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Wild caught rattler wont eat
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by Harlan on May 23, 2001
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How can you encourage a wild caught rattler to eat. I have had a big one (5') for many weeks, wont take live or thawed frozen rats.
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RE: Wild caught rattler wont eat
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by Buzztail1 on May 23, 2001
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Harlan,
large wild caught diamondbacks often refuse to eat and may even starve themselves to death. Ditmars documented this phenomena many years ago. Good Luck with your problem feeder, Karl
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Tough eaters
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by Charper on May 24, 2001
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DISCLAIMER FIRST: Handle Venomous Snakes At Your Own Risk.
Today, you should hydrate the snake. Put it in a large CLEAN rubbermaid (or trashcan with locking lid) with about 3 inches of clean water, for about 8 or 10 hours.
Then, put the snake in a dark box with a water bowl for about a week or so. Don't let anyone go near it or make any sound around it if possible. After a week, quietly open the box and offer it a thawed prekilled rat that has just been warmed up. Use a long pair of tongs and try to stay out of the snakes line of sight. When it strikes the rat, immediatley drop it and close the lid. Go away for about 8 hours. If it hasn't eaten the rat, take it out.
If that's the case, you can try quail, gerbils, hamters, rabbits or a prey item from it's environment. If you use a natural item, you risk infecting it with parasites though.
Sometimes though, you just need to take them back to where you got them. It's really best to start with juveniles. Captive bred preferrably.
CH
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RE: Tough eaters
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by filthy on May 24, 2001
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Agree entirely with Chris. These older snakes just don't acclimate all that well, even when they do feed. They tend to be nervous, seldom really settling down. I, personally, would have left it where I found it (assuming that it wasn't found cooling it's heels on someone's front porch).
I might add that it's cage should be roomy and have a hide that the snake can use and feel secure in.
Wishing luck,
f
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RE: Tough eaters
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by Eric on May 24, 2001
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I agree with Tim and filthy. You can always freeze the food item that you get from it's natural enviornment first to kill parisites. The harder the freeze the better I would guess. All my wild caught prey are froze down to 0 degrees f. The best thing you could do is release it near where you found it and get a captive bred or at least something around 2' or smaller. Trust me if you want a big buzzer it won't take long to grow. Good luck and keep us posted....Eric
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