What To Do If Your Snake Won’t Eat
Every single reptile keeper who has ever kept snakes, has at least a couple of times had a snake not eat. If you haven’t, than you’re either a liar, or haven’t been keeping snakes very long. Over the last two decades I have kept dozens of different snake species for varying lengths of time. Some are far less tricky than others, and dealing with starting baby snakes makes for an even more frustrating challenge at times. In the spirit of trying to write blogs that can be more impactful and helpful to you, the keeper…I thought writing about some tricks and tips might be useful for you guys.
First thing however is to ask yourself a couple of questions regarding the individual who isn’t eating. Are you sure the snake is hungry? Are you providing the snake the food it wants? Does the animal actually need to eat right now? In a world where snake obesity is so common, remember that your snakes don’t necessarily need to eat. They are biologically designed to run a certain way, and sometimes we mistake their instincts to eat whenever opportunity presents, for the idea it’s ok to feed when they act like this. Many snakes come from areas where it will be feast or famine, which is nature’s way, but we tend to forget the second part and allow them to feast only. You also need to take breeding season into account as well as other possible cues that will turn snakes off of food. If that is not applicable though, the last thing to do is read the snakes behavior. For instance, if the snake gets extremely interested in the food presented, but strikes and releases(don’t confuse for defensive strikes) or turns its head away…this is a sign that the animal is hungry, but wants a different food type or presentation. If the snake shows zero interest or doesn’t show any signs of feeding behavior at all, then ask yourself if it’s something normal(breeding season fasts), a husbandry issue, or a health issue. 75% of the time, a fix of a husbandry issue will solve the issue. But, if not….
One simple trick that works fairly often, is simply change. That may mean a change in food item type, or change in method of presentation. Sometimes snakes show a lot of interest in the food being presented, but don’t eat. This usually means we aren’t giving them what they want. Wether it be mice or rats, frozen or thawed, or any number of other items that may fall in the spectrum of snake prey such as lizards or birds. We as keepers sometimes need to get creative to get our animals to eat. Often we may need to feed them the very item they want, and slowly transition them to something desirable for us as the keeper by scenting and similar methods. Keep in mind that many species of snakes may need to eat the less desirable food items for us(such as lizards or frogs as a-opposed to mice and rats) for the health of the animal. Specialized species that eat frogs primarily, may not be biologically ment to survive on a rodent diet. The other part of change, is how we prepare or present the food. Sometimes switching from tong presentation to just leaving the rodent somewhere may do the trick. Another change that I’ve seen success with is simply in how you heat a thawed prey item. Switching from thawing out in warm water, to heating up a meal with a hair dryer, can make all the difference.
Sometimes it takes a bit of trickery to get snakes to eat. Over the years I’ve used a couple different methods successfully and just about any of them can be used and adjusted to fit your specific situation. Many years ago when I worked with venomous species, feeding baby bush vipers was always an experience. They love to eat small frogs, as well as I’m sure lizards and other things of that nature. They aren’t always keen to take rodents(or rodent parts because of how small they were). There were times that I would take small bits of frog and stick them to a pinky in order to get the snake to take the prey. This is essentially a step above scenting, where you’re using the actual prey the animal wants to get it to eat what you want. I’ve seen this method used similarly with carpet pythons when an animal is stuck on mice. Some keepers have had success with actually tying a mouse to the head of a rat using natural twine. The snake goes for the mouse, and instinct causes it to keep swallowing the rat as well.
Slightly varied from that method is something I’ve seen referred to as train feeding. Please don’t mistake this for the unhealthy trend of power feeding which I’ve also seen go by the same name. In this example, your providing the animal the food it wants, and essentially sneaking the more desired food right behind the first. For instance, I also used this trick with baby bush vipers. I would feed them a frog, and then sit there and wait for the right time to put a pinky behind it. The method is not one of forcing, it’s simply waiting for the correct moment to place the prey item in the snakes still open mouth, and allowing it to naturally grab the prey with its teeth as it continues swallowing and working the first prey item down. Care should be taken with this method to consider the prey item sizes. I would suggest opting for 2 smaller to mid sized prey items instead of a couple larger items.
Perhaps the most popular and well known trick in the book, is the classic…scenting. In this situation your only going to be presenting the prey item that your trying to give the animal, but instead of tricking it using other prey or parts of other prey, you will only be using scent. I assume most of you readers will know already how much snakes rely on their sense of smell, and how the tongue flicks you see are part of that. So this shouldn’t come as much surprise. The tricky part might be figuring out exactly what scent will work as it’s not always as simple as mouse or rat. Step one is to remove as much scent on the prey item as possible by natural means. Then you would add the new scent by what ever way you find easiest. Sometimes you can rub the desired smell onto the prey, such as rubbing a mouse on a rat, or thawing out the rat in some mouse bedding. Many years ago I switched a wild caught white lip python that only wanted birds. My method for scenting was thawing out a euthanized bird and scenting rodents with it. This actually worked fairly quick and she was on non scented rats in no time. So it’s just a matter of figuring out the best method that works for you and your situation.
Honestly guys and gals, there are a million different ways and different variations. My best advice is don’t be afraid to think outside the box. None of the things I have written here may work for you. But my hope is they at least give you an idea of some of the methodology and ideologies that can help you with your picky eater. With that all being said however, let’s do a quick review and ask our selves some important question if you indeed have an animal that isn’t eating and your worried about.
- Is the snake showing any signs of being hungry, or is it completely turned off of food?
- If the snake is completely turned off, is there a logical reason such as breeding season…or is there a possible health or husbandry issue that you need to correct? Poor/incorrect husbandry. is a very common cause that would need correcting, so be sure to double check that especially.
- If the snake DOES show signs of wanting food, but still is not eating, are you providing the food that it wants in the manner that it wants it? Have you tried every option and combination of fresh/frozen thawed with different items?
- Have you tried every possible trick of the trade such as heating the prey item better, trickery, scenting, etc etc.
Honestly at this point almost all of your issues will be resolved if you follow these thought processes and remain patient. There are plenty of tricks and methods to get snakes to eat, including ones I didn’t discuss here. But the real reason for my blog was to make you stop and think, read the animal, and really make an educated decision on if the animal even needs or wants to eat this very moment. I also wanted to stress the thought progression to work through the issue, and give some options to help figure your snake out. One of the best phrases I’ve heard is still to this day Eugene Bessette’s “become a student of the serpent”. It is with that in mind that I wrote this for you guys and girls hoping it helps you figure your animals out better, and maybe learn a trick or two along the way.
