REASONS FOR REFUSAL
Your snake refused their meal? This is not necessarily serious depending on the context. Here are some times when it is more common for the snake to refuse to eat:
- Breeding period for males
- End of gestation for females
- Molting period depending on the individual
- The first week out of the egg for newborns
If your pet snake is in one of these cases, do not worry and leave it until the scheduled date of its next meal.
STIMULATION METHODS
If they are not in one of these cases and have refused several meals, we will have to try several techniques to stimulate them.
This usually happens more in juveniles(snakes). If an adult refuses to eat overnight and they are not in any of the above cases, check your parameters, your arrangement, watch that they are not stressed because of intimidating peers in the case of cohabitations … In any case, don’t panic! A snake is biologically adapted to a fasting period. Even a newborn baby who has never eaten can last for several months.
Each specimen may need a different feeding method. Some will accept the tongs, others will not eat if the prey is not placed in the box.
Here are some techniques to stimulate food intake:
- Put it overnight in its feeding box with the prey
- Leave the prey in front of its hiding place in its terrarium on a paper towel
- Put a 2 week fast before the next presentation
- Thaw the mouse at room temperature to keep its smell
- Pierce the mouse skull and coat the head with the liquid that comes out
- If you do your breeding, rub the mouse in its dirty litter box to impregnate it with the smell
- Offer freshly killed mice
- If necessary, offer live prey. Be careful to watch carefully to avoid any bite.
Juveniles (to start):
- Propose a baby mouse without the legs
- Try half a mouse (upper part)
- In extreme cases, terrariophiles have had results by only proposing the legs of mice
- Rosés dipped in chicken juice or broth have also given good results
- Rosés thawed in tuna juice also work well in some species.
Be careful, in the case of thawed prey, always throw away the refused prey or give it to another snake. Do not refreeze and do not save it for the next time.
Normally one of these methods should work. A snake can stay without eating for several weeks without causing any problems, so don’t panic.
FORCE-FEEDING
Be careful, this method can be harmful to the animal and is traumatic because of the stress generated. Force-feeding is to be done only as a last resort if the life of the animal begins to be at stake.
There are two methods of force-feeding: semi-force-feeding and actual force-feeding.
Semi-force-feeding: Grasp your snake at the top of its body (the first third), then present the prey in front of its mouth. Gently open its mouth with the mouse and push it lightly into it. Normally, it should then take over and swallow the prey. If they spit it out, try again. This method often works without the need to go as far as force-feeding, you just have to be patient.
Force-feeding: Perform the same operation, but this time the snake refuses to swallow the prey. It will, therefore, be necessary to press gently on the prey to make it fully enter the throat of your snake, up to the first third of the body.
These techniques are generally applied to newborns during difficult starts. Once a snake has started, there are very few reasons why it will refuse food to the point that you get to these methods.
To have a more general idea on why your pet snake is eating, this video can help you out.