# milksnake not eating HELP!



## steph09 (Nov 16, 2009)

i purchased a nelson milksnake about 5 weeks ago now and well he hasnt eaten a single thing. we have tried everything from popping the brains to heating it up but not a single thing has worked. we have left him in a small container overnight but he just wont have it. we have been back to the reptile store where we purchased him and they said not to worry but its odd and hes getting pretty skinny now. hes only 4 months old soo not right big. his environment is perfect because we purchased another milksnake a week ago and hes feeding fine. nelson will sniff the pinky and then just go away and hide. we even tried annoying him with the pinky to get him to strike, well he did but then just let go straight away and well i dont really enjoying stressing him out. just seing if anyones got any other tips because hes my first snake and dont want to see him die or resort to force feeding him????


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## skippy (Nov 16, 2009)

the best way i found for picky eating babies is: take your f/t pinkie and make sure it's good and warm, use a razor blade to cut open its head and smear the brains all over the pinkies body, deposit pinky and snake into a small paper bag, leave it alone for a couple hours-don't touch it, breathe on it, look at it... nothing. 

this has worked for me with picky nelsons, gray bandeds, AR mtn kings and sand boas that weren't feeding. if this doesn't work you may have to resort to a pinky pump


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## pitbulllady (Nov 16, 2009)

Part of the problem could very well be that the snake is "shutting down" for hibernation/brumation.  Many native North American Colubrid snakes will do so this time of year, regardless of the temps at which you keep them.  It's just "hard-wired" into their little brains.  I have several of my snakes which are now refusing food, and they do this each fall, even though they're indoors.  The best thing to do is to go ahead and cool them when they stop eating and let them do what is natural, unless you can be reasonably assured that it is a health issue.  The only other thing I can suggest is to try small feeder geckoes, IF you can get them, since Nelson's are one of those species which often tends to be picky and want to eat lizards when they are young, much like Gray-Bands are.  You do run a higher risk of the snake being infected with parasites that way, though, and of course, obtaining feeder lizards can be easier said than done.

pitbulllady


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## steph09 (Nov 16, 2009)

ive tried the brain popping thing and left him in a container overnight with the pinky but the clever little sod got out. tried it again with an elastic band around the tub but nope he has no interest what so ever. i thought about hibernation and his environment but my other milksnake is eating fine. the store where i got him said that they fed him on pinkys before and he has definatley eaten them. he such a fussy little thing


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## skippy (Nov 16, 2009)

i doubt that he actually ate if he's still losing weight. pet stores will say things that they have no info on just to get you to go away. i like the paper bag method because it keeps it nice and dark. 

you might want to look into getting a pinky pump, they're nasty but they work.


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## steph09 (Nov 16, 2009)

he had already ate because when we got him he was still digesting the pinky. ive tried him in a container and left in a room where nobody will go in overnight for numerous nights now. he has shed a couple weeks ago though but still it was three weeks ago when he shed.


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## skippy (Nov 16, 2009)

do you have a pic of him?


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## steph09 (Nov 16, 2009)

this is little nelson, its a bad picture but didnt want to disturb him.

http://i678.photobucket.com/albums/vv144/babisteph_2009/091116_215116.jpg


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## pitbulllady (Nov 16, 2009)

steph09 said:


> ive tried the brain popping thing and left him in a container overnight with the pinky but the clever little sod got out. tried it again with an elastic band around the tub but nope he has no interest what so ever. i thought about hibernation and his environment but my other milksnake is eating fine. the store where i got him said that they fed him on pinkys before and he has definatley eaten them. he such a fussy little thing



Not all snakes, even those kept the same way, will go into hibernation at the same time.  I've still got a couple of my Corns that are feeding, but the rest have stopped, even though they're in the same room at the same temperature and lighting.  Oddly enough, the younger the snake, the earlier they seem to become dormant. My baby Water Snakes have stopped eating, along with all my adult males, but the big girls are still chowing down.

You might want to find out how the store was keeping him, in what type of enclosure, etc., and try to replicate that.  If the snake actually does begin to look bad and is obviously losing weight, take him back to the store.  It's possible that the lump you saw that you assumed was a pinkie could have been some other food item, like a lizard, and they weren't being truthful, or they could have force-fed the snake and failed to tell you that.  It won't be the first case of a pet store misrepresenting an animal just to sell it, believe me.  Personally, though, I'm leaning towards the hibernation hypothesis.

pitbulllady


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## dirty munky (Nov 16, 2009)

Have you tried a live pink? Try a live pink in a brown paper bag overnight I have had luck with this method.


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## skippy (Nov 16, 2009)

it doesn't really look underweight to me, maybe give it a little more time...


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## steph09 (Nov 17, 2009)

we took little nelson back to the store and they said what i have him in at the minute is fine, they fed him in containers. they was going to take him back and try get him feeding but disagreed because i thought it would be better IF he ate it would be in his natural environment.
live pinkys are illegal here so definately not going to try that.
im trying to be patient with him but its 5 weeks and i got my other snake a week ago and hes fed perfectly. just a waiting game i guess


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## dirty munky (Nov 17, 2009)

Where do you live? live pinkies are illegal? I breed snakes and if  I could not feed live pinks to my stubborn feeders I would loose way too many juvies. Good luck !!


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## Mack&Cass (Nov 17, 2009)

steph09 said:


> live pinkys are illegal here so definately not going to try that.


Are you serious? Why on earth are live pinkies illegal? Like as feeders or just in general? That would be utterly insane to have something like _mice_ illegal. 
Honestly, you may have to resort to force feeding. It's crappy, but if you honestly believe it's because its being fussy rather than hibernating, then force feeding may be what it has to come down to. Good luck.

Cassandra


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## steph09 (Nov 17, 2009)

i live in the uk and its illegal to feed anything live to a snake or any other exotic pet. thats crap yehh i know!
 force feeding may only be the option


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## ErinKelley (Nov 17, 2009)

The snake in that picture does not need to be force fed yet lol.  Is there a reason why you cannot try cooling him/her off for a few months like was previously mentioned??  Just because your other milk is eating does not mean that this one would not benefit from that. 

Another thing, forgive me if any of this has already been mentioned.  I assume you're not keeping them together and if you are handling him on a regular basis stop until he starts to feed regularly.  

I would just keep up with the methods you've been trying.  I always had really good luck with live or thawed pinkies in delicups with the snake overnight.  He looks to be of a good weight/thickness in that pic


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## steph09 (Nov 17, 2009)

oh no definately not keeping them together their tanks are beside each other but definately not together they'd kill each other.
i dont handle my nelson anymore, not untill hes fed at least. the other snake gets handled every few days just to get him use to it.
he just wont eat been trying for a few weeks now and well still no luck


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## Teal (Nov 17, 2009)

*It's illegal to feed anything live to another animal? Dear lord... what is the world coming to!

I would try it anyways, honestly. WHO is really going to know? *


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## steph09 (Nov 17, 2009)

yeah i know its pretty ludacris but cant get hold of any live pinkys that dont ask questions about what its for.


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## skippy (Nov 17, 2009)

you could just get a few adult mice and you'll have pinkies pretty quick


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## UrbanJungles (Nov 17, 2009)

I heard someone just got caught smuggling close to 1000 pinkies in a suitcase into Heathrow airport.


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## Sunset (Nov 18, 2009)

try to get your hands on a druff hamster pinkie. It mite be to cold.  baby milk snakes are sometimes a hard snake to eat when there babies. has the babie shed maybe its just not ready to eat.


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## steph09 (Nov 18, 2009)

yepp nelson shed about 3 weeks ago nowf


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## Lucas339 (Nov 18, 2009)

i wouldn't worry just yet.  people have had snakes stop eating for over 14 months with no issues.  my hog just stopped eating.  i never cool her but she still stops around this time every year.  many, many, many snakes go off feed this time of year.  don't force fed it!  it is just off feed!!!  nothing to worry about yet!  if you start being able to see bones, then its time to worry.  my money is that the snake is just off feed.

YOU WILL MAKE THINGS WORSE IF YOU FORCE FEED AND INJURE THE SNAKE.


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## steph09 (Nov 18, 2009)

nelsons only about 4 months old sooo thats why im panicking a little bit. but if the little man doesnt feel like feeding then the patient game it is. i wouldnt like to force feed him, thats the LAST resort. give it couple more weeks.


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## Lucas339 (Nov 19, 2009)

colubrids are common for doing this.  like i said, my hog has done this all her life.  and i got her at about the same age.  don't panic.


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## It_Glows (Nov 19, 2009)

live food? all of it? even worms and crickets?


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## steph09 (Nov 19, 2009)

ahh im a bit more chilled out now. crickets and worms are inverts so not classed as an animal, plus my T's eat them so doubt it. just mean like live mice to snakes. anything in a captivity are not allowed to be fed live food.


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## pitbulllady (Nov 19, 2009)

steph09 said:


> i live in the uk and its illegal to feed anything live to a snake or any other exotic pet. thats crap yehh i know!
> force feeding may only be the option


Yes, folks, another fine example of what our good friends at PETA, the RSPCA, and the other Animal Rights cultists have accomplished.  Of course, the REAL aim isn't to protect the poor widdle mousies, but to prevent as many people as possible from keeping the animals that would eat the mousies.  While most snakes will eat pre-killed prey, there are some that don't, and anyone who has ever kept many of the _Lampropeltis_ species from the western US and the tropics will tell you that often these snakes, as babies, are picky eaters that require live food.   This is sort of like a "backdoor ban" in that it's intended to discourage as many people as possible from keeping or breeding reptiles, especially snakes, when an outright ban on them could not be accomplished...yet.  Just imagine going to jail for putting a few guppies in the water bowl of a Garter Snake. 

pitbulllady


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## Lucas339 (Nov 19, 2009)

steph09 said:


> crickets and worms are inverts so not classed as an animal


thats a laugh!  they don't classify inverts as animals!!  what are they? plants?  OMG people can be so stupid sometimes!!


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