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Posted by colubridman on November 03, 2002 at 17:00:12:
In Reply to: Rat snake not eatting posted by Anne on November 03, 2002 at 13:03:34:
:Last month I acquired S. China Beauty Rat snake (E. taeniura taeniura) that is about 1 foot long. In the last month he has eatten only once out of the four attempts at offering him a pinkie. He is housed in a 30 gal aquarium, wood bark substrate which he enjoys burrowning in, and some branches, and shallow water dish. The tank is equiped with an under tank heater and on the cold side of the thermal gradient its about 69 degrees. He is getting around 10 hours of lighting a day. When I would try to feed him I place him in a smaller critter cage without any substrate with just the pinkie. I will often than either place that small container back in the aquarium, or in my closet, so there are no distractions and its extremely dark. He is doing great besides the touch and go eatting. He is lively, alert, doesnt have mites, and doesnt appear to be ready to shed. Any insight as to what I might try differently would be appreciated. Thanks!
:Anne
:Anne,
I would try leaving him in his cage and placing a pinkie in front of his favorite hiding place late in the afternoon(make sure he has a hiding place on the warm and cool end). Leave the pinkie there until the next morning.
Most of the Taeniura species are very timid especially as young so when you put it in the little container with no where to hide it probably spooks it too much for it to feed.
You could try thawed first and if it does not take that try a live pinkie.
If that fails you might want to consider putting it in a smaller container about shoe box size until it gets larger. Many shy species do better in a small size cage when young. For some reason they feel more secure and usually feed better.
You also might want to raise the temp on the cool side up 3 or 4 degrees.
If you do keep it in an aquarium with a screen top you might want to cover up about 3/4 of the top with newspaper just leaving 2 or 3 inches open on each end. They need higher humidity than many colubrids and this along with a large water bowl will keep the humidity up. Good luck and I hope this helps.
Randy Whittington
