Dealing with Difficult Feeders

“Baby snakes” Dealing with difficult feeders By Stephen Boys So you’ve just bought your first snake, it’s a hatchling. You have offered it it’s first feed, (a live day old ‘pinky’ mouse as you were told to feed it) but it doesn’t eat it. You leave it a few days and then offer it another feed, but it still doesn’t appear interested. Now it’s ‘panic stations’, what do you do? Firstly, don’t panic! You need to sit down and take a look at a whole bunch of factors that may be affecting your snake’s appetite. In nature, most baby snakes eat small lizards initially and then progress onto larger prey items according to their size such as mice, rats and in some cases larger prey items such as possums. Some authors believe that this bias may be due to a couple of factors. One is that many lizard populations are synchronized with snake populations and therefore their availability as a food source. Secondly and probably more importantly is that these ‘hatchling’ snakes are also preyed upon by other animals such as rodents whose scent represents a threat to them that needs to be overcome before they will actually feed. When acquiring a snake you will usually need to transport it from one place to another, in some cases by mail/freight. This is unsettling for snakes and they need to acclimatize to their new home and environment which may take a couple of weeks. Make sure you are aware of how the previous owner kept and fed the snake so you can mirror these conditions as closely as possible. Incorrect environmental conditions are also a critical factor in inducing a healthy appetite. We need to look at these issues in more detail in the form of a check list to ensure that all areas are covered and you haven’t overlooked some simple factor that may be impacting on your snake’s appetite. Snakes are individuals like all animals and will respond to different feeding stimuli. Although one technique may work for one animal you may need to alter this slightly for the next one.

General Husbandry Is the housing appropriate? Small snakes require small housing. Housing size should be relevant to their size. For example most hatchlings do well in a well-ventilated Chinese style food container, which appears relatively small but offers the snake security and is easier to heat, clean observe and maintain. The container should ideally be coloured to ensure the baby snake is provided with a secure atmosphere, while the lid should be clear to enable you to easily observe the snake. Provide sufficient ventilation holes in its lid and sides to ensure adequate airflow. As the snake grows the cage size can be increased gradually promoting it to larger plastic or glass, fish tanks. A clean dry, absorbent and readily available bedding should be used such as paper towel or processed paper pellets. This type of material is easily changed as it is soiled and offers the snake a clean and dry substrate.

Difficult to Feed Baby Snakes Author: Stephen Boys Page 1 of 5 Where is the snake being housed? Snakes should be housed in a quiet and out of the way place without 24 hrs of glaring light. It is therefore not advisable to house your new snake near living or main traffic areas within in your house, although snakes do not have ears that can certainly detect vibrations, to much of which will be disruptive. Where possible your snake needs to be housed in an area that doesn’t experience too many extremes of temperature or drafts as this will tend to make them much more difficult to heat.

How is the snake being heated? All reptiles and amphibians require a thermal gradient! That is a heated area at one end of a cage that in turn provides a gradual decline of temperatures from one end of the cage to the other. Baby snakes need a choice of temperatures to do all those things us mammals take for granted! A critical tool in ensuring this is maintained is the use of a quality thermometer, without which you will not be able to measure this range. Initially you will find that a digital thermometer with flexible probe will be easier to monitor temperatures within a small cage.

What temperature is your snake being maintained at? A scale of about 20oc at one end of a cage up to 30oc at the other end of the cage should be ideal depending on the species being maintained. This is achieved by placing an appropriate wattage heat pad under about 1/3 of the cage or for larger numbers by maintaining the cage within a heated box such as a larger reptile cage. A light natural cycle should be maintained providing a day/night period. In larger cages this is achieved by using coloured globes for night heating.

Have you provided a hide for your snake? Snakes need to feel secure and therefore some form of hide is critical in achieving this. Some snakes will not feed without shelter. Old light globe boxes, plastic coffee cup lids turned upside down with a hole cut in their side etc can all be used for this purpose. These can easily be disposed of and replaced when soiled.

How and when do you offer feed to your snake? When offering your snake a feed it is best to practice the following until you ensure it is in a ‘feeding routine’.  Present the feed directly to the snake  Offer feeds at night and leave in the cage overnight  If necessary offer live feed initially until you can train it to eat culled food. Snakes will initially respond to the movement of a prey item. ( once your snake is eating regularly offer warmed/defrosted pinkies in replacement of live feed until taken)  Remove all cage furniture and (this ensures the snake will be confronted by the food item). Many snakes are ‘sit and wait predators’ and this process mimics that behaviour.  Alternatively food can be offered directly in front of the ‘hide’ only, offering the snake security.

Difficult to Feed Baby Snakes Author: Stephen Boys Page 2 of 5 Do you have your snake housed with other snakes? Snakes are essentially solitary animals. When housed in groups they can exhibit territoriality and dominance during feeding which may result in one snake getting all the feed or two snakes attempting to eat the same meal which may result in one accidentally smothering the other. For these reasons and ease of monitoring it is best to house snakes separately. This affords you the opportunity of monitoring each snake on its own individual dietary intake and behaviour.

Feed and sloughing records It is important to keep some basic form of record of feed offered / taken and shed skins (sloughing) during the care of your snake. If your snake is kept in the Chinese style container this can simply be a date and abbreviated record of feed taken and what was taken written in indelible ink on the plastic lid. A cage card or diary can also be kept to record this information.

How often are you handling your snake? Over handling of snakes can be stressful and can even put your snake off its food. If snake is not feeding reduce handling to a minimum and only handle it when absolutely necessary such as during cleaning of the cage etc. Don’t handle your snake directly after feeding as this may induce regurgitation in some instances. Do you have it housed with other snakes?

How often should I offer feed to my new snake? Feed can be offered to your snake every 2 - 4 days until a feeding routine is established. Once established, snakes can be fed once to twice weekly.

What are the important features of a snake meal? Size – although this appears to be common sense it is worth a mention. A snake will not attempt to hunt, catch and swallow a prey item if it is too big. Therefore select prey items that are of an appropriate size for a snake to do so. For most snakes a day old pinky mouse is suitable. This size meal is increased in size as the snake grows. Movement – is a feeding stimulus in itself. If you offer a pinky that isn’t active it generally won’t stimulate a feeding response. A snake will respond initially to the body heat given off by a mouse and its activity. So select a mouse that is reasonably active. Scent – is another important factor. As previously mentioned the ‘mouse scent’ is not always accepted. If this occurs we need to look at either removing it or camouflaging it as much as possible

Some tricks for enticing difficult feeders So you have checked all of the previously mentioned husbandry items and they all check out, so what else can I do to entice my new snake to feed? Well there are a handful of options that exist and these are as follows. In the majority of cases these should work!

Feeding Strategies 1. Offer live ‘pinkies’ – as previously mentioned ‘live’ day old pinky mice are the standard prey item. These can be offered in a cage emptied of all its

Difficult to Feed Baby Snakes Author: Stephen Boys Page 3 of 5 furniture or left directly in front of the snakes hide. Give this method a fair go of about 2 weeks. Remember your snake has fat reserves that can last it for literally weeks. 2. Remove scent – carefully wipe down your ‘pinky’ with a warm wet cloth and dry. And offer to your snake as previously described. 3. Scented food items – there is a product on the market called ‘lizard maker’ whereby you can re scent a snake with a designer liquid that just requires a few drops on the prey item. The benefit of using this material is that it easy to use and disease free. 4. Damage the pinky nose – by making a small incision in a culled pinky and smearing these fluids on the head. As unpleasant as it sounds it works on many occasions. 5. Alternate feed types – such as lizards should be an absolute last resort. It is illegal in most states to use ‘feed skinks’ despite them being a natural prey item of many animals such as snakes. The inherent problem with using wild lizards is that there is a high risk of transferring disease in the process. One method that reduces this risk is by freezing culled feed animals for several weeks before offering it thawed to your snake. The other problem with starting a snake on an alternative food source is that they are not always readily available and you will inevitably need to wean them off it and back onto something more readily accessible such as mice.

THE LAST RESORT - the following techniques are only to be used if a snake refuses to feed despite all previous attempts. The problem with such techniques is that they may induce stress in the process, which can kill snakes in some cases. It is therefore important that these techniques are used with great care.

6. Slap feeding – involves holding a culled pinky and gently slapping a snake on either side of the mouth to invoke a ‘strike response’. In many instances a snake will grab the prey item and swallow it. 7. Assist feeding – involves holding a culled pinky and gently working it into the snakes mouth about 1/3 of the way. Once the snake has a firm grip on the pinky it is then returned to its cage where hopefully it will swallow the item. This may need to be repeated once or twice until this occurs. 8. The ‘pinky’ pump – is basically a ‘syringe’ that is specially designed for delivering a liquid pinky meal to your snake. Pinkies are inserted into the syringe and as the plunger is depressed they are macerated in the process. Experienced persons should only perform this and care should be taken to ensure that the syringe end and liquid do not enter the lungs via the glottis, the small opening lying above the tongue. If you intend to use this technique you should acquire some first hand instruction from an experienced person.

Difficult to Feed Baby Snakes Author: Stephen Boys Page 4 of 5 Final Comments Feeding difficult baby snakes can be frustrating and requires patience and persistence. Look at your environment to ensure it is adequate. Ensure the snake is kept at the right temperature, has a hide, is kept clean and has a well-ventilated cage. Give each method a good few tries before you go on to the next. Sometimes a snake will take a feed and still have a break of a couple of weeks between feeds. Don’t despair, this can simply be individual preference and as long as its housing/environmental conditions have not changed, the snake appears healthy and it does take another feed, continue on with this cycle. Once you understand the feeding requirements of your snake and you get it into a routine you have learnt a little more about what makes these animals so fascinating and rewarding to keep as pets.

References and Further reading Published by Weigel.J. 1988 Care of Australian Reptiles in Captivity The Reptile Keepers Association. Mattison. C. 1991. A-Z of Snake–Keeping Merehurst Limited Atherton.B. 1998 Tricks of the Trade (encouraging Reptiles Magazine April 1998 edition stubborn Colubrid hatchlings to eat)

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