Your Reptile and Amphibian Resource and Information Site

Back to Bull-Pine-Gopher Snakes Forum   Forums   Home   Members Area  

Bull-Pine-Gopher Snakes Forum

JackAsp   Greatballzofire   JackAsp   Greatballzofire   JackAsp   JackAsp   Greatballzofire  
 Member  Message

 #2082249


JackAsp
View Profile

 Winkle and ther Chicken

Sigmund, my Madagascan Speckled, has been eating kind of badly this year. A lot of 3-4 week fasts, and one that lasted 8-9, and when he does eat, it’s not as much as it used to be. Tried a lot of tricks, none of which really led to a big turnaround until finally I just decided to give up on small mice, even though I know he can eat them, because he HAS. I bought a bag of day-old chicks, to see if he’d rather eat a "big" bird than a "big" rodent, and I bought a bag of hoppers, figuring it’s been long enough to convert him upwards and if he really wants to just eat multiple hoppers for the rest of his life it’s not going to kill me to buy them. Some of this confusion is also that he was a growing juvenile when I got him, and I’m still figuring out what a normal feeding regimen for him as an adult even IS.

Anyway, he wouldn’t touch the chick, but a day later went right for the hopper, so I guess that’s the answer. So be it. This left me with a whole bag of chicks to get rid of though. Bebe, my western hognose who didn’t read the book about how small they’re supposed be, seemed very interested in the smell and could quite easily take them, but didn’t actually try to eat it. I think she’s about to go blue, though. Maybe after she sheds. But, quite possibly, she won’t, which leaves Winkle in charge of chicken disposal.

He loved the smell, and even bit it a few times trying to figure out how to eat it. But he just couldn’t figure the shape out. There’s two very long legs, a big fat body, two fluffy flat wings sticking out, a very skinny neck, and then a round head with a big pointy thing sticking out on it. he sniffed it a lot, nibbled it a litle, and ended up just looking at me like "Um... no offense, but I have absolutely no idea what I’m supposed to do with this. Can I have some mice now?"

Even braining didn’t seem to help. I finally had to lizard-scent the top and sides of its beak, to get him to differentiate. Now that he’s experienced which end is which, he’ll probably be okay next time. Which will be soon. The chick was only 30 grams, which is only half what he usually eats. I might keep him on smaller meals every 3 days instead of bigger ones every 5, though, just until the chicks run out, because I don’t want him so full that I can’t still use him for the occasional left-over mice.

I wanted to get a feeding pic, but apparently once he figured out which end was which he sucked it right down like it nothing. In about a minute and a half he went from just sniffing at it to wandering around the cage checking to see if there were any more!

Kind of funny that Winkle needs to be "taught" how to eat a bird. Back when I had the pines, McBain was oddly stubborn about moving from hoppers to weaned mice, until one day a whole treeload of fledgeling sparrows blew down in a storm. It was along time ago, my concerns about parasite risk weren’t what they are today, and to see how he’d react I gave him a bird that seemed unlikely to survive anyway. Even though it was much larger than a weaned mouse, he immediately seized, constricted, and ate it, and after that he had no hesiation at all about eating larger rodents (although he did have to be treated for three kinds of worms.) Seemed like Winkle was overthinking it too much. If he hadn’t looked at it so much first, he’d have eaten with more gusto and eventually felt his way into the right position, perhaps. I don’t know. But once he got one down, he certainly seemed to like them.
10/09/09  04:29pm

 #2082419


Greatballzofire
View Profile



   Message To: JackAsp   In reference to Message Id: 2082249


 Winkle and ther Chicken

LOL! It’s funny when snakes have to learn how to eat something! You’d think instinct would prevail, but I guess everything has a learning curve.


Gonzo as a baby learning to eat one at a time, not two at once!
10/10/09  09:00am

 #2083068


JackAsp
View Profile



   Message To: Greatballzofire   In reference to Message Id: 2082419


 Winkle and ther Chicken

Now he’s decided he doesn’t even care any more. He ate the last one butt-first.
10/12/09  12:39pm

 #2083761


Greatballzofire
View Profile



   Message To: JackAsp   In reference to Message Id: 2083068


 Winkle and ther Chicken

I have heard reports that feeding poultry to snakes makes their feces smell bad. This is concerning large snakes like pythons and boas, with whole chickens, but am wondering if the same would be so for smaller snakes and chicks.
10/14/09  07:44am

 #2083913


JackAsp
View Profile



   Message To: Greatballzofire   In reference to Message Id: 2083761


 Winkle and ther Chicken

If I see any problems, I’ll let you know. Surprisingly, he hasn’t pooped since I started him on them, but Winkle has kind of the greatest snake metabolism ever anyway. Eats like baby, grows like a baby, but only poops as often as an adult, and in completely normal amounts. I’ve had him over a year and only seen 2-3 of what I’d actually call big dumps, and I don’t remember him ever going twice in one week, although he proably did when he was tiny and I just didn’t notice. What’s even better is that for the last several months, he has always used the same corner. Hot end, closest to the wall. he started that habit in his previos tank, and even in a different cage in a different part of the room he has still continued it. The cage tray is five inches tall, so the mesh even stays clean. My pines used one spot as babies, but stopped caring after a few months. Winkle has done the reverse.

I only figure on using these things until the bag is empty anyway. My other snakes haven’t taken them, and chicks aren’t really big enough to buy just for a bullsnake. They’re not a bad size for right now, but... he’ll end up on rats, obviously.

No strong taste preference; he seems to like everything! Today Sigmund (the Madagascan) was fussy again, although he’s been fine for the last two feedings so I’m not too worried. I think he’s about to go blue. But that meant I had a couple of hoppers left, so I gave Winke a 31-gram chick and two 7-gram hoppers. He ate one of the mice immediately. Then he ate the chick immediately,so quickly, while I had the TV on, that I didn’t even get a chance to see his technique. Then I think he only hesitated on the other mouse because he was hoping I’d give him something bigger, because he was eating larger mice than THAT when he was a month old! But he ate it.

Now every time I look at the tank, at least an hour later, he’s in a different section of the Habitrail, poking around to see if I buried any more mice or chicks in there. Even though I always feed him in the open on a large plastic can-lid, I guess he figures it doesn’t hurt to be extra-certain and poke around a little.



10/14/09  03:53pm

 #2085101


JackAsp
View Profile



   Message To: JackAsp   In reference to Message Id: 2083913


 Winkle and ther Chicken

The stool wasn’t really as bad as I expected. A little less solid, and it had feathers in it, but nothing terrifying. It’s not like I normally expect petunias to fall out of there anyway. I didn’t even know it was there until I looked that direction.



10/17/09  01:32pm

 #2085205


Greatballzofire
View Profile



   Message To: JackAsp   In reference to Message Id: 2085101


 Winkle and ther Chicken

LOL! Petunias would be a novel change!
This feces issue would be a bigger concern with a big python eating a whole chicken.
10/17/09  08:27pm


Back to Bull-Pine-Gopher Snakes Forum   Forums   Home   Members Area