Hatchling Mac still hasnt eaten.

[rumfreak]

yep thats weird

[cray]

Read this somewhere and it worked for me:

- catch a skink (small grass or garden type)
- make it drop its tail
- break off a small piece (thick end, about 3-4mm)
- thaw pinky in hot tap water, dry, check temp, just warm
- put skink tail in mouth of pinky (so just poking out)
- present to your hatchie head first and let him get a good smell of tail

tedius, but skink smell does seem to turn em on.


My girl spotted was the 'run away' type and I think too much bashing of them with a pinky can scare them off.

[Miss Morph-lette]

Give the little fella a break! He's just not hungry yet... But assist feeds are fun to watch... provided the pinky doesn't pop...

[V3NOM]

Originally Posted by stipe

its been 23 days since my hatchling mac last had a meal. His last meal was a day old pinkie mouse. Ever since then ive been trying to feed him but he just refuses. He is kept in a 30cm long by 15cm plastic tub with a head mat on one end. The gradient is 32 at hot, 28 middle and 25/26 at cool end. humidy is at avarage 40-50%. He hides during the day which is normal and is very active at night. Always going out exploring trying to escape. When i recieced my hatchling mac on the 12th of feb, the owner said it was due for a shed, but it still hasnt shed. I check it daily. It looks perfictly healthy. It goes exploring and is very reactive with sudern movments and calm when i move slow.

Ok ive tried
-day old pinkies, frozen and live
-Washed pinkie
-lizard scented pinkie
-cockatiel scented pinkie
-brained pinkie
-fish scented pinkie
-fish.
-chicken meat

Nothign worked, he didnt even go for them just turned his head and walked away. I sometimes left them overnight next to his hide hide box but its still there in the morning. I do it with tongs to that he cant scense my heat and only the foods but he still ignors it. It was born x-mas day and is rougly 32cm long and pencil width. Since it was born it ate the following meals. Lizard, lizard, lizar/pinkie, lizard scented pinkie, pinkie. So its last meal was a plain pinkie but it woutn even look at a pinkie.

Can anyone offer me advice? I woudl higly apreciate it.

id be more worried about the fact that he 'walked' away... are you sure its a snake??? jk lol

[Dabool]

Originally Posted by Tatelina

Why on earth would you wash it with detergent? They don't have that in the wild..??

they dont live in plastic tubs in the wild either.

[gaara]

very clever.

[Rennie]

stipe, if you offer your snake food too often it can make the snake go off its food even more, give it at least 5-7 days between attempts. First leave it for about 2 weeks before trying again, to let it settle down and get really hungry. I know you may not think you are stressing it out much using tongs to offer it food but for something so small (you are about 1 million times its size), to see you even moving around in the same room will be stressful for it.

Originally Posted by Dabool

Try and warm the pinky up to 40degrees tops and go with the washed pinky i use a bio degradable deturgent make sure no residue is left!

What is that supposed to achieve? (I'm curious, not just making fun)

[CodeRed]

For what its worth, washing it in detergent only works if you are going to apply another scent such as lizard etc. The detergent removes the orginal scent.

Its probably best used when switching a snake over from mice to rats. You wash the rat in detergent (ony a very very small amount), then rinse thoroughly, then rub a mouse all over it.

Its probably worked for some people but Ive never had any success with it, probably because the detergent smell is almost impossible to remove.

[Hix]

If it's any consolation, I have 10 Maccy hatchlings that hatched between the 3rd and 7th of December. Of the ten, four have never eaten and show no interest in eating and 3 of the six that have eaten have only ever had one feed (a couple of them back toward the end of December). They still appear fine, and I'm not too worried about them.

I'm just a little frustrated because I won't sell them until they are eating on their own. All those that have fed only did so when they were 'bashed around the head' with the pinkie.

So I certainly wouldn't be worried about a 23 day fast.



Hix

[Dabool]

What is that supposed to achieve? (I'm curious, not just making fun)[/quote]
three things that trigger a pythons feeding response are ,
1warmth- they all have heat receptors more pronounced in carpets than the liasis group but they all have them..
2 movement- snakes generally wont eat carrion in the wild.
3 scent -most hatchlings are programed to eat skinks hence the relativly strong smell of a mouse urine soaked pinky can be too much for a hatchling. as i said washing with deturgent helps remove any undesirable smells i have used this method for about five years it works ! make sure all residue of the deturgent is properly washed off before offering the pinky.

[stipe]

I always heat the food over a heat lamp till it is hot enought and shake the pinkie around the snake.

Also about washing, ive read about it being good. As Dabool mentioned it does remove urine and the smell of being in a freezer for a while. Also the scent that the animal is decaying.

Thanks for all your advice im getting everything in check. Im going to leave him for another week or two and try to feed him again.

[Rennie]

Thanks for the replies. Just never heard the detergent thing before, makes sense. Good luck stipe.

[Dabool]

hope he eats soon a weeks break should help too.