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[africancichlidau]

hey guys, try this ive posted it before on this site get your self a cooked prawn and crush it up and paint it on your mouse or rat and offer it to your snakes that only eat lizards it works for me every time .

Bugga that, if I got a prawn I'm eating it myself, the snake can starve

 

[OuZo]

I tried chicken noodle soup Nick but no go . Steak I haven't tried though! And I'm with you Phil, it will be tough to let a prawn go lol

 

[serpenttongue]

Not the noodle soup Zo, CAMBELLS chicken soup!

What about sticking a bit of chicken down onto a pinky?

 

[OuZo]

lol ok well I don't think it was Cambells so I'll have to try that too! Croutons or no croutons?

We have some chicken feathers from Nymph's freshly plucked meal tonight so maybe I'll stick a few on the pinky and see how that goes. We got the blood test results too...will have to pm ya

 

[africancichlidau]

My God Zoe!! Don't you know anything??? If you stick feathers to a pinky the darned thing will fly away!!!!

 

[OuZo]

:lol: dickhead :lol:

 

[BROWNS]

Dunno if you've tried before but i think it's something Brian Barnett came up with clalled an indian,stick a small chook or quail feather etc in pinkies mouth and see how you go...also after he does finally take one just as he's up to take the last part ofd the mouse gently push another in following the other up to help get some food in him and he should start feeding for you regularly soon enough.Have you tried or is it getting close to neding force feeding you can also back them up that way or ol dugas trick with the rat tails by openin the mouth slightly with cotton bud or credit card etc and put in so hair is facin ackwards he has no choice really butto swallow and then move it up from there after a few times..good luck and the prawns do work but apparently must be nice and fresh surely you can spare 1 zoeye :wink:

 

[OuZo]

Browneye we tried the mouse tail about a year back when we first got him and he ate it (had no choice) but didn't want anything else afterwards. We also force fed him last Thursday just the one pinky mouse cos both he and I were traumatised by it I think! Although, we fed everyone last night and I have good news all round . The little stinker decided to take a pinky by himself!!! Every now and then he takes one but he'll never strike at it. Ya gotta put it in there, cover his cage up and leave him with it. Sometimes it's gone in the morning, most of the time it's still there. Is it best to try him on another one tonight or leave him a few days?

I'll try but I just don't know if I have the willpower to sacrifice a prawn by mushing it up and painting it on a mouse :lol:

 

[beknluke]

That's GREAT news Zo!! Lets hope that he continues picking up ey??

 

[africancichlidau]

I'll try but I just don't know if I have the willpower to sacrifice a prawn by mushing it up and painting it on a mouse

Well if he doesn't eat it you can still eat the mouse yourself as it will taste like the prawn

 

[1dragonett]

Hi guys. My coastal was the same..... didn't want to eat. it got to the point that I was gonna have to have him professionally force fed, they suggested trying live (which I'm against - but not going there) but leave the live food in a container for a day or two - nice and stinky, then pop in the cage. Well, after 4 weeks "Lunch" ( sub adult mouse) had his own food bowl, water, etc. (My lovely brave coastal vanished as soon as Lunch came around, but at the end they were sleping together in the hide cave.) anyway, one morning, Lunch is gone. Next feeding time, defrosted food goes in the old container for a few minutes, and shaken, then offered to my coastal. First time in nearly a year, he actually strikes and then eats!!!! it's been 4 weeks now, and he has eaten every week!!! Fingers crossed it continues......... might work for you..............

 

[serpenttongue]

lol ok well I don't think it was Cambells so I'll have to try that too! Croutons or no croutons?

We have some chicken feathers from Nymph's freshly plucked meal tonight so maybe I'll stick a few on the pinky and see how that goes. We got the blood test results too...will have to pm ya

That's CAMBELLS "cream of chicken" soup. But the majority of young pythons will usually take rat pups over pinkies. If you dont have rat pups then velvet or fuzzy mice should work better than pinkies.

Oh, and no croutons

 

[pugsly]

LOL Dragonett, my coastal has done that a couple of times, the mouse just cuddles up next to him when he isnt interested, silly girl..

 

[SLACkra]

hope your lil fella dose a bit better zoe. i am so happy that my lil guy would eat anything if it smelled like a rat. maybe its time to buy yourself a bluey. it can become a weekly thing just sitting there with a container trying to collect its wee

snakes can be silly things, not eating a certain live mouse but eating a different one. i heard a story of a fish doing the same thing, there was 1 feeder goldfish it just wouldn't eat untill one day it accidentilly ate it and was all depressed etc.

 

[OuZo]

But the majority of young pythons will usually take rat pups over pinkies. If you dont have rat pups then velvet or fuzzy mice should work better than pinkies.

He's really odd Nick lol. He was eating skink scented pinkies for a while but when we put him up to fuzzies he started holding on to it til we'd gone to bed and then eat it overnight. Then he just started refusing again. It's like he's not as confident with anything bigger maybe? He's been offered pinky rats too a few times but has never been interested. He doesn't seem to really have any sort of "pattern" if that makes sense...you know how some snakes like eating when they're in their hide or hanging from a branch or only if it's scorching hot etc etc. He just seems to eat when he feels like it :lol:.

Dragonett lol he does the same thing....I hate feeding live but have tried twice and both times he's either avoided it or curled up to sleep with it :lol:. Like so:

We do actually have some good news though . We force fed him 2 weeks ago from tomorrow (Thursday) and since then he's taken 3 pinky mice by himself!!! . I have NO idea why, it must have been the force feeding cos nothing else has changed. I thawed one out last night and put it in with him, then we cover his click clack with a big piece of black wood to make it nice and dark and it's gone in the morning! I still have this sneaking suspicion that there's some corner of the cage where he's gone and hidden them so that we can't see em cos it just doesn't seem real that he's eating lol.

I want to give him something bigger cos I know pinkies don't have as much nutrition in them as older mice/rats do but I'm paranoid that by changing what he's getting used to he'll stop eating again. Like with the skinks, we tried to wean him off them and up the size and ended up stopping him eating again. We really probably shouldn't have worried about weaning him off until he'd become more established and gained some weight maybe. Advice? Should I keep him on pinkies til he's gained weight (he's so thin if he hadn't started eating a bit I'd think he was going to die pretty soon ) or should I try to up the size which if he'll take should put the weight on quicker?

 

[beknluke]

WOW!! He's EATING!!
Congrats hun!
I can't really help you with 'experienced advice', but I would probably leave him on pinkies for a bit, up to twice, even three times a week if he'll take them (he has some catching up to do!!) and then scent EVERYTHING w/ pinkies?? Sounds plausible to me
Good luck!
Bex

 

[OuZo]

Thanx chooky

I might try feeding every 2 or 3 days atm which I wouldn't normally do, but I think he needs some power feeding :lol:

I dunno how the scenting with pinkies thing will go though...just cos I think it's more of a size issue? I could be wrong though!

 

[peterescue]

Well friend just smeared tuna on a rat for her self starving water python.
Took her hand with no trouble what so ever.
Wear disposable gloves when scenting.
Oh, it ate the rat.

 

[olivehydra]

If he is not taking anything bigger, a last option may be to inject the pinkies with some mutton bird oil. Snakes that I have given mutton bird oil to put on condition pretty quick. You could always sew a few pinkies together and fashion a nice pinkie sausage.

 

[OuZo]

Lol a pinky sausage :lol:

I had thought about mutton bird oil....things like that worry me though lol. But I guess he's not in any danger of getting fat just yet