NEWBIE - Stimson Feeding Question - PLEASE HELP

[louise77]

She just shed!! WHOO HOOOO. I am just SO RELIEVED! It was a very hard week or so - so bad I couldn't even come on here! I had even emailed the vet yesterday to see when she could come around and look at her.

Just before Xmas she was in hiding - wouldn't move from her cool area and a few times I was worried she was a goner! My husband called me over before to say that she had come out of hiding and I went to see her and went into a panic initially when I saw something was weird with her head - all it took was a split second to realise it was her shedding! it all came off nicely and it was something to watch - she is resting again now and I'm going to try and give her a feed tomorrow night - hopefully now she will take it!

How's your Bart & Julius going??

 

[animush]

My stimmy has never refused a feed, except if there is a shed coming in the next few days. I feed every wednesday right now and if he ever not hungry, I know he is about to shed, and he always does, then just try again to feed him the next wednesday. I am currently only feeding him on medium size mice as hes still a juvi but will move up to smaller rats soon i think.

Yours should feed next time, now that it has shed. How are you feeding, with tongs? or with your hands? I use tongs and hold by the tail, and just jingle it gently while the snake approaches. I make sure to defrost near the snake so he can catch the scent while defrosting, might build up his appetite. Usually the food is gone within a few seconds of being in reach. Also make sure u give it a little tug once he snaps it up, to simulate it trying to escape, so he will coil around it before devouring it.

Hope this might have been useful

 

[louise77]

Thanks animush I'm a little nervous as I have my hopes up now that she'll take something tomorrow night - she hasn't eaten since 23rd November (that was just before I got her). I use tongs and have put it right in front of her face - and she just turned away - been trying that (and other things) every week since I got her. Hoping now that the temps are good and that she's shed that she'll be good n hungry now...

 

[micksta9]

That's just SUPER MATE! Whoo hooo alright this great news as i know she will be keen for a feed. Leave her for 3 days and then offer a mouse that has been warmede after defrosting by putting unsder the heat lamp for a few minutes. My little Bart man is great but sadly Julius has struggled since his arrival. He had a cold not long after his arrival and then a bad shed, we thought he may not survive as he had sneezing and coughing fits for a night or two. He is making a slow recovery and hope he feeds agian soon and gets on the mend poor fella Any how nothing like a challenge and i'm sure yours will be over now she is post shed remember adult mouse warm when served and 3-4 days from date of shed! GOOD LUCK!

 

[louise77]

I'll hold off till Thursday / Friday night then!

But that's no good news at all about poor Julius I never knew they could get a cold and I'd be in a bundle of nerves with sneezing and coughing fits! But it's good to hear that he's on the mend - even if it is slowly - he couldn't be in better care and I hope to hear of him picking up real soon!

I'll keep you posted at the end of the week on how Nessie went....

 

[andrew_117]

Really good to hear about the shed Louise. Now I'm having the same problem. My childreni's had the blue tinge on her scales and is looking much duller than usual since at least the 17th and still hasn't shed. And her last feed was o the 12th of December, but she hasn't been interested and has refused food three times since then. Two of those times I even left the food dangling off one of the rocks in the enclosure for about 20 minutes in the dark and came back to find it still there. The food was still warm from defrosting in the sun and brained. It's getting to the point where it's been 6-7 weeks since her last shed (which was on the 20th of November according to the snake ranch). She seems relaxed and is happy to be handled and explore outside on the grass, should I be worried or just wait for this shed, which will be her first since she was bought and relocated to my house.

Thanks guys

---------- Post added 06-Jan-11 at 06:14 AM ----------

Speak of the devil, she just shed. I woke up at about 5am this morning to hear a lot of noise coming from her enclosure and caught her shedding. I was really lucky because I caught the last 20 minutes of it and got to watch it all and she shed from her midsection down. I took a little video, sorry for the bad quality, light in my room at 5 in the morning was hard to get right haha.

[video=youtube;v8H7m7HJPpI]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v8H7m7HJPpI[/video]

I even saw her drinking which was a pretty great sight. Overall, the best thing I could have woken up to at such an unholy hour. I'll try a feed in the next few days.

 

[louise77]

Andrew - that's the best! I was reading your first part and thinking to myself 'she is so going to shed soon' and was stoked to read the last bit! It's amazing to watch, isn't it!! I will have to put a few photo's up of Nessie shedding (in one it looks like she has a perm on top of her head where the skin is just coming off).

Going to try feeding my girl tonight - nervous, I have this awful feeling it's not going to happen.....

 

[louise77]

So here are some photo's from Nessie's shed....

Andrew - I loved your lil video and I love your set up too! They go wild trying to get that skin off - especially at the beginning, no wonder it woke you up!

 

[unicorns_dreams]

That's true Scotty and since I just tried giving her a feed and she was not interested at all - I'd be happy if she took anything! Tried offering an adult mouse and she didn't like it and then I thought I'd try a pinky rat - no luck Snake Ranch had given her just one adult mouse back in late July (she was feeding on the smaller mice before that) and then after that one adult mouse they put her straight on rats (mostly pinkies and fuzzies).

Just wait now until next week and see how she goes - I'm sure she is just like unicorns_dreams girl and just taking a while to settle in.

Lizzie wouldn't eat pinkies, when I offered her the pinkie she grabbed it and dropped it then got as far away from it as she could, I was out of fuzzies so I did what a friend who has snakes told me to do, I cut the head of the pinkie a little and put it in with her and she ate it, I'm glad she did. I don't handle a lot just 2 or 3 holds a week never near feed time, she is so placid, its awesome.

 

[louise77]

So far... not so good :-( Only slightly more interested. Left it in there with her & considering putting her in the click clack with it over night. Husband has agreed to do the beheading with the next feed if need be (he insists on acquiring a proper beheading cleaver first).... *sighs*

 

[louise77]

Well left it in there overnight & she slept right near it, but still didn't eat it

---------- Post added 09-Jan-11 at 03:40 AM ----------

GOOD NEWS! She finally had her first feed. Went to the pet shop to buy a new night bulb and the told the guy there my drama and he said to get her to start eating to try baby quail - so I bought some, thought I'd give it a go tonight and she went for it straight away! Not that it was going to be THAT easy....... she seemed confused after striking and didn't know what to do. She ended up leaving it (as you can imagine my heart sunk). I left her there with it and tried a few times to give it back to her (she was way more interested with it and followed it around, but just seemed unsure). I left it in there while I watched a movie - was about to go to bed and tried again - she went for it again and got confused AGAIN (this happened twice). Finally it all seemed to click with her (and I had to make sure she got the head straight away and rubbed it on her back to make sure she went for it for a final time) but she ate it

I'll try the mouse next week - but at least I know if all else fails - she loves quails LOL *sighs* THANKS to everyone for all the advice and support - I would've gone mad (near did). Just happy now my girl has a little something in her belly!

 

[andrew_117]

Wow, congratulations

How big are the quails? Did you get any pictures =)
I got one of Beatrix last night, she was really active at 3am (and so was I, I was playing the Sims haha) so she seemed really happy to come out and explore a little. I'll add a pic soon.

 

[louise77]

I was too petrified to move in case I put her off! LOL So for once I didn't have my camera at the ready - the first time she took it I thought my heart was going to jump out of my chest (of course I really didn't expect she'd go for it) apparently my reaction and the look on my face was priceless!

The quail was only a little chick (I think a day or two old) so it was small - just about the size of a pinkie rat. If she doesn't take the mouse next week I'll give her two quails or a quail and offer a pinkie rat.

Looking forward to seeing more of Beatrix!

 

[andrew_117]

Just fed Beatrix two fuzzies. It looks like she just wasn't interested because she simply didn't know they were there. I thawed the mice and wrapped them up well in some foil and put the in an oven that had recently been used for about 50 seconds to a minute just to simulate actual body heat and she didn't hesitate for a second. Struck them right away. Before they had only been thawed and in the sun for a little and had cooled quite a bit before they had been offered. Looks like she just needed a little help recognising them, and I'm really happy because this is the first time she's struck the food, the first time she just kind of lazily opened her mouth and ate it; and here I am thinking my girl is too chilled to attack haha.

 

[louise77]

Nice to see Beatrix out and playing SIMS And good to hear that she had herself a good meal too - it's pretty amazing when they strike - huh! I thought Nessie might have been the type to just be a lazy eater (she's just so laid back normally) and that's why I got the shock of my life when she struck the quail!