| T O P I C R E V I E W |
| sullysteve |
Posted - 04/04/2011 : 21:31:55
Hi Everyone.
Not posted in a while, i have just been very busy. Anyway, 3 months ago i took on 2 non feeder normal females which aparently hadnt fed for 4 months and where losing weight. I went down the all avenues with no luck (apart from force feeding). However, just when i thought it was going nowhere, i realised one thing. When royals are in the wild, they spend most of thier life hiding in unused rodent/animal burrows and every once in a while popping out at night for food. So i basically went back to thier roots and set up a scheming plan.....i placed a hide in each of their set ups, just tight enough for them to squeeze in. Left them 2 weeks or so while they settled. Once settled i warmed up 2 large rodents and nosed them around the hole of the hide like they where sniffing around. Within seconds BOOM! Since then, they have fed every time with no issues whatsoever using the same technique every time. Oh and i forgot to mention, the rodents i used where RATS, yes rats!
I know feeding in the viv is not a great thing but its far better than force feeding!
I hope this comes in useful for people with problem feeders!
Tally hoe!
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| 11 L A T E S T R E P L I E S (Newest First) |
| Strawb |
Posted - 05/04/2011 : 20:10:31
I feed Tia in a rub now because she had a mouth full of substrate when I fed her once, which I had to pick out with blunt tweezers. She was fine about it and didn't regurgitate or anything, but it did make me change her feeding method. She eats just as happily in a rub as in her viv.
I had trouble for the first time last week with Mixi my corn. Normally he eats with out problems, but because he hadn't eaten in a while, due to hormonal influences, he was extremely hungry and slobbered all over the mouse. This caused the substrate to stick to the afore mentioned rodent, with the resulting stress of my having to pull the substrate off as Mixi swallowed the mouse. With the second mouse I cleared some of the substrate away and fed him there with out problems.
Lotabob, I have to disagree with your opinions of king snakes. Karla the cali is a lovely fluffy little thing that has never bitten me and is quite affectionate for a snake. Her one downside is that she craps all over the floor. She's just done it now. |
| n/a |
Posted - 05/04/2011 : 15:11:13
Well, they really are all different ...
On the topic of 'viv-defensiveness' being aggravated by feeding in-viv (or rub or wherever the snake lives) ...
Recently I bought a year-old snow stripe corn with, as her breeder put it, 'a little bit of an attitude problem'. Viv-defensive? The day after she came home she was like a wild snake. Tail-rattling, striking out, whipping about angrily, all this accompanied by coming out of her hides and cover to glare at me. A fierce little madam! (and actually very adorable!) Since I didn't want to stress her any further, I fed her in her enclosure; the first time she tail rattled even while she had hold of the mouse.
She's now had three feeds (and it's coming out the other end okay) and a very nice shed, and, apart from a brief tail rattle while in blue, she's totally calm. Came out for armchair walkies and seemed to enjoy it and has been in every respect a perfect pet (though of course it's early days yet.) So I'll go on feeding this one in her enclosure for the time being; in her case it doesn't seem to cause her defensiveness.
In truth I do prefer feeding in a separate rub. You can observe the snake better; stray rodent germs from any blob of blood or rat-muck get taken up with the kitchen roll on which dinner is served. You can keep the viv looking pretty with aspen and silk leaves (I will never forget the time Shahi managed to get his lunch tangled up with a silk leaf ...) But some snakes dislike feeding in a rub, and their wishes have to be respected lol.
They are all different ... |
| sullysteve |
Posted - 05/04/2011 : 14:04:12
Hmmm, its good to hear different opinions. Nothing is a certainty in this game lol! |
| Lotabob |
Posted - 04/04/2011 : 23:25:22
Thats not a feed in the viv thing, thats a King thing! They'll have a nip of everything & anything.
Duke has never been aggressive in his viv, outside is another story but that had nothing to do with feeding or feeding response.
Feeding outside is primarily for our benefit, we like to feel involved in their feeding, I know I really enjoy feeding Spot and Sanke who eat out of the viv but I don't get the same feeling when feeding Duke, though the joy of him actually eating makes up for it. lol.
Substrate ingestion is a worry but not really a problem, and as for aggression, I don't believe it for a second, if you are careful enough to not associate your hand with food, or smell of food then its unlikely you'll get bitten in a feeding response and a snake that bites defensively is going to do it regardless of where you feed them. I use the same anti bacterial gel so I smell of that when handling but don't use it when feeding, I just wash my hands in fairy liquid, my handling hands smell different to my feeding hands |
| sullysteve |
Posted - 04/04/2011 : 23:06:45
Cheers BATS! |
| sullysteve |
Posted - 04/04/2011 : 22:55:41
quote:
Originally posted by hodgie
quote:
Originally posted by sullysteve
I know feeding in the viv is not a great thing
Sorry but i`ve got to totally disagree, there seems to be a belief on here with some members that you need a feeding tub. As you`ve now found out, keep it simple and things will generally work.
quote from "The complete ball python" by Kevin McCurley from NERD
"Since ball pythons are shy snakes by nature, its neither necessary nor recommended to remove them from their enclosures for feeding. Suddenly placing the snake in a new, unfamiliar environment is often enough to disturb the animal into not feeding, causing the animal undue stress".
So, there will probably be some members who say, i always feed mine in a seperate tub, well you probably have a good feeder at this moment in time.
I'd agree. Infact i feed some out and some in. Like you said to a point, good feeders will feed in a seperate tub which i think is better if you can, as they can get snappy after time if not. I have 3 balls which i feed outside their rack and do so absolutley fine. I do however, have 2 kings that will only feed in their viv for which i very often get tagged when i go in to pick them up or change the water.
Pro's and cons either way. Just have to treat each snake as an individual.
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| n/a |
Posted - 04/04/2011 : 22:54:41
As has been said before, they are all different. And (BATS's motto):-
If the snake won't do
What you want it to do
Then the thing to do
IS
What the snake wants to do!
Psychology! We just have to find out what they want. (Easier said than done sometimes.)
Congrats Steve, glad they're feeding. |
| MrsA82 |
Posted - 04/04/2011 : 22:41:31
I watched snakebyte tv and Brian said I little bit of substrate is not going to kill them
What's happens in the wild when they get a bit of dirt or twig ?..
I agree with feeding in the rub/viv I just pop a bit of kitchen roll down
When they strike pull them on it sometime they move of it but what can you do hey
Whatever works for you I say |
| hodgie |
Posted - 04/04/2011 : 22:32:03
quote:
Originally posted by sullysteve
I know feeding in the viv is not a great thing
Sorry but i`ve got to totally disagree, there seems to be a belief on here with some members that you need a feeding tub. As you`ve now found out, keep it simple and things will generally work.
quote from "The complete ball python" by Kevin McCurley from NERD
"Since ball pythons are shy snakes by nature, its neither necessary nor recommended to remove them from their enclosures for feeding. Suddenly placing the snake in a new, unfamiliar environment is often enough to disturb the animal into not feeding, causing the animal undue stress".
So, there will probably be some members who say, i always feed mine in a seperate tub, well you probably have a good feeder at this moment in time. |
| Dio |
Posted - 04/04/2011 : 21:57:46
That would explain Dio's fasination with the hamster logs then. |
| Wendigo |
Posted - 04/04/2011 : 21:37:29
That's a great idea. I've got a Female ball who hasn't fed the last two times, i only got her a couple of weeks ago, the bloke who i bought her off said she feeds well, but she has been quite ill (bad burns on her underside because they didn't have a statted mat or bulb guard) so i'm just hoping she'll start eating soon, and she is underweight =( |
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