Kingsnake keepers-- a little help please???

[anji1971]

Lori, sorry I'm I little slow, but congrats on the beautiful new babies!! I read this thread last night, but my little brain was just way too tired to reply to anything at the time!! And it seems like in that short period of time you've already had a few adventures with them!! Best wishes for the feeding problem, unfortunately I don't have any advice for you, as I'm a total dunce when it comes to these kinds of snakes! But if anyone can do it, it's you, Lori!!

[sschind]

First off, I can see a very light tinge of orange in the picture of the snake hiding so it is possible it is a low grade apricot. Sometimes I think that's what our minds are attracted to. Something different. If all he had on the table were nicely colored apricots maybe you picked this one out because it was different. I'm just curious, was it priced the same as the others?

As far as feeding I personally will never sell a snake, for a pet, that has not eaten. My standard practice for babies is to feed them once a week until they have fed 4 consecutive times, and then they are ready to go. If they feed 3 times and then skip one I start over. If that snake eats another 3 times and skips I will sell it because at that point I feel, that with 6 meals out of 8 is established. I start out offering frozen If they don't eat frozen after two or three tries I will try live. I have had snakes eat three times then just stop and never eat again. As for those that never feed. After about 6 to 8 weeks I will try to force feed it. Mouse tails for tiny babies, small pinkies for bigger ones. If they won't go for that, the small babies get fed to the non feeding kingsnakes (which always got them started) some of them were sold a food for other snakes (so I guess yes I do technically sell non feeding snakes but not as intentional pets)

Most of the people who buy these cheap non feeders are those least qualified. No offense to you Lori but you were not prepared to take on the snake. "Not prepared" in the sense that you did not plan on buying a non feeder so you could not possibly have been prepared. Not "not prepared" as in not capable. He did give you information but they make it sound so easy, "oh just try this that should work" if it were that easy they would have tried it, and if it would have worked the snake would not be a non feeder and would not be discounted. Most non feeders I see for sale are pretty much beyond hope. That is because the seller has tried everything they can think of to get it to eat including hoping that it will start to eat just before it starves to death. Nothing has worked and they want to at least get a few bucks to pay for the wasted pinkies.

My personal opinion is that it simply isn't worth it. Even if you stress that it is not feeding, my experience with people is that most of them will hold it against you anyway if the snake dies or at the very least these people tell other people that you sold them a non feeder and they don't always tell them the entire story, now I have people thinking I am selling non feeding snakes. I know this because people bring me snakes all the time that aren't feeding and all they ever say is "I bought it from some guy at the swap" They never tell me if it was bought as a non feeder and many times it is very obvious that the snake hasn't eaten.

I must make a distinction between non feeders and problem feeders. Sometimes snakes will just be problem feeders. They will only eat once out of three tries, or they will only eat live, or they will only eat little white bulldog puppies (oops, sorry, I remembered that from a tall tales book about the hodag) sometimes they will only eat a certain prey item. These snakes can be fed it just takes a bit of perseverance. Some of you may recall the free flame garter I was including in a lot several months ago. It would not eat on its own but once you got a rosie started it would finish it. More like assist feeding rather than force feeding. I pointed this out and I feel that this was acceptable.

Sorry for the long post. In short, I guess if the guy is totally up front about it and you want to take the chance it is up to you. Personally I wouldn't want to take the chance as a seller to have anyone for any reason think I was selling non feeding snakes.

[drache]

Originally Posted by MoJo

I have never heard of braining a live piny - I think most people would find that cruel too. Has he already tried live? If not I still think that would be the first thing I would try. If she is roaming that much I would think she is hungry and looking for food!

Jo

kings don't only roam when they're hungry
true, most of them just like laying around
I do have a cal king though who's a roamer at times and an escape artist (perhaps the two go together)
he does seem to enjoy the stimulation of coming out of his enclosure and hanging out with humans
he's well-fed and if I fed him every time he roams, he might just eat, but he'd end up obese (one solution to the houdini issue)

also
I don't think it's all that difficult to make a king believe the mouse is alive when it isn't - all it takes is dexterity with tweezers and some acting talent
for that a f/t is fine

and
I'm glad you found the snake
whew!

[garterking]

Originally Posted by Lori P

No confusion... Brant was VERY open about the fact that she was not feeding. And he gave me a lot of tips to try, it's just that... well, he told me to "brain" a live pinky and try that for a while. Guys, I can't do it!!!!!!! If that's what it takes to get her feeding, I will HAVE to find someone else to do it... I don't want the snake to die, but omg, the thought of stabbing a baby mouse in the brain makes me sick and teary. He said you don't kill the baby, you stick it and let it squirm... I just can't, what if that causes horrid pain to that baby?????

Lori, Try braining a f/t pinky first if you haven't already. That might get you past that situation, or a live pink. I had a 50/50 Cali king that would only eat live pinks at first. I did eventually switch to f/t, but it took some time and patience. In my opinion, you're at a stage that with a baby going this long, you might have to force. I hate the thought of it as it stresses the snake out (and me too) but after his first meal, hopefully it would just come natural after. Good luck, and keep us posted.

[brandon0133]

i had to force feed my little baby corn,,she/he was not eating at all,,,i had to use a thumb nail and open her mouth and pushed the little pinkie in,,,had to get it half way or more down her throat and then she ate it,,,

[Lori P]

THE KING SNAKE ATE A MOUSE TAIL!!!! LOL I have been trying to mostly just let her alone but three times I had cut open pinky heads and offered them.. and she acts she doesn't even recognize food. I jiggled one around the other night and she actually struck at it once but then ran... and nothing else convinced her to even look at it.

She has gotten to the point where she is just constantly in motion, all over her tank, exploring non-stop and I can reach in and hold my hand in there without her running for a hide. So tonight I thought... well... let me just try to put a mouse tail in her mouth and see what happens.

So Jamie held her and I opened her mouth a wee bit and slipped in the tip of the tail, which she promptly spit out. So we waited a bit, just held her and let her crawl around, and then tried again. This time I pushed it in a wee bit further... and then she started to pull it in herself!!!!! We put her back in her tank and she swallowed the whole thing!!!!!!! This is the first thing she's ever eaten in her whole life-- what a concept!!!!!

SO... I'm not sure if what we did could really be called force feeding... it was kind of more like, assistance feeding-- ?? But did we teach her to eat or just teach her that things put in her mouth can be swallowed??

And really-- how much nutrtion can a mouse tail have, anyway??

I was so excited I forgot to take pics till the end-- they aren't the greatest but can you see her getting it down???





I am SOOOO excited for her!!!!!!! :-)

[LushLulu85]

awww lori well done i think next time it will be a bit easier but will continuing to get easier as time goes on lol

[anji1971]

Congrats!! I knew you could do it Lori!
GO l'il kingsnake, GO!!!!!!

[Bay_area]

Kings will eat anything...some take longer than others. Here is another idea, came upon this when I was out looking for snakes one night


Let me know how many rattlers you want me to send you...ROTFL

[drache]

are they just hanging out together?
or is the king in the process of constricting the rattler?
that's an amazing picture