Feeding Frustrations

[d_virginiana]

I got a call from my mother tonight telling me that Houdini hasn't been eating well for the past week or so. Not in that he isn't interested in the food, but he's acting scared of it again.
I guess this means his vision has totally gone, since before I think he could at least see vague outlines of things. I did notice a couple of weeks ago that his eyes are pretty much opaque; checked his shed, eyecaps were there, also definitely not an infection since his appetite and activity are still through the roof like always. Cataracts maybe?

I have never had any trouble getting him to eat when he's 'scared' of the food. All I do it thwack it on his water dish or the side of his enclosure so he can get a feel for how big it is. I tried to explain to my mother that all he can really process just by the smell is that there is some sort of fish in his vicinity, so when she approaches him with it and touches it to his face he has no clue at first whether it's a minnow or something much larger. She just didn't want to believe that she needed to do what I said and then wait for him to come up to the food item to get him to eat.

I'll be going home next weekend, so I can do another tutorial on how to keep my animals from dying until I can move to an animal-friendly apartment this summer (We also discussed getting a heat mat for my frog. She maintains he doesn't need one because he did just fine without it last Christmas, at which point I was like "yeahh... mostly because he was born last April").

It's just frustrating when no one wants to listen to the person who actually knows something about the cold-blooded pets. It's just worrisome when people refuse to listen to good advice. My family does more for animals than pretty much anyone I know, they just don't have a good understanding of how snakes work.

[katach]

Poor Houdini. Hope he is able to adjust ok.

[d_virginiana]

Thanks.. He'll probably be fine once they figure out what to do. Seriously, I've never seen a snake that loves to eat like he does. Where he's so old though even the little things can be worrisome.

[katach]

Yeah, it's tough when you're pets get old. My dog I had to leave at my mom's is getting up there and I worry about her all the time. She's 14.

[chris-uk]

If you're home at the weekend you'll have to train your mum and get her feeding Houdini right - with a bit of positive reinforcement (and a big stick) you should be able to get her doing it right. Parents, eh... Who would have them?

[d_virginiana]

I'll just pick up a clicker on the way home and use it to help train my parents in proper snake-feeding technique

Yeah, it's tough when you're pets get old. My dog I had to leave at my mom's is getting up there and I worry about her all the time. She's 14.

Yeah, my special cat is 16. We have two more that are 14 and 15, and a beagle that's at least 13. It's worse when you have to leave them for extended periods because you never know if something is going to happen when you won't be able to go home and see them.