sounds like the set up and care for him is just fine. minimize feeding gold fish (thyaminase poisoning occurs with too many of them) but otherwise it's spot on.
Edwin: My southeast Missouri prairie kingsnake.
- Thread starter ShadowBass
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The size of the prey explains his bad hunting skills, LOL. Small prey or big prey doesn't make any difference nutritionally of course, but it's easier to hit a bigger target. I had a similarly sized broadband a couple months ago, I just caught sunfish from a lake to feed it. It could take 3-4 inch fish with no issues at all, he could have eaten 5-6 inch fish if I gave them to him.
The reason I feed smaller fish is that's what is in my pond lol.
He rarely gets goldfish. We either get mosquitofish out of my pond, or catch him fish from the wild. Next time we go netting I'll try to get him something a little bigger, but I'm not sure it will help his hunting skills. My first water snake would stalk up really slow then snap them up. This guys tactic is to hold his mouth open and flail about wildly until a fish ends up in it
He rarely gets goldfish. We either get mosquitofish out of my pond, or catch him fish from the wild. Next time we go netting I'll try to get him something a little bigger, but I'm not sure it will help his hunting skills. My first water snake would stalk up really slow then snap them up. This guys tactic is to hold his mouth open and flail about wildly until a fish ends up in it
Sounds like my garter snakes tactic when it comes to catching fish
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Just because it is a Nerodia doesn't mean you can't transition it over to pre-killed mice. They are easier to feed and the the snakes feces won't be as nasty to clean up. Nerodia are such opportunistic feeders it would not take much effort and it should greatly reduce the chances of internal parasites too.
Yeah. I'd prefer to transfer him over to frozen mice, but he won't even take pinkies, on the ground, or in the water. I'm going to keep trying, but no luck.
I warm them to the proper temp in hot water, and even try wiggling them around, but it's like he doesn't even recognize the smell as a food item. Ignores them altogether.
I've never had a snake ignore pinkies. It's like he's a fish addict. :\
As soon as he even smells fish he comes out and goes crazy. Anything else he just lays there and ignores.
I warm them to the proper temp in hot water, and even try wiggling them around, but it's like he doesn't even recognize the smell as a food item. Ignores them altogether.
I've never had a snake ignore pinkies. It's like he's a fish addict. :\
As soon as he even smells fish he comes out and goes crazy. Anything else he just lays there and ignores.
That will make it easier. Place a large pinkie or fuzzy in a plastic bag with a couple of fish until it is nice and slimy and then give it a try. Or you can open up a larger feeder fish and turn it into a jacket for a pinkie or fuzzy. If it is aggressively feeding on something, switching it to mice won't be too hard.
