Re: I can't do this anymore... - don't force feed - tease feed

Posted by Ray Loraine on September 18, 2001 at 21:15:40:

In Reply to: I can't do this anymore... posted by Nyx on September 18, 2001 at 02:18:15:

It's stressful to force food down snakes. A technique that requires patience but is not so damaging to the snake is to tease feed it.

Hold the snake it your hand with its head and a short section of neck exposed. The trick is to tease the snake into biting a dead pinky by touching/slapping the head lightly until the snake bites the pinky. When it does, hold completely still. It may drop the pinky, but with continued tries, the snake will usually begin to swallow the pink that it has grabbed. It appears to help if the pinky hangs from the snakes mouth, perhaps increasing the grasp of its teeth on the hanging meal.

I've used this technique on difficult leopard ratsnake babies and gotten everyone to feed volutarily after several tease feedings.

Given a choice - would you want to eat something that was crammed down your throat against your will?

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: It's stressful to force food down snakes. A technique that requires patience but is not so damaging to the snake is to tease feed it. : Hold the snake it your hand with its head and a short section of neck exposed. The trick is to tease the snake into biting a dead pinky by touching/slapping the head lightly until the snake bites the pinky. When it does, hold completely still. It may drop the pinky, but with continued tries, the snake will usually begin to swallow the pink that it has grabbed. It appears to help if the pinky hangs from the snakes mouth, perhaps increasing the grasp of its teeth on the hanging meal. : I've used this technique on difficult leopard ratsnake babies and gotten everyone to feed volutarily after several tease feedings. : Given a choice - would you want to eat something that was crammed down your throat against your will?

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