Reptile Forum, Reptile Classifieds - CaptiveBred

[morbidezza]

Hi does anyone have any advice on how to get a juvenile snake to feed? I have a baby painted bronzeback and i've put it in a small tank with plants, water and a box to hide it(which it sits in most of the time) and also a small live lizard (big enough for the snake) to eat but it's been nearly 2 wks now and it still won't eat. Any advice? Am getting worried!

[Scott W]

what's the latin name of the bronzeback? it's not something I've heard of.
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[Drymarchon32]

Dendrelaphis pictus?

Going to need more info in order to offer the best advice.
Where did you get the snake? is it WC or CB? Did the previous owner say what he/she had been feeding it? Are you leaving it well alone or handling it?

Without the above info it's not so easy to give accurate advice, but I would first try an amphibian diet, dead or as a last resort live, but you should be able to get it to take pinkies scented with frog once it figures out where the food is coming from.
Have you tried assist feeding? If you haven't yet and are uneasy about this process get a friend who has done this before to show you. It's fairly easy but if you are too rough you can easily injure your snake.
Getting juvenile snakes to eat can be one long ardous task or easy as pie, the more nervous the species the harder it is imho.

Al
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Complacency killed the keeper

[johonny]

send us pics of the snake if you can

[morbidezza]

Yup it's the Dendrelaphis pictus.

A friend gave it to me - earlier that day her brother had found it in their storeroom and he caught it. Knowing how much I love snakes she gave it to me later that afternoon - so they haven't fed it anything at all.

Considering the size, I am guessing that it is newly hatched or just a couple of weeks old. Perhaps about 20 cm long?

I am not so sure about assist feeding. Is this where I need to put the prey in front of the snake's mouth until it opens it mouth and I put the prey in? Can I do that to such a small snake?

Also - the first couple of days I had it I did handle it everyday but since it didn't want to eat the dead or the live baby lizard i decided to leave it alone with a live lizard. But it still isn't;t eating

[Jase]

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A lil bit of Madagascar

[morbidezza]

this is a pic of when i just got it

[Drymarchon32]

Great looking snake, assist feeding is just popping the food item (dead) into the mouth, and hopefully the snake will then do the rest on its own. Its tricky doing it with such a small snake but I've done it so many times with much smaller snakes, it just takes a steady hand and patience. If you can find or buy small frogs for it I'm thinking that will be your best option, but failing that, pinky mice or lizards/geckos should work too.
I hold the neck gently between thumb, index, and middle finger, and just prise the mouth open with the food item, pop it in and then slowly let go.
Try to handle it as little as possible until it starts eating, but otherwise just persevere and it should get there. I've not kept this species before but all the above advice has worked on loads of other species so I don't see why this should be any different.
Just out of interest, where do you live?
Al
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Complacency killed the keeper

[rigsby]

i find the easiest food to get down snakes of that size is small torpedo shaped fish such as minnows, prise the snakes mouth open with the head of the fish then gently push it right in, with the fish being slippery you can massage it down to the stomach easily.

[keiron]

Sounds like you live in Australia... If it were me i'd let it go back to the storeroom!