started taking rats without the assistance of a mouse.

Good luck to you!

I'm in the process of doing this with one of my ball pythons and it seems to be working wonderfully. Try that with your kingsnake if all else fails

[scooper]

It probably is just stressed so you should not stress about it as well. It can go on for weeks and some say even months without eating so you should not be worried about it that much.

Do not force it to take in food or you will just worsen the situation. Just leave it there or better, leave food lying and see how it would react. But I am guessing that you should try it at least 3 days in between.

[Gungirl]

Good rule of thumb is to never offer food more than 1 time a week. offering it every 3 days or so can stress it more...

[shaunyboy]

imo your best bet is scenting mice with lizards mate

there used to be a product made by t rex called lizard maker,but we can't seem to get it over here anymore

it was a great product,2 drops on a pinkie and the snake smelled it as a lizard

get a lizard and rub it all over the mouse then offer the mouse to the snake

the breeder really SHOULD have told you it was only feeding on lizards

cheers shaun