Idea to get baby snake to eat?

[acovert]

So I still have the little baby I caught out back. He did shed for me last week, which was what I was hoping was keeping him from eating before, but he is still showing little to no interest in food and hasn't eaten anything for me.

I have tried small pieces cut from bait nightcrawlers, cut up baby nightcrawlers, frozen silversides, and frozen pinky parts. Over the last half a week I've been able to catch some earthworms from the backyard now that the rain has returned, but I haven't had luck with those either. I want to try slugs, but I haven't been able to to find any that are small enough.

Does anyone have some ideas for how I might coax him into eating? He is still rather nervous around me, though he has calmed down considerably. I have tried putting him in a feeding container with the food, alone in a room where it is quiet. Still no luck.

[guidofatherof5]

Cut up slugs will work fine.

[acovert]

I will see if I can find some slugs that I can cut up. Most are so large they're not even worth trying.

[Albert Clark]

Sometimes offering a non feeding snake too often will reinforce refusal. Especially in a wild caught snake that is used to foraging and hunting on his own. Stressed from being newly captured is probably a big part of it as well.

[acovert]

I've been offering food every two days or so and letting him be the rest of the time. When I do try to feed him I put him in a feeding container with places to hide and some of the grass from around where I found him, with a few worms that he could eat. I'm hoping he will get comfortable enough over time.

[acovert]

Little Creek ate! I left him alone in a feeding tank with some grass and worms and when I came back there was the tell-tale bulge that said he had eaten!

[guidofatherof5]

Little Creek ate! I left him alone in a feeding tank with some grass and worms and when I came back there was the tell-tale bulge that said he had eaten!

Awesome. Love this kind of updates.

[acovert]

Another question unrelated to the eating: Cuddles has never gone into brumation. He was captive-born and seems the same in winter as he does during the rest of the year, probably because he's never been outside in colder temperatures. Because this little one is wild-caught will he need to be brumated, or will he be fine the way Cuddles is?

[guidofatherof5]

My guess is the latest addition to your family may go off food for a short time but once its system realizes there will be no need to brumate it should be fine.

[acovert]

Alright. Thank you for the help.
After seeing all of the babies outside, I'm realizing that he is much smaller than most of the others, with the exception of the one with the bad tail that I found. I've seen some that look like him and are close to his size, but he's still smaller in comparison. I'm continually amazed by how small he is.

[Peterra]

Pictures coming? :) Kinda curious about just how small he is.

[acovert]

I can post a few from when I first found him. I actually found one even smaller, but it got away. He's grown a little since I first found him, but most of the other wild newborns were a little bigger than him. They also look a little different. More normal, with the grayish black and a yellow stripe. He seems to have more brown.

Another question, though: he is eating well now. I usually offer him food every other day to every two days or so, consisting of whatever I have found in the garden where he was caught (small worms and slugs). Should I limit his eating in any way, or just let him be the judge of how much he needs? I usually collect a few slugs and worms into a plastic container, feed him, then release and repeat (if I don't release the crawlers they just die in the container). I put him in with all of them so he has options, and some days he will eat quite a bit.

Here's the pictures of when I first caught him: 1482614827

[Peterra]

He looks so cute! I am also a fan of the buffet approach to feeding, but that is mostly because mine will not take food from me directly.

[guidofatherof5]

Be sure to remove any old sheds. They can be a death trap for smaller snakes.

[acovert]

He's only shed once so far, but I can tell he's bigger. I removed it; if it gets wet or anything it gets annoying to remove, and I see it as waste so I remove them all anyways. I took that picture before I even knew the shed was there haha. It was fresh. But that was a few weeks back.

[Peterra]

Congrats on getting him to thrive, I know it is a challenge with babies.

[acovert]

I wasn't sure I would be able to get him to eat at first, but he seems to be doing really well, so I'm happy. Hopefully he will eventually warm up to me, too.