Are Minnows OK to Feed?

[aSnakeLovinBabe]

wayne you say that... but me, the MASTER of getting snakes to eat... has never been able to get a dekay's snake to eat!!!! ever!!! its crazy!

[Zephyr]

Dekay's a real sweethearts Shannon. Once they get to know you they'll eat anything from your fingers. ;P

[GartersRock]

Wayne's a real sweetheart... lol!! JK

[infernalis]

Awe Thank you I try

[infernalis]

Wayne you say that... but me, the MASTER of getting snakes to eat... has never been able to get a dekay's snake to eat!!!! ever!!! its crazy!

I am at a loss Shannon. I hand feed mine just fine??? My girl Xena will sit in one hand and eat from the other.

This spring I was out back watering the motocross track when I accidentally hit a dekay point blank with a fire hose, I shut it off, ran over and picked this poor guy up, still dazed and confused from his ordeal, I felt it best to bring him in and watch over it for a while.

That night he plucked 4 small slugs right off the end of a stick for me.

I named him "freedom" and after a week of making sure he was OK, I let him go back out in the land of milk and honey.

What I do is take a medical q-tip the kind with a long wooden stick, and cut off the cotton end at a 45 degree angle, then roll the slug onto it, the sticky secretions from the slug will cause it to cling to the stick.

Then I take the slug and gently wave it right in front of the face, and they pluck the slug off every time.

I'll photo the process, and post em for all to see.

[aSnakeLovinBabe]

MAYBE I am picking up really bad tasting slugs?

should I start tasting them before I feed?

[Garter_Gertie]

Dekay is a sweethart. No discussion.

[count dewclaw]

LeAnn,
Could you please explain what you mean by "scenting" the Talipia?
Thanks!

You take something - worm or minnow - that the snake will eat and rub it on the tilapia so that it smells like what they are used to eating. Or if you are feeding live minnows you could put pieces of tilapia in with the minnows.

[infernalis]

MAYBE I am picking up really bad tasting slugs?

should I start tasting them before I feed?

EWE, When I gather up a ton, the smell alone is sickening.

Then last winter, breeding and raising slugs in the basement for food, what a trip that was! every time I opened up the chest they were in, I'd have to hold my breath while I harvested them.

Shanon, try this with that little one that belongs to the boy, place some grass, real honest to goodness grass, yank it up out in the yard. all over the bottom of the enclosure, mist it and then dump in some slugs.

Go away and leave it alone, check the next day, they should be gone.

[Zephyr]

Or, as I found out and my mother dearest regrets, cut a hunk of sod out of the lawn and put it in a container for your dekay's to live in. XD