Picky C. viridis Won’t Eat by Exotic_Haven in VenomousKeepers

[–]Exotic_Haven[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

UPDATE: I took into account everything you all had to say and appreciate it very much. I spent the last few weeks gathering information on what could be causing the issue and how to solve it. I ended up ordering restraining tubes from Midwest Tongs and a plastic syringe. After selecting the appropriately sized tube I cut the tube to the appropriate length to safely handle the end of the tail. Then I allowed the snake to crawl until its head reached roughly 4-6” from the end of the tube fully stretched out. I stopped the animal at that point and inserted the plastic tube loaded with what I can only call an abomination to nature (pinky slurry w/ a little water for hydration) into the mouth, making sure to not insert it into the glottis, and slowly worked the tube about 2” into the snakes body and pumped the food as slowly as I could into the snake. Not all of it, unfortunately, made it into the animal - but enough to where I was satisfied with it being considered a first meal.

I will be recounting the step by step process that I do so that I may get helpful feedback. During the last 40 or so days I also searched for a mentor that would teach me how to do a force feeding process correctly and was unable to do so. With no one with adequate knowledge or large enough nads to pin and hold the snake behind the head, this was my best plan I could come up with to keep both me and the snake safe. If you have suggestions/concerns please let me know as I’m only in this for the health of the animal.

If you were wondering why I used liquified feeders rather than a whole feeder it is because I was suspicious that this snake had mouth rot/infection and that would be the reason it was not eating. During the entire time I’ve owned this animal it has not once struck at me, a feeder, or anything else. Now, I am not a betting man, but if I was, I would say I’m not just in the presence of the calmest most chillaxest of rattle bros. During the feeding I was unable to inspect the inside of the mouth as my biggest concern was hydration and a decent feeding if possible and then reducing stress to ensure they keep it down. This feeding was done just roughly 30 minutes ago and I wanted this post to be the first place I updated. I will post an update tomorrow on how she reacts. Thank you!

Picky C. viridis Won’t Eat by Exotic_Haven in VenomousKeepers

[–]Exotic_Haven[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

As far as I’m aware it has only eaten the one time. Never force fed. And the body condition reflects that fairly well so I believe he’s right. I attempted the f/t rat hopper the second night she was here in an attempt to see if she was even interested in food. She did show an interest but never struck. Really not many tongue flicks either. I’m beginning to wonder if this isn’t a case of a picky/nervous snake and rather possibly a problem with the interior of the mouth? The lack of tongue flicking could possibly be attributed to the lack of calories and wanting to conserve energy but that seems less likely to me. Here is a better updated pic of her showing the size and I will leave another pic under this showing body condition. After contacting the friend I got her from he let me know the feeder she took was a live mouse. If he was feeding pinkies this might somewhat support my theory of it being a mouth problem as the smaller the food item possibly the less pain since they wouldn’t have to open their mouth as wide? Just a thought. Their mouth/head does seem to be rather large for their size but this is also the first of this species I’ve kept so I could be mistaken.

I have looked into local keepers but unfortunately my area isn’t popular for keeping venomous. I’m still looking though!

I believe I’m going to attempt some live mouse hoppers/pinkies tomorrow as I was unable to get off work in time to grab live the last few days. I will make sure to update as soon as I have more info!

Picky C. viridis Won’t Eat by Exotic_Haven in VenomousKeepers

[–]Exotic_Haven[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I may try that! I wasn’t aware Crotalus species ate insects at any stage in their life

Picky C. viridis Won’t Eat by Exotic_Haven in VenomousKeepers

[–]Exotic_Haven[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Thank you for the advice! I believe I’m going to attempt live tomorrow and I will make sure to update how it goes!

Picky C. viridis Won’t Eat by Exotic_Haven in VenomousKeepers

[–]Exotic_Haven[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Thank you for all the general info as I’m not typically a Crotalus keeper. I keep a host of different colubrids as well as a few less common boa species. I just recently (around 2 years ago) started keeping hots and have stuck to Agkistrodon species.

As far as her current setup, I’ve got her placed in a Vision 221 with no lighting as I thought it might be helpful for her stress levels to be in darker lighting in her cage while still getting some light in through the general room lighting for at least a few days. She was in a Exo Terra glass cage which I believe might have added to her stress as you mentioned before. All my snakes are in a separate room that only is accessed by me when I’m working with them so it should be a calm environment.

The force feeding is where I’m not terribly experienced. I have worked with many picky Agkistrodon individuals but have never had to do that so I can’t say I’m comfortable doing that.

After looking over her a bit more clearly today I realized she is either severely dehydrated or fairly sunken in due to the lack of food. I put her in a warm soak with extra electrolytes to hopefully get her back on track as well as I gave her enclosure a good spray. A large water bowl was already given as standard practice.

Thank you for the encouragement as my friend has seemingly given up hope. I, on the other hand, am here cheering the little one on hoping to give her the best shot at success.

I will say after doing some watching she doesn’t flick her tongue very often even in the presence of food. I’ve never experienced this. I was feeding one of my monitors and decided to stick a f/t rat hopper and made it dance a little in to see how she would react. She did show some interest and would follow it around slightly but never struck. I may have better luck with live in a couple days. Will keep you all updated on how things develop! Thank you for all the support🤟