Difficult snakes

[Selkielass]

I think most of us have seen at least one/ that snake that is a stubborn feeder, troubled shedder, escape artist etc.

lets trade stories and solution ideas.

my current problem snake is a two year old male Puget I purchased as a rather dull grey looking scrub.
He's been skittish, and a problem eater from the beginning- he loves live guppies, but steadfastly refuses slices of salmon and Tilapia. He'll take worms, but only if he's starving. (I've tried the usual tricks.)

Net result: he's thin as a rail, has three parasite bumps that I don't dare address because of his poor condition, and he's colored up to an intense turquoise to sky blue that be gorgeous if only he was healthier!!!

im in a quandary- more live fish means more parasite problems, but this fella needs more than he's getting.

Feh.

What problem 'children' are you dealing with?

[Eddie]

I have a gross but effective solution for you. You take a F/T pinky and poke a hole in each end of it. Then take 2 live guppies and stuff them backwards into both ends of the pinky. The most important part and hardest part is to not kill the guppies as you do it. Then quickly place the pinky at the opening of the snakes hide. The scent and the movement will usually prompt the snake to start feeding on the guppy and continue on to the pinky. I have had success with this and I have also had the snake pull the guppy out and just leave the pinky. I also found that if I kill the guppy by accident the snake shows no interest at all for some reason.
If you get some weight on the snake PM me and I will tell you how to get rid of the parasitic bumps.
Good luck

[Selkielass]

I WISH he was big enough to eat pinkies!

Hes about as big around as a pencil, and maybe 12 inches long- way undersized .
i plan on continuing to give him worms and hope for an attitude change

[guidofatherof5]

What about pinky parts?

[d_virginiana]

I normally wouldn't recommend this because of thiaminase concerns, but if you have a local baitshop that sells silver-colored minnows (less likely to have thiaminase than rosie-reds at any rate) you could try feeding those until he puts on weight. They're way larger than guppies, but you could probably find them at an appropriate size for him.
Since he's only really taking live fish, it may help get him to a weight where you can afford to treat the parasites and spend time working on getting him on pinkies?

*Edit*: I just thought of this. Have you tried f/t silversides? I have one guy that absolutely will NOT take fish unless he can see the head. If one of the silversides is broken in two, he won't take the headless end. He definitely wouldn't take strips of fish.

[Selkielass]

I can get minnows easily, but will they be any lower a parasite load than guppies?
i have a local bait shop that gets their minnows right out if the lake out back- but that's lake St. claire, and it's not particularly pure.

Ive mixed live minnows with fish slivers, pinky parts and worm pieces, and this guy seems to go for only the moving bits and those only till he's just full- he spooks easily and doesn't seem interested in gorging.

I'm out of worms- I may get some minnows when I go to the bait store and take my chances.

[d_virginiana]

I can get minnows easily, but will they be any lower a parasite load than guppies?

Not necessarily... It would depend. It's hard to get a WORSE parasite load than guppies though, considering how crowded the conditions petstores breed/keep them in are.
I was just thinking you may be able to trick him into eating more with fish that are a size up but still small enough for him to eat, and maybe get him to a weight where it'd be safer to treat him for the parasite issues.

Before I knew better, I had one that ate nothing but baitshop minnows for almost ten years and is still doing fine. But since baitshops get their minnows from different suppliers and may be getting different species, that'd really just be your judgement call. I'd probably only do that as a last resort.

[guidofatherof5]

From the reports on the forum it appears the guppies contain more of the subcutaneous type and the minnows are more of the intestinal variety.
Just my opinion.

[Selkielass]

I went out and got a bag of little silver minnows- the smaller ones were just the right size, the larger ones might have been a bit much, but they were far better than any of the other available alternatives.

i put seven in a clear bowl, and when I checked back he'd eaten three and was corralling another.

his midsection is nice and round now, so I snuck away the bowl.
i hope he keeps them down.

i'll say this for the little gut- he's a really good fisherman. It didn't take him long to catch some very lively fish.

[guidofatherof5]

Eating is good.