Advice please: Curious is not eating :-(

[Lori P]

Very interesting... geeez, the things they come up with to make us crazy!! Well, he was cruising the tank this morning looking for more, but I'm going to wait until tomorrow to offer a small pink and see what he does with that. I'm just glad he's eating!!! Reed's right, Curious is a huge pig, he always ate anything!!

I was thinking... there could have been two things going on. One, he was off feed for parasite reasons, and then when they tubed him, they could have hurt his mouth so even tho he wants to eat now, the larger items hurt. Maybe?

[drache]

that sounds very possible
tubing can cause bruising and abrasions

[Lori P]

Oh PHEW... Curious finally ate a pinky today!!! We went thru the grab and drop on this minnow (I didn't get anywhere to get him any guppies this week) -- he dragged it all the way to the top of the bark and then dropped it. But it was so obvious he wanted it... so I dangled the pinky, he grabbed it, fought it, dropped it, then I dangled it again and he grabbed it and finally got it down...



He thrashed it around a bit so it got dirty, but, he was finally keeping it in his mouth!



At this point I finally started to believe he was going to keep it down.



The bad thing is, his second parasite treatment (tubing) is Tuesday... wondring if I should postpone it for a week??

[adamanteus]

Lori, I would still suggest smaller food items. The minnow looks pretty big for a snake with a 'sore throat', even the pinky could be split lengthways to make swallowing easier. If you're worried about his meals being too small, you can always 'post' additional pieces as the first one is about to disappear into his throat.

[Lori P]

You know, I tried chopping him up a minnow mid week and he was still spitting it out. I split it length wise, so it was thin. And then today, he was searching so hard for food I thought, let me just try this... ok, now I feel like a really mean mom!! Well, at least he ate today... and he's looking for more now, so it must not have hurt his throat too much. I'll go slice a pink lengthwise and see if he takes it easier.

[adamanteus]

i have noticed this thing with many of my male garters. for some reason... they don't like to eat big things. I would say half of all my males will refuse a food item if their mouth has to stretch much to swallow it. Can't say the same for the females. They'd swallow anything!

That's interesting, Shannon. Obviously I've had many Garter Snakes that prefer smaller food items, but I never made the 'male' connection before. I'll pay closer attention from now on.

[Zephyr]

I have seen no connection here. My boys were loving the tilapia fillets I gave them yesterday, and I had cut them a little on the thick side.

[Lori P]

Oh good grief!!!! He just ate another whole one and left the sliced one!!! LOL Maybe his sore throat is gone now... well, at least my guilt for the night is gone!! :-)

[adamanteus]

Tonight is obviously a night for repeatedly proving me wrong! I'd best be very careful what I say from now on!

[Stefan-A]

Hey, I'm wrong all the time and you don't see me shutting the hell up.