Scenting

[kibakiba]

Angel was a baby, who never started eating so she died. I'm sure he'll be perfectly fine. Maybe you should just leave him alone for a while, you cant really force him to eat if he isnt hungry.

[JodiLeigh]

Angel was a baby, who never started eating so she died. I'm sure he'll be perfectly fine. Maybe you should just leave him alone for a while, you cant really force him to eat if he isnt hungry.

True. I will do my best to leave him to it.

I am very disappointed now, I thought I was doing so well

[EasternGirl]

Angel had failure to thrive problems, right Chantel? My snake Seeley recently went two months without eating for no reason...he went to the vet...he was not sick. Garters go off food sometimes. Don't get worried just yet. Are you trying to feed him whole pinkies? Have you tried chopping them into pieces for him? How are you feeding him...with tongs or on a dish? Some garters are very particular about how they eat. You may have to try different things. One of my snakes eats whole pinkies...but two of them are too small to eat whole pinkies and I have to chop them up. One of them takes them from hemostats...but the others are shy and will only eat on dishes, under hides...in fact, I have to cover Seeley's tank with a towel to get him to eat.

[JodiLeigh]

Angel had failure to thrive problems, right Chantel? My snake Seeley recently went two months without eating for no reason...he went to the vet...he was not sick. Garters go off food sometimes. Don't get worried just yet. Are you trying to feed him whole pinkies? Have you tried chopping them into pieces for him? How are you feeding him...with tongs or on a dish? Some garters are very particular about how they eat. You may have to try different things. One of my snakes eats whole pinkies...but two of them are too small to eat whole pinkies and I have to chop them up. One of them takes them from hemostats...but the others are shy and will only eat on dishes, under hides...in fact, I have to cover Seeley's tank with a towel to get him to eat.

Well I have tried in a separate box, in the enclosure, with tongues, just in the bottom of the box, I've covered the box, I put a hide in there, I have chopped then up small, I have poked the tongues threw the box and wiggled it so he can;t see me but there's movement, I have warmed them, cut them, squished them.

I haven't tried putting them in a dish under a hide, I suppose that is the next thing to try as well as covering the whole enclosure.

I don't get why he goes for it but doesn't eat it? He's bite it but then lets it go. Is that just him being threatened? But he never bites me not even when I go to pick him up out of the box.

[EasternGirl]

It may be because you are using tongues instead of tongs . Just giving you a hard time! But imagine a couple of tongues coming at you with food in between them...lol. I'm totally just playing around. Well, I can tell you that the hide trick works for my very skiddish ones. I put a paper towel down over the substrate...then put a little plastic lid with the food in it...then put a hide over the food and put the snake in the hide. I watch the snake carefully to make sure he doesn't drag the food under the paper towel into the substrate. I am honestly not sure why your snake is grabbing the food and then dropping it...but I have heard other people say that their snakes have done the same thing. The only thing that I can think is that the snake thinks it is something else and then realizes it is not what he thought it was when he tastes it...which leads me to believe your snake was used to eating something in particular....but maybe not pinkies. I am just guessing though.

[chris-uk]

Sorry for the Tabasco comment, I hoped it was obviously tong in cheek.
I'd try fish fillets chopped up with pinky, and chop the pinky as well. Some of our checkereds will feed on pinky guts first but ignore the head. If he's a shy eaters just put the food on a big enough dish that he's unlikely to drag it through substrate, and leave it for an hour or two. Make sure you count how many pieces you leave so you know if any are eaten.
Definitely think fish would be my next attempt if you have just tried pinkies so far. Easy to get hold of and something like trout seems to work well for many people.

[JodiLeigh]

It may be because you are using tongues instead of tongs . Just giving you a hard time! But imagine a couple of tongues coming at you with food in between them...lol. I'm totally just playing around.

HA HA yeah that would be scary! Totally oblivious to that misspelling there, didn't even realise they were spelt differently.

Well, I can tell you that the hide trick works for my very skiddish ones. I put a paper towel down over the substrate...then put a little plastic lid with the food in it...then put a hide over the food and put the snake in the hide. I watch the snake carefully to make sure he doesn't drag the food under the paper towel into the substrate.

I will try this next time. How long should I wait to try and feed him again? Also how long should I leave the food with him for before I should take it away? Because obviously it will go bad especially in a warm enclosure.

[JodiLeigh]

It may be because you are using tongues instead of tongs . Just giving you a hard time! But imagine a couple of tongues coming at you with food in between them...lol. I'm totally just playing around. Well, I can tell you that the hide trick works for my very skiddish ones. I put a paper towel down over the substrate...then put a little plastic lid with the food in it...then put a hide over the food and put the snake in the hide. I watch the snake carefully to make sure he doesn't drag the food under the paper towel into the substrate. I am honestly not sure why your snake is grabbing the food and then dropping it...but I have heard other people say that their snakes have done the same thing. The only thing that I can think is that the snake thinks it is something else and then realizes it is not what he thought it was when he tastes it...which leads me to believe your snake was used to eating something in particular....but maybe not pinkies. I am just guessing though.

Sorry for the Tabasco comment, I hoped it was obviously tong in cheek.
I'd try fish fillets chopped up with pinky, and chop the pinky as well. Some of our checkereds will feed on pinky guts first but ignore the head. If he's a shy eaters just put the food on a big enough dish that he's unlikely to drag it through substrate, and leave it for an hour or two. Make sure you count how many pieces you leave so you know if any are eaten.
Definitely think fish would be my next attempt if you have just tried pinkies so far. Easy to get hold of and something like trout seems to work well for many people.

No worries, I should have got that but I was too worried about Manny.

I am getting some fish anyway so as soon as I get some I will try him with that too.

[EasternGirl]

Well...if he hasn't eaten, there is no real time frame that you have to wait between tries...usually when my snakes are going off food...I offer it every day until they eat. You can leave it in there with him for an hour or two...and it should be fine. If it's pinkies...I'd say a couple of hours...if it's fish...maybe an hour. If it's worms, I watch closely and as soon as the worms start to get hard, I remove them...because a hard worm can cause an obstruction. I also usually put a little water on the worms to help keep them soft.

[JodiLeigh]

Well...if he hasn't eaten, there is no real time frame that you have to wait between tries...usually when my snakes are going off food...I offer it every day until they eat. You can leave it in there with him for an hour or two...and it should be fine. If it's pinkies...I'd say a couple of hours...if it's fish...maybe an hour. If it's worms, I watch closely and as soon as the worms start to get hard, I remove them...because a hard worm can cause an obstruction. I also usually put a little water on the worms to help keep them soft.

Ok thank you!

It's just so frustrating also because it's a waste of food, I just need to be patient.

THANK YOU guys, I can stop worrying so much now