|
1-10 of 21 messages
|
Page 1 of 3
Next
|
|
Feeding Problems
|
Reply
|
|
by Jahon on August 28, 2008
|
Mail this to a friend!
|
|
One of my neonate southern pacifics had been recently refusing to eat, for almost two months. He was getting so skinny to the point where I can see the flaps of his skin folding. EVERY technique I tried to get him feeding failed. Tease feeding, which worked with my red diamondback failed. Leaving it in the cage with the food item failed. At the end I ended up force feeding it in which I got him to eat two fuzzy mice. I hate force feeding so much because of the danger of getting bit, and of the danger of hurting the snake. My question is when should force feeding be used and what techniques can be used for force feeding? And by the way the rattlesnake I force fed never had problems eating before.
|
| |
|
RE: Feeding Problems
|
Reply
|
|
by puffadder7 on August 28, 2008
|
Mail this to a friend!
|
|
usually when you can see flaps of skin on the snake its to late, but you managed to save him, anyway cro gave me some tips and i bet they work for you get a bowl of warm water with some sea salt mixed in but it has to be sea salt and soak the fuzzy in that and the snake should hold on, i dont know how much water to salt ratio so someone sould tell you, arin
|
| |
|
RE: Feeding Problems
|
Reply
|
|
by Cro on August 28, 2008
|
Mail this to a friend!
|
Check out this thread from a while back:
http://www.venomousreptiles.org/forums/Experts/36763
It has several tips that might help you out.
Hope this helps.
Best Regards John Z
|
| |
|
RE: Feeding Problems
|
Reply
|
|
by FSB on August 28, 2008
|
Mail this to a friend!
|
Jahon, so many things could be causing this (as is usually the case) and as any vet will tell you, long-distance diagnosis (whether by phone or computer) is next to impossible. However, a few questions: are the neonates housed separately or together? You say it WAS eating before and stopped? What did it eat and how much? Is it still drinking water? Is it dehydrated? Describe the caging/setup. What is the temperature, humidity, etc.? What kind of substrate are you using? Are the other neonates eating ok?
You should definitely move the snake into isolation just in case it has an infectuous condition that could spread to your other snakes. And be very, very careful about force-feeding, especially if you haven't been working with venomous snakes very long. I always regard force-feeding as a last resort, after all other possible variables have been considered and eliminated.
|
| |
|
RE: Feeding Problems
|
Reply
|
|
by FSB on August 28, 2008
|
Mail this to a friend!
|
|
PS - John Z's salt solution method is more for starting stubborn newborns or feeding generally healthy, but simply refusive, finicky snakes, which tend to grab their food and then drop it. It sounds like your snake is in an unhealthy state, and probably needs more.
|
| |
|
RE: Feeding Problems
|
Reply
|
|
by Jahon on August 29, 2008
|
Mail this to a friend!
|
|
I have two neonate southern pacifics in the same cage. I'm using aspen as bedding as I use it for all my snakes. The temperature of the cage is usually at 80-90 degrees and about 75 at night. The thing is this snake was a good, not excellent, feeder before. He would take about one fuzzy a week, not more. For the past few months however it had just been completely refusing to eat no matter what technique I've tried, and I'm usually good at getting refusing snakes to eat. This snake seems perfectly healthy, it's alert, active, sometimes a little nervous. I just don't know why it does not want to eat.
|
| |
|
RE: Feeding Problems
|
Reply
|
|
by Jahon on August 29, 2008
|
Mail this to a friend!
|
|
Oh and I forgot to mention both of my neonates are drinking fine. I actually observed them both drinking plenty of water very recently and I do keep a small water bowl, apple juice cap =), in their cage.
|
| |
|
RE: Feeding Problems
|
Reply
|
|
by Cro on August 29, 2008
|
Mail this to a friend!
|
Jahon, I think you are keeping the snakes too hot.
80 to 90 all during the day is just too much.
Think about a snake in the wild, that is in contact with the ground. Do not think about air temperatures. Think about ground temperatures. Take a thermometer and take a reading of the ground temperature where a snake would be hiding during the day, say in the shade of a tree or rock.
Try keeping the snake at 75 degrees both day and night, and provide a larger water bowl, and put the snakes in seperate cages.
Then construct a "mouse nest" out of straw, crushed leaves, etc, and put it in the far side of the cage, and put a couple of fuzzy pinks in the nest. Then fill the rest of the cage three or four inches deep with small leaves, dry grass, etc. Then leave the snake alone for several days, until it eats the pinks or the pinks die. Do not use new born pinks, use fuzzies.
The idea behind this is that the snake will explore his new cage, and find and eat the mice. It often works for problem feeders. By seperating the snakes, you get rid of the chance that one snake is being intimidated by the other one. By lowering the temperature, you reduce how quickly the snake is dehydrating. By using a larger water bowl, you are increasing the humidity in the cage.
If the snake does not eat the fuzzies, repeat it again. Also, try to find some native lizards to put into the cage. Many juvenile snakes feed on lizards in the early part of their lives.
Good Luck.
Best Regards John Z
|
| |
|
RE: Feeding Problems
|
Reply
|
|
by 23bms on August 29, 2008
|
Mail this to a friend!
|
I've kept a couple of southern pacifics, collected as a neonates, for a number of years. I never got them to take fuzzies. They would only take hoppers that were fully furred out. I've noticed this to be a common thread across many, unrelated, species. The size difference isn't a big deal. The fur seems to make a difference.
Also, don't try to feed every week. In the wild, they are lucky to get a couple of mice during their first year. They do quite well in spite of that. Unless you're looking for a Guinness record, they don't need to be fed at that rate.
I keep mine between 65 and 80. They never go off feed, even during the depths of winter.
jrb
btw. This species can be really nasty. As juveniles, mine were rather retiring. As adults, they pound the plexiglass anytime they see anything moving out there. I thought they would grow out of it. They didn't!
|
| |
|
Email Subscription
You are not subscribed to this topic.
Subscribe!
My Subscriptions
Subscriptions Help
Check our help page for help using
, or send questions, comments, or suggestions to the
Manager.
|
