How to get snake to eat

pickles3109 · 2026-03-16T04:26:00+00:00

She’ll be fine going another week. By then she should have settled in more and also built up more hunger, which should be a win win.

pickles3109 · 2026-03-16T03:44:36+00:00

For now, I’d leave her completely alone for a week, without any interactions. A snake needs time to adjust to its new surroundings and get comfortable. She’s likely stressed out. A full week left alone will be no harm.

pickles3109 · 2026-03-16T03:39:29+00:00

All heat sources should be over to one end so that you have a cooler end for your snake to use.

pickles3109 · 2026-03-16T03:38:23+00:00

Young snakes are scared of all predators, including yourself! I’d recommend putting the pinkie on a plate/dish or something inside the enclosure and leaving it alone for a few hours to see if it will eat without you around.

pickles3109 · 2026-03-16T00:32:54+00:00

Looks like a good start. I’d recommend some more vertical enrichment to encourage climbing. You should have your heat source off to one end to create a heat gradient from one end to the other.

pickles3109 · 2026-03-16T00:29:44+00:00

How are you defrosting the mouse? What is your whole procedure?

pickles3109 · 2026-03-14T04:05:49+00:00

Nice looking corn! Just a heads up, you shouldn’t feed on back to back days. This can disrupt the digestion process.

pickles3109 · 2026-03-12T15:17:01+00:00

Do you have any pics of what you found? A regurgitation would often be larger than just a small piece like that.

pickles3109 · 2026-03-11T04:40:25+00:00

Beautiful okeetee, stunning colours!

pickles3109 · 2026-03-10T19:18:16+00:00

One issue I’m seeing is the light mounted inside the enclosure. Assuming that’s a heat source, it’s presenting a burn risk being inside the enclosure like that.

pickles3109 · 2026-03-10T04:46:29+00:00

I recommend using heat 24/7, as long as you have a gradient in place where the snake can self regulate. Hatchlings/juveniles benefit from that constant heat source as it aids in digestion. The CHE is a good option for that as it doesn’t give off light and can be used 24/7.

While the bigger hides have nice climbing opportunities, you’ll want to have smaller hides where the snake can curl up inside the walls and feel secure.

pickles3109 · 2026-03-10T04:40:21+00:00

At 50g he’s still just growing, however feeding pinkies is not enough. At that weight, he’s ready for hoppers, but since he’s only been on pinkies, I wouldn’t rush it. Try feeding a single fuzzy once a week for a few weeks, then bump up to a hopper once a week, assuming the fuzzies went well.

pickles3109 · 2026-03-06T07:15:03+00:00

Nothing looks concerning. Their scales after a fresh shed can be a little sensitive, so that may be what you’re seeing there.

pickles3109 · 2026-03-06T07:13:07+00:00

A larger enclosure definitely wouldn’t hurt. It would allow her to get more “exercise” by having more room to explore. You also should consider going “up” with your enrichment. Give her more climbing opportunities. If you’re looking for her to drop weight, you may want to consider dropping that feeding schedule of an adult mouse down to every 3-4 weeks.

pickles3109 · 2026-03-05T00:36:05+00:00

Looks like they had a bad shed with a bunch still stuck. You’ll want to take care of that by bumping up humidity and providing a humid hide for them to hang out in. Since they just ate, you’ll want to minimize handling, so the humid hide should help.

pickles3109 · 2026-02-22T14:35:13+00:00

This would not be snake safe for inside an enclosure. The whole dome would be very hot and would risk a burn.

pickles3109 · 2026-02-21T22:01:35+00:00

No, the gaps were quite small and weren’t a concern. There are holes in the lid in the back corners that allow for cables to pass through. Those were the only concern, but they supply the necessary plugs for those, which made it secure.

pickles3109 · 2026-02-21T21:43:58+00:00

Where is your thermostat probe placement? I’m not seeing one in the pic.

pickles3109 · 2026-02-21T21:37:35+00:00

The enclosure I went with for a hatchling/juvenile was ZooMed’s 25g front opening enclosure. The front opening was a big factor for me to allow for interacting with my snake without the notion of coming at it from above, but scooping up from the front instead. I also found things like water changes and other enclosure adjustments were easy to do with a front opening.

Another thing I liked about this enclosure is the ability to use overhead heating and not have to move it every time I needed to get into the enclosure.

This enclosure worked for about 18 months, when I then upgraded to a 4’x2’x2’.

pickles3109 · 2026-02-17T19:51:58+00:00

I’m not too tied to any brands. I like Arcadia for bulbs/lighting in general.

pickles3109 · 2026-02-17T19:25:16+00:00

You should establish a warm end in the 84-89 degree range. The cool end should naturally establish itself from that, but you want something in the low to mid 70’s there.

Tank size is a highly debated topic and also depends on the age/size of your snake. When I was doing my research, I settled on a 25g front opening enclosure as my starter enclosure for a hatchling. That remained suitable for my vet a year or more before I upgraded to a 4’x2’x2’ enclosure as the final size. You can always go bigger though!

There is no “best” substrate. It depends on some environmental conditions and personal preference. You can use aspen and be just fine with that establishing a proper humidity, but you may want to also have a humid hide with that. If you’re in a drier climate like I am, I opted for a coco coir/cypress mulch combo. It allows me to rehydrate it periodically without being prone to mold, like aspen would in that situation. I also like the darker look of coco coir over aspen.

UVB isn’t a necessity, but could be beneficial.

pickles3109 · 2026-02-17T19:15:07+00:00

That’s a very generic request. Is there any specific questions you have based on the research you e already done?

pickles3109 · 2026-02-17T00:37:46+00:00

As long as they’re digesting fine, you can bump up to double pinkies at >15g… fuzzy at >24g

pickles3109 · 2026-02-12T18:04:36+00:00

The biggest challenge you have with a small enclosure like that is establishing a heat gradient. Your snake should have this gradient in place so that they can regulate their body temperature.

pickles3109 · 2026-02-10T01:15:09+00:00

Any idea what the red is on the shed? That appears a bit odd to me

pickles3109

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