Real stubborn feeder :-(

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greendragon	Real stubborn feeder :-(	Lead	[-]
Posts: 15 (01/14/07 04:36:27) Reply Quote More My Recent Posts Message Me Connection Blocking Invite Ignore User's Posts Report Post	Tags : None Hello again im just after some advice regarding a stubborn feeder, aka my chondro. Il get some details in first. Shes 2 years old so has always been regularly taking defrost mice for the last guy who had her. Ive had her just over two weeks in which time shes fed for me once, 11 days ago. To get her to take that mouse was a real battle. She will not strike at anything (including mouse scented fingers) and just burries her head and tries to do a runner when you go in with food. It took me over an hour and a half to get her to eat that night! Im on a 10 day feeding schedule so i tried again last night with the same result. Just curled up tighter and burried her head in the middle!! only this time she would not eat at all no matter how much i persisted. What is wrong with this snake? Chondros should be aggresive strike feeders should they not? My temperatures and humidity are fine all the time, im just desperate to get this girl feeding properly. My first chondro experience is turning into a nightmare! please help.
MegF42	Re: Real stubborn feeder :-(	#1	[-]
Posts: 939 (01/14/07 05:10:42) Reply Quote More My Recent Posts Message Me Connection Blocking Invite Ignore User's Posts Report Post	First off, I wouldn't panic. A healthy, 2 year old snake can easily go a long time without eating and not suffer for it. As long as she was in decent weight when you got her, she will be fine. 2nd. If she was eating regularly (I assume you got feed/shed records with her) before, she will do so again. It sounds like she's a bit stressed from being in a new place and needs some time to get used to things. How was she housed before and what do you have her in now? If she was in a rubbermaid tub and you now have her in a clear plexiglass cube or something, the wide open sides may be too much for her. You may need to move her to something more like what she was in for a while until she settles in. Relax!!! Unless she's acting like she's sick, I would not panic. 4.5~Cornsnakes 1.2.2~Green Tree Pythons 0.0.1~ATB Assorted: Horses, dogs, and cats www.Franclycac.com
greendragon	Re: Real stubborn feeder :-(	#2	[-]
Posts: 15 (01/14/07 05:32:50) Reply Quote More My Recent Posts Message Me Connection Blocking Invite Ignore User's Posts Report Post	Thanks meg. ive tried to duplicate her last home as much as possible. Newspaper substrate, fairly heavy plant cover etc. The vivs pretty much the same size she came from before just with a bit more height. She is also in a room thats undisturbed apart fom me changing substrate and water regularly. Its mostly the lack of aggresion thats worrying me the most. Shes as placid at night as she is during the day! How can i get a good feeding response if shes unwilling to strike at anything?
GTPfan	Re: Real stubborn feeder :-(	#3	[-]
Posts: 124 (01/14/07 05:35:20) Reply Quote More My Recent Posts Message Me Connection Blocking Invite Ignore User's Posts Report Post	I would second everything Meg said and especially to not panic. Two weeks is a very short period for some animals to get settled in, and a healthy 2yo can go a pretty long time (a few months) between meals without ill effect. A little over a year ago, I purchased 2 females out of a collection that were 8yo and 3yo. Neither fed right away, and even when the started eating it was a slow process. The 8yo has only voraciously struck at a meal time, but she usually just takes the meal from tongs slowly, without striking. The 3yo started striking the chondro way after about 2-3 months. I interpreted their slowness to feed as an indicator of not being settled in, and when they eventually did settle in (on their own time btw) the ate without issue. Have you tried leaving the meal in the cage draped over a branch/perch overnight? Sometimes this works for shy feeders. Now, with that being said, I am assuming there are no health issues. A snake that was once feeding fine for me and then goes off feed for mor than 2 or 3 meals is the first indication there might be a health problem. Is this your first chondro? What else have you noticed about its behavior, especially at night time? It might be difficult to tell if a new animal is ill or just not settled in. I would give it another few weeks of feeding trials, and definitely not handle her in the mean time. These animals are sensitive to environment change, and need time to adapt to them. Hope this helps. Ben
greendragon	Re: Real stubborn feeder :-(	#4	[-]
Posts: 15 (01/14/07 05:53:07) Reply Quote More My Recent Posts Message Me Connection Blocking Invite Ignore User's Posts Report Post	Thanks again Ben. Yes this is my first chondro. Im not worried about her health, deffinately no parasites and she is active at night. Its as though she simply doesnt recognise its food im trying to offer her. I guess its just going to be a case of waiting it out. I do try to keep handling to the absolute minimum only when i need to. I was expecting an aggresive monster which just isnt the case with this girl. Shes a sorong type by the way.
chondroland	Re: Real stubborn feeder :-(	#5	[-]
Posts: 393 (01/14/07 08:43:29) Reply Quote More My Recent Posts Message Me Connection Blocking Invite Ignore User's Posts Report Post	Hi: *Quote:* "Ive had her just over two weeks in which time shes fed for me once, 11 days ago." A couple of suggestions: Some chondros will settle in and accept food the first night in their new home, others will take longer. It might be that two weeks is not enough time for your chondro to have acclimated itself. Because it ate once doesn't necessarily mean it has fully acclimated. *Quote:* "Shes 2 years old so has always been regularly taking defrost mice for the last guy who had her." Have you solicited advice from your chondro's previous owner as to how he/she fed the snake? Maybe there is a trick or two that was used for this chondro. When it comes to feeding not all chondros are going to feed so eagerly (ask any chondro owner!). Are you duplicating the chondro's conditions that it had while in the care of its previous owner. A two-year old chondro might be used to certain 'living' conditions. Two weeks in new surroundings might not be enough time for it to acclimate to its new surroundings. Is your chondro opaque? It's not always easy to tell when a chondro is going opaque (at least not with the ones I have). Some of mine have shed when I had no idea they were opaque! Some chondros don't feed while they are opaque. Maybe yours is one of them right now. If it might help put your mind at ease, I acquired two females (both adults) not that long ago, that, it turned out, would not eat for me for their first five months and six months in my care, respectively. I tried everything. They ate when they were good and ready. Now they eat regularly, given a chondro's behavior for going off-feed now and then. If your chondro is healthy, and you are providing acceptable conditions for keeping a chondro in captivity I would think your chondro will eat for you soon enough. Good luck, Stu
greendragon	Re: Real stubborn feeder :-(	#6	[-]
Posts: 15 (01/14/07 10:14:50) Reply Quote More My Recent Posts Message Me Connection Blocking Invite Ignore User's Posts Report Post	Thanks for the advice Stu. Yes i did get feeding advice from the previous keeper which was that she'd strike from the tongs. As for shedding im very aware they are hard to tell when in the blue but she shed literally two days before i picked her up. My mind is at ease now thanks its just learning that these are so different from other snake species im keepin i suppose. Thanks for eveyone advice Ad
cleve360	Re: Real stubborn feeder :-(	#7	[-]
Posts: 51 (01/14/07 12:28:54) Reply Quote More My Recent Posts Message Me Connection Blocking Invite Ignore User's Posts Report Post	Not much to add after all the solid advice above, but here's a mistake I've made that it'd be good to avoid: I wasn't patient enough with the situation and was too agressive with the tease feeding and scared them off feeding for a bit. In one case I had a 6 month old wamena type that had been feeding fine for a few months, aggressively striking off tongs with a presentation only - no teasing/touching/bumping necessary. One night he didn't want to eat, I tried teasing, he was shy, I kept teasing, and he ran. Same thing 4 days later, but then a few days after that he shed, and I thought OK, now he'll be back to normal - but no. He ran again, and I think it was because I had "trained" him to be afraid of pinks. Eventually he got back to feeding but now he doesn't strike - he nuzzles and goes away and comes back and nuzzles again (I keep the pink motionless, or he'll get afraid and stop), and finally when he's sure there won't be any movement, he'll eat. You'd think I'd learn, but the same thing happened with another US-CBB I bought several months later, but the issue was acclimation (like your guy) not a shed. She didn't eat for 5 weeks, and if I hadn't bugged her so much, I bet it would have been faster. Anyway the moral of the story is patience. A nervous keeper means a nervous snake, and can backfire.
Nothereitwont	stubborn feeder	#8	[-]
Posts: 20 (01/14/07 19:52:12) Reply Quote More My Recent Posts Message Me Connection Blocking Invite Ignore User's Posts Report Post	After all the advice from everyone else I'm not sure if I will be of any help ,BUT, I had difficulty with one of mine when I first got her and scented the pinkies with tree frogs , just a quik swipe and Bang, did it two more times ,she's been a great feeder since good luck.
RCulver	Why Not Eating	#9	[-]
Posts: 1187 (01/16/07 15:33:40) Registered User Reply Quote More My Recent Posts Message Me Connection Blocking Invite Ignore User's Posts Report Post	Here are a few other items to take into consideration, however, not actually seeing your chondro (for one) and not knowing the full background on your snake and whether or not it is 100% cbb make these just considerations. A two year old "probed" for sex confirmation chondro that is female usually does have a pretty darn good feeding response. True, a new environment can deter this. But a two year old "male" on the other hand will stress out new keepers with their behavior. They will on occasion take a food offering when pestered and then 10-days later show no interest at all (and hide their heads). They will also roam their enclosures as if they were "looking" for food, but they really are not interested in feeding. Mouth infections will also curb appetites as will intestinal bugs and RIs. I'd get some background on the animal from the breeder and keep us informed. Rich Culver

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Real stubborn feeder :-(

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