Natrix Tessellata not feeding

[Darlo]

I'll begin by saying I've kept lots of garters, liophis and nerodia in the past and have come across fussy and non-feeders before and have managed to get them going. However, my little dice snake is proving to be somewhat impossible to entice to feed.

It's a cb12 and it is around 7/8 inches. I've had it around 2/3 weeks and have tried to leave it alone as much as possible. I've tried feeding the way I feed the rest of my snakes, which is thawed smelt chopped on small dishes. I have left it alone, trying both daytime and night feeding. I've offered a small earthworm, but again no success. I've wiggled food on long tweezers to see if that works but again, nothing.

I would try and use some live fish ie. guppies or minnows but I believe the snake would be too small to tackle a whole live fish. I've pondered trying to scent fish or pinky parts by rubbing the parts on my tiger salamander (I'm sure he wouldn't mind!) to see if that might stimulate it to feed. The only other thing I can think of is to try another sort of fish such as trout fillet.

If anyone has any good ideas I would love to hear from you, as it is starting to look a little thin now.

Thanks in advance

[snake man]

First off welcome. Have you tried container feeding yet?

[Light of Dae]

Welcome.

Dice snake?

Take a read over this thread... http://www.thamnophis.com/forum/breeding/10804-update-young-san.html

This member used a short brumation to 'reset' the appetite in two little non-feeding scrubs and had a great outcome.

[Invisible Snake]

Ask the previous owner what the snake was eating and try offering the same thing. Good luck!

[Darlo]

Thanks to all who have posted. I'm going to give trout and then the container feeding a try and if that fails to work look at the short brumation. It looks a very interesting idea.

Thanks for the welcomes too. I've been lurking in the shadows for a while... :-)

[-MARWOLAETH-]

We forgot to mention that pictures are compulsory on this site:p (especially when they're Natrix)

[EasternGirl]

Hello and welcome! And yes...we like pics!

[RedSidedSPR]

Infernalis, Concinnus, Sirtalis, Marcianus (albino), Liophis Jaegeri, Liophis Poecilogyrus, Natrix Tessellata, Lampropeltis Mexicana Thayeri

Sweet.

[Thamnophis]

Why a short brumation? You can place it in a refrigerator to brumate now and keep it there for some months. That's what I should do.

The reason that it is not eating is most probably because the living circumstances in your place are not the same than with the former owner.
For example, he gets more light true a window and notices that the days are getting shorter. or your night temperatures are somewhat lower than before. Or you keep it on a 12 hour day/night rhythm and his previous owner at a 13/11 rhythm.
All are reasons why the snake instinctively gets in the "brumation-mode". And that is a good reason for not eating. Eating will kill him/her (in his instinctive mind).

If the snake is normally fed and healthy, I would place her in brumation for at least two to three months.