Live skink feeding

[wichita]

http://www.snugglesafe.co.uk/heatpad.htm

these are a great 'plate' incase ur snake doesnt take its mouse straight away,....

..they are available over here,..but a bit hard to find,...

Thanks Chris1 - not quite sure how you mean me to use it. Can you explain for this newbie?

 

[wichita]

I have been getting troublesome childrenii and macs for years. They can be a real problem. If it likes skinks then try this. Get yourself a day ols Jap quail (I can help you locate one in Western Sydney).

1. Defrost in in a small lot of water with the pinkie.
2. Macerate the quail and completely coat the pinkie in quail blood.
3. stick a small quail feather in its mouth and then offer.
4. Bingo you will have success.

Often you must get thr childrenii wound up. Rub it up and down the neck and push it against it's head until it grabs it. It may let go several times put be persistent. This is the last technique I use to get the most difficult hatcho's feeding.

If you've tried everything in the list in wiki, then try this. I've had success even with friends hatchies that have been force-fed for 10 months.

Hope this helps

Mate its amazing the depth of experience you guys have. I'm looking forward to trying the "wind him up" technique. Thanks.

 

[Chris1]

Thanks Chris1 - not quite sure how you mean me to use it. Can you explain for this newbie?

its just a disc that stays warm fro about 8 hours so if ur leaving the rat in the cage with ur snake overnight, put it on the disc and it will stay warm for him,....

 

[wichita]

its just a disc that stays warm fro about 8 hours so if ur leaving the rat in the cage with ur snake overnight, put it on the disc and it will stay warm for him,....

thanks

 

[Adam]

I have tried many different ways to get some hatchlings feeding, some start no provs. Some take a bit of work, some take alot of work. I personally have had no choice but to feed skinks to only a few hatchies, they simply won't take anything but a skink or AHG (asian house gecko). I don't like doing but I hate losing snakes too. Once they have had a few skinks, they seem to be more keen to start on pinky mice that have a skink tail in it's mouth. Any more questions please just ask.

 

[cans]

thanks guys i dont have a snake as yet but have just learnt a ship load of stuff
good one peeps
cheers

 

[moosenoose]

Thanks for the info all - this has been a great read.

 

[wichita]

I have tried many different ways to get some hatchlings feeding, some start no provs. Some take a bit of work, some take alot of work. I personally have had no choice but to feed skinks to only a few hatchies, they simply won't take anything but a skink or AHG (asian house gecko). I don't like doing but I hate losing snakes too. Once they have had a few skinks, they seem to be more keen to start on pinky mice that have a skink tail in it's mouth. Any more questions please just ask.

Did you have any problems with the snake not completely suffocating the skink? I've been advised that a skink swallowed still alive can seriously damage the internals of a young snake though this didn't happen with mine. My plan is to scent the next pinkie with skink and see if the snake takes the pinkie. If that doesn't work I think I might try a skink again but perhaps kill the skink first (by freezing it) and feed to the snake dead. What do you think? Thanks for your reply too.

 

[slim6y]

I'm not experienced in this, but having a load of AHG round my place I thought surely they would make a great feed for a fussy python. However, as pointed out earlier, I was aware of parasites and the 'non' dead wriggler gecko!

But, is there a way that you can safely eliminate parasites and maybe feed dead or freshly killed geckoes... I'm just throwing it in as a wild card, I myself am not interested in such practices as both my snakes are greedy guts that'll eat any mouse stuck in front of them!

 

[wichita]

Thanks for the wildcard. I need all the wildcards I can get, being very new at this. Cheers.

 

[kwaka_80]

I find that if i drop a pinky from a hight the snake quickly goes to see what it is then pick up the pinky and in dropping motions wave it a little in front of it... with my maccie he took almost 3 months of broken feeding to become a good eater, I also found too much "harrasment" can turn a snake off food even worse as they see the food item to be more of an annoyance than a prey item so maybe try 5 - 10mins every 3 - 7 days... I belive it to be every one of our days is a snakes hour

 

[wichita]

I find that if i drop a pinky from a hight the snake quickly goes to see what it is then pick up the pinky and in dropping motions wave it a little in front of it... with my maccie he took almost 3 months of broken feeding to become a good eater, I also found too much "harrasment" can turn a snake off food even worse as they see the food item to be more of an annoyance than a prey item so maybe try 5 - 10mins every 3 - 7 days... I belive it to be every one of our days is a snakes hour

I thought I'd posted this so sorry if it appears twice.

Interesting point you make about the "harrasment". Thanks for the tip about feeding. Makes me feel like getting more snakes so I can try out all the ways suggested. Cheers.

 

[Casey]

In regards to the legality issue I have been advised that anything higher up the food chain than insects needs to be humanely euthanased before offering it as food (just freezing the prey item isn't classed as humane). I think it is classed as an animal cruelty issue.

I'm not saying that I exactly agree with this and I'm not casting judgment on those that do. I am a wildlife carer and personally I believe that if an animal hunts living prey (ie snakes, monitors, birds of prey etc) it should be given living prey while in a captive situation, BUT I wouldn't like to risk losing my license to rehab wildlife, so I have to euthanase

 

[RevDaniel]

I strongly recomend against using Kinks for getting a snake feeding as once it has the taste for skinks it is very hard to get them eating anything else.

 

[wichita]

In regards to the legality issue I have been advised that anything higher up the food chain than insects needs to be humanely euthanased before offering it as food (just freezing the prey item isn't classed as humane). I think it is classed as an animal cruelty issue.

I'm not saying that I exactly agree with this and I'm not casting judgment on those that do. I am a wildlife carer and personally I believe that if an animal hunts living prey (ie snakes, monitors, birds of prey etc) it should be given living prey while in a captive situation, BUT I wouldn't like to risk losing my license to rehab wildlife, so I have to euthanase

Thanks Casey. Having developed a liking for snakes, I'd feel a little odd watching someone feed a live snake to another animal. It doesn't take much to see it from the lizards point of view. It isn't a fair fight in the container.

I'm only going to use a live skink to scent a pinkie next feed then release the skink. But just out of interest, what is the correct way to euthanase a skink?

 

[wichita]

I strongly recomend against using Kinks for getting a snake feeding as once it has the taste for skinks it is very hard to get them eating anything else.

Thanks RevDaniel. I'm starting to think my solution may have been worse than my problem.

 

[hazzard]

Trust me,

Scent using jap quail blood instead of skinks!

 

[wichita]

Trust me,

Scent using jap quail blood instead of skinks!

Hazzard - I do trust you. My only issue would be getting a hold of some jap quail blood. Can you advise on where I could? Is it something I can buy or buy the quail then euthanase it? (I'm in south suburban Sydney.)

 

[Adam]

In the last 3 days I have gotten my 2 troublesome coastals to eat fuzzy mice. I have had them for over 2 months and they simply refused all offered food, including scented pinkies live and defrosted. So a week ago I gave them an AHG, then a couple of days ago I gave them another one, both times leaving it in overnight. Both snakes ate the gecko by morning. Then yesterday I put in a fuzzy mouse each, the mice were only a couple of days of openeing their eyes. Same thing, left them in overnight. By morning they were both eaten!!! I have used this method on a Stimpson and 2 Diamond hatchlings in previous years the stimmy was soooo underweight when I gave her the skinks, but after a few skinks the instinct to feed becomes stronger and they take anything that moves!!! Both coastals were very calm and didn't strike at all, they always shyed away from food, now they strike at me (bummer that) all the time but they are nice and fat and have started eating. I will do this in future but only to hatchies that are losing weight and still not eating. Worked for me.

 

[wichita]

but after a few skinks the instinct to feed becomes stronger and they take anything that moves!!!

I think you hit the nail on the head about what I was hoping to achieve. Unfortunately being new at this, we treated our childreni more as a dog than a snake , handling him too much etc. Getting him to settle and start thinking about what's important - like food - was my priority. In a few days he's coming up for another feed attempt. It'll be interesting to see how he goes. Thanks for the post.