Hi all. I recently purchased some slow feeding spotted hatchies from a breeder. They Hatched in December 07 and have only had 7 or 8 feeds each. I received feeding only records for two of them. They are as follows. #2 (all feeds pinky mice) 22/12, 22/1, 4/2, 20/2, 21/4, 20/5, 7/6, 7/7. #3 25/1, 24/2, 10/3, 21/4, 20/6, 29/6, 28/7. I received them on 2/8 and offered a feed (thawed frozen pinkie mice) on 4/8 with no response. The temperatures are maintained at 32 degrees 24/7. I would like to hear from anyone who has some experience to share with slow feeding spotteds and who may have some advice I could take onboard for next time I offer a feed. Thank inadvance.
Slow feeding spotteds. Thoughts?
- Thread starter Ewan
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colt08
Well-Known Member
same as my jungle i left them for week without holding them nothing just changed water tried again week later and ate but sometimes u just need to wait till htere hungry if know what i mean starve them for a cauple weeks then try
Thanks Colt08. I have no doubt they will feed eventually when they are hungry enough, however, I am trying to get some idea if they will boost feeding themselves or not or if there is anything I can do to help them.
euphorion
Very Well-Known Member
what have you tried in order to get them to feed?
as in, do you brain the pinks, are they fresh or from frozen, how are you defrosting them, are you scenting them, where are you feeding/offering them, do you leave them in the enclosures in front of their hides overnight, have you varied the time of day you are feeding at, where in your house/room are their enclosures located, how big are their enclosures, what are their temperaments like? etc etc there are so many variables here!! more info is needed before we can recommend anything
as in, do you brain the pinks, are they fresh or from frozen, how are you defrosting them, are you scenting them, where are you feeding/offering them, do you leave them in the enclosures in front of their hides overnight, have you varied the time of day you are feeding at, where in your house/room are their enclosures located, how big are their enclosures, what are their temperaments like? etc etc there are so many variables here!! more info is needed before we can recommend anything
Hi shooshoo thank you for your response. As my initial post explained I have only had them for a few days. I realise that it is early days yet and I don't expect them to feed for me right away. One of them fed tonight two others are spending the night with a pinky. They are located in my herp room. They are all relaxed and they took well to me bathing them and removing the retained sheds. I have so far offered thawed frozen, scented with day old chicks and live pinkies. What do you think shooshoo? Have you had slow feeding spotteds? And have they remained slow or have they increased feeding to a consistant level?
euphorion
Very Well-Known Member
would only resort to feeding live pinks as a LAST RESORT as it is illegal to feed live animals in aus. just a thought, but really is one of those things, either your snake starves or it doesn't
hi ewen, sorry didn't get that you'd only had them only for a few days, post just said 'recently purchased'
my assumption sorry.
yes i have had slow feeding spotteds (or DO have if thats the way you want to think of it) i have 3 Macs and my most recently aquired one, a little Blonde, was purchased in Feb this year at roughly 4 months of age, so roughly 10 months old now, and was purchased knowingly as a reluctant feeder, i tried braining, fresh, scented, and leaving in front of hides overnight, sometimes it worked, sometimes it didn't. but after only 1 month of offering food he got the idea and now while not as ravenous an eater as my 8 month old Mac (and is still smaller) he eats at least 2 pinks each feed. i found the braining worked best, but more often than not it was the strong rodent scent that put him off, so washed them thoroughly before using a chick feather and braining them. he only occasionally 'smashes' his food, usually just nudging his way slowly along until he opens his mouth and i just push it in for him. having said that his personailty is what could best be described as 'glorified worm' almost to the extent of being brain damaged (hes just so friendly and placid) not a strike in him.
so in answer, yes i have had to deal with slow feeding hatchie Macs, yes they have overcome their issues to consistently feed everytime for the past 5 months now, not as much as other hatchies but slow and steady is the way.
just to push my personal opinion here, go for live if you must, its worth a shot to see if it helps, but you might be in for a fight to get them to take to frozen/fresh culled food after developing a taste for live.
good luck and hope that helps a bit! oh also the fact that you've only had them for a few days, now that you've sorted out the shed issue they might relax a bit and settle. leave them with no contact for 5 days or so then offer food, maybe wait a bit longer so they're hungry and hopefully the change in evironment might stimulate something. good luck!
hi ewen, sorry didn't get that you'd only had them only for a few days, post just said 'recently purchased'
my assumption sorry. yes i have had slow feeding spotteds (or DO have if thats the way you want to think of it) i have 3 Macs and my most recently aquired one, a little Blonde, was purchased in Feb this year at roughly 4 months of age, so roughly 10 months old now, and was purchased knowingly as a reluctant feeder, i tried braining, fresh, scented, and leaving in front of hides overnight, sometimes it worked, sometimes it didn't. but after only 1 month of offering food he got the idea and now while not as ravenous an eater as my 8 month old Mac (and is still smaller) he eats at least 2 pinks each feed. i found the braining worked best, but more often than not it was the strong rodent scent that put him off, so washed them thoroughly before using a chick feather and braining them. he only occasionally 'smashes' his food, usually just nudging his way slowly along until he opens his mouth and i just push it in for him. having said that his personailty is what could best be described as 'glorified worm' almost to the extent of being brain damaged (hes just so friendly and placid) not a strike in him.
so in answer, yes i have had to deal with slow feeding hatchie Macs, yes they have overcome their issues to consistently feed everytime for the past 5 months now, not as much as other hatchies but slow and steady is the way.
just to push my personal opinion here, go for live if you must, its worth a shot to see if it helps, but you might be in for a fight to get them to take to frozen/fresh culled food after developing a taste for live.
good luck and hope that helps a bit! oh also the fact that you've only had them for a few days, now that you've sorted out the shed issue they might relax a bit and settle. leave them with no contact for 5 days or so then offer food, maybe wait a bit longer so they're hungry and hopefully the change in evironment might stimulate something. good luck!
Yes mate I tried live last night and had success with 2 of them.
Hi Kaidro. I don't feel that naming the breeder on a public forum is really relevant to the topic. If you really want to know feel free to PM me.
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would only resort to feeding live pinks as a LAST RESORT as it is illegal to feed live animals in aus. just a thought, but really is one of those things, either your snake starves or it doesn't
hi ewen, sorry didn't get that you'd only had them only for a few days, post just said 'recently purchased'
yes i have had slow feeding spotteds (or DO have if thats the way you want to think of it) i have 3 Macs and my most recently aquired one, a little Blonde, was purchased in Feb this year at roughly 4 months of age, so roughly 10 months old now, and was purchased knowingly as a reluctant feeder, i tried braining, fresh, scented, and leaving in front of hides overnight, sometimes it worked, sometimes it didn't. but after only 1 month of offering food he got the idea and now while not as ravenous an eater as my 8 month old Mac (and is still smaller) he eats at least 2 pinks each feed. i found the braining worked best, but more often than not it was the strong rodent scent that put him off, so washed them thoroughly before using a chick feather and braining them. he only occasionally 'smashes' his food, usually just nudging his way slowly along until he opens his mouth and i just push it in for him. having said that his personailty is what could best be described as 'glorified worm' almost to the extent of being brain damaged (hes just so friendly and placid) not a strike in him.
so in answer, yes i have had to deal with slow feeding hatchie Macs, yes they have overcome their issues to consistently feed everytime for the past 5 months now, not as much as other hatchies but slow and steady is the way.
just to push my personal opinion here, go for live if you must, its worth a shot to see if it helps, but you might be in for a fight to get them to take to frozen/fresh culled food after developing a taste for live.
good luck and hope that helps a bit! oh also the fact that you've only had them for a few days, now that you've sorted out the shed issue they might relax a bit and settle. leave them with no contact for 5 days or so then offer food, maybe wait a bit longer so they're hungry and hopefully the change in evironment might stimulate something. good luck!
Thank you shooshoo that is exactly the type of experience I was hoping to hear. Thanks for sharing. I have tried live. Mostly because I was concered that one of them had not had a feed for a month. I don't expect the one that was fed last on 28/7 to be hungry but he is taking a live pinky as we speak. The other (the smallest and coincidentally the one I have no feeding records for) did not show any interest what so ever and I have no idea when it fed last.
euphorion
Very Well-Known Member
as another suggestion, to try with the little one that hasnt eaten yet...
get a fresh pink, culled, washed, not brained, and dont offer it to the snake just leave it in front of the hide. he might be getting spooked by your offering in the first place which makes him reluctant to feed afterwards. might help
get a fresh pink, culled, washed, not brained, and dont offer it to the snake just leave it in front of the hide. he might be getting spooked by your offering in the first place which makes him reluctant to feed afterwards. might help
Bugsy
Well-Known Member
I would suggest, as shooshoo has said, try just leaving it in front of its hide...If that doest work, wait until a night when the snake comes out to "hunt" or explore its sorroundings, then offer the food while its out...A bredli i got recently wasnt interested at all in food during the day, so i tried at night, and boom, took it like it was starving to death.
Ewan - Retained sheds indicate that previous husbandry may have been sub-optimal...
I would give them a week and try again with thawed pinkies. The fact that they do actually eat makes me reluctant to suggest even considering live food. I don't think it is necessary.
I would also bump their enclosures to closer to 35*c while they are still eating slowly.
I would give them a week and try again with thawed pinkies. The fact that they do actually eat makes me reluctant to suggest even considering live food. I don't think it is necessary.
I would also bump their enclosures to closer to 35*c while they are still eating slowly.
Thanks Bugsy. I have only offered at night so far. The first night I left a pink in each tub in front of their hides over night with no response. Then last night I left a live pinky in. One of them ate it right away. The others were still there this morning when I first checked. Then I checked back before leaving home this morning and one was wrapped around a pinky. I checked back later when I came home and it wasn't eaten just killed. I removed it disposed it. The other pinky I removed and culled.
Hi Aslan. I have no doubt that the husbandry was sub standard previously. And yes after trying twice so far I will leave them a week before I will offer again. I don't handle them (I did to remove the shed) and I only disturb them to change water. So do you think that I should just percist and continue to offer thawed frozen pinkie mice? Or is there something else I can do to entise them to feed more often?
Thanks Aslan I have bumped up to 34*c.
Ewan - My person thoughts are that these snakes may be slow feeders due solely to the conditions in which they have been kept. I think it would be jumping the gun to try further methods at this stage - for all you know these snakes might be ravenous feeders if kept correctly.
The fact that they have fed on thawed pinkies in the past indicates to me that they have no issues recognising it as a food source, merely don't find conditions acceptable to feed.
The fact that they have fed on thawed pinkies in the past indicates to me that they have no issues recognising it as a food source, merely don't find conditions acceptable to feed.
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