Oh and move his water bowl away from the uth on the other side!
The UTH set at 85°. And the water bowl is on the other side of the tank
Oh and move his water bowl away from the uth on the other side!
How adorable! I've always wanted one of these.Well, I got another snake. I think I’m going to name him Harley. He is a western hognose.
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Congratulations on all of your new acquisitions! They are all beautiful!!! Little Harley is absolutely adorable. No experience with snakes here to offer any advice, sorry. Just wanted to stop by and say that I love your new snakes and lizard
When I’ve had problem eaters there are a few things that I try. First- leave the food with him overnight in a small tuberware container (with ventilation of course), and cover the container with some sort of cloth. So that it is dark and safe feeling. Second- this one is a little more gruesome- but what I do is take my tongs that I am using to hold the pinky, and squeeze the head (called “braining” I think). A small drop of fluid should come out the nose of the pinkie. Then try to feed the pinkie by putting it in front of the hognoses face. Sometimes I gently rub the pinky on the snakes mouth. This will sometimes almost open the snakes mouth with just the smallest amount of pressure being used pushing the pinkie into the mouth, and once the pinkie is in their mouth just a little bit- they will usually finish the job. If he still won’t eat, you can hold the snake just behind the head gently and force his mouth open with the pinkie. Same concept as before- usually once you get the pinkie in the mouth just a little bit, they will usually finish the job. This last option is usually referred to as assist feeding (I would bet that you could google that and watch videos of people doing it). I have never really pushed things to the limit on how long they can go at this size before dying without a meal, but I would prolly not try this until the snake looks like it’s lost a little weight. Some snakes I have had assist fed like it was no big deal, other freaked out and made it worse. You could also go the full blown force feeding route- another thing to google and watch videos on, but this is a last resort. You do need to give the snake a chance to figure it out.
You can also use a technique called chain feeding. Once you get him started eating the first pinkie, you hold another one right behind it, so that his mout never closes after the first pinkie, and he just keeps swollowing until both pinkies disappear into his belly. Say it is really hard to get him to eat, or he always skips meals, then takes a pinkie on his own every third try, or he won’t eat two pinkies in one sitting, chain feeding can be helpful to get more food into him.
Good luck- snakes are awesome. I know this is a tortoise forum, but I’ve got it all at home- birds, turtles, snakes, lizards, frogs, tarantulas, etc.
-Wade
Thanks, I must be turning into one of those crazy reptile people. When I got my tortoise people thought it was kind of strange. Now they know I’m crazy
For either of you posting above, a Western Hognose Snake might be a very good bet for a 40 gal. tank. They don't get as large as Corn or King Snakes and there are many very nice color morphs out there now. These snakes eat toads in the wild, so again, make sure to get one that has been feeding well on mice for a pretty good length of time.
Many of them are advertised on Fauna.com and Kingsnake.com fairly regularly.
Thank you for that info. I love reading your posts. Always learn something new
I have an empty 40 gallon breeder tank just begging to have something in it so I decided to get a snake. I'm thinking something along the lines of milk snake, king snake, or corn snake. One that would be able to live it's life in that 40 gallon tank. What does three work?
Also, where is a good place to get one. The Internet is getting way overwhelming, lots of sites but I never know if they're good. Any suggestions of a reputable place would be appreciated. Thanks!