• Posted 12/19/2024.
    =====================

    I am still waiting on my developer to finish up on the Classifieds Control Panel so I can use it to encourage members into becoming paying members. Google Adsense has become a real burden on the viewing of this site, but honestly it is the ONLY source of income now that keeps it afloat. I tried offering disabling the ads being viewed by paying members, but apparently that is not enough incentive. Quite frankly, Google Adsense has dropped down to where it barely brings in enough daily to match even a single paid member per day. But it still gets the bills paid. But at what cost?

    So even without the classifieds control panel being complete, I believe I am going to have to disable those Google ads completely and likely disable some options here that have been free since going to the new platform. Like classified ad bumping, member name changes, and anything else I can use to encourage this site to be supported by the members instead of the Google Adsense ads.

    But there is risk involved. I will not pay out of pocket for very long during this last ditch experimental effort. If I find that the membership does not want to support this site with memberships, then I cannot support your being able to post your classified ads here for free. No, I am not intending to start charging for your posting ads here. I will just shut the site down and that will be it. I will be done with FaunaClassifieds. I certainly don't need this, and can live the rest of my life just fine without it. If I see that no one else really wants it to survive neither, then so be it. It goes away and you all can just go elsewhere to advertise your animals and merchandise.

    Not sure when this will take place, and I don't intend to give any further warning concerning the disabling of the Google Adsense. Just as there probably won't be any warning if I decide to close down this site. You will just come here and there will be some sort of message that the site is gone, and you have a nice day.

    I have been trying to make a go of this site for a very long time. And quite frankly, I am just tired of trying. I had hoped that enough people would be willing to help me help you all have a free outlet to offer your stuff for sale. But every year I see less and less people coming to this site, much less supporting it financially. That is fine. I tried. I retired the SerpenCo business about 14 years ago, so retiring out of this business completely is not that big if a step for me, nor will it be especially painful to do. When I was in Thailand, I did not check in here for three weeks. I didn't miss it even a little bit. So if you all want it to remain, it will be in your hands. I really don't care either way.

    =====================
    Some people have indicated that finding the method to contribute is rather difficult. And I have to admit, that it is not all that obvious. So to help, here is a thread to help as a quide. How to become a contributing member of FaunaClassifieds.

    And for the record, I will be shutting down the Google Adsense ads on January 1, 2025.
  • Responding to email notices you receive.
    **************************************************
    In short, DON'T! Email notices are to ONLY alert you of a reply to your private message or your ad on this site. Replying to the email just wastes your time as it goes NOWHERE, and probably pisses off the person you thought you replied to when they think you just ignored them. So instead of complaining to me about your messages not being replied to from this site via email, please READ that email notice that plainly states what you need to do in order to reply to who you are trying to converse with.

killing, but not eating

ed hummel

ed hummel

ive got balls
Resident Demon
Joined
Sep 6, 2007
Messages
185
Reaction score
21
Points
0
Age
56
Location
philly burbs, pa
i have a young pastel male (just turned 1) who is striking and constricting the F/T rats im feeding it, but after "killing" it, just leaves it there w/o eating. ive had him since the beginning of april and he has only eaten 3x. and thats w/ letting him go around 3 weeks between feeds since hes been refusing so much. im not really worried, since he is "going thru the motions" and not flat out refusing it like the other 2 have done when they didnt want to eat, but since ive never owned any snakes before i figured id get some opinions (since im not really worried, but somewhat concerned :D). i know they can be difficult feeders, and unfortunately i dont have a scale (but have one about to be ordered) to know if hes lost any weight, which i dont think he has. he seems to be shedding on a regular schedule and all of them have been perfect, including the one i got to watch him shed today. :D
i will say this about him, as soon as i start dangling the rat in the cage his coming for it, EVERYTIME, and this past time i didnt even have time to adjust my light to see before he grab it from my stats lol (scared the crap outta me lol). ive also started to linger w/ him after hes rapped it up to move the rat a little to make him think its still struggling before leaving him alone, but its still hit or miss on whether or not he eats.

also, since i did know before hand that they could be difficult feeders ive never stayed to try to watch ANY of them eat and always feed at nite using just a small flashlite on low while putting the rats in. anyway, thankfully both of my girls have been eating good, and my young pastel female who is the same age as monty is growing beautifully (nice and thick) and is a real sweety. ive never seen her take a rat, but ive only ever had to remove 1 from her rack when i returned. and again, this is no power feeding, i usually go about 3 weeks between feeds for them to make sure they are hungry, but have since started feeding the girls about every 10 days since they are eating almost everytime i feed them now.

not sure what im hoping to accomplish by this post, guess im just mainly looking to see if anyone else has a ball that likes to kill "just for the fun of it" hehe.
 
I have had multiple baby snakes (not necessarily BPs) constrict and drop, and a few that would do it into young adulthood. There are a couple of factors that come into play. 1) Movement. Some young snakes are shy/nervous, and movement around them is enough to make them release the prey and not eat. It makes sense when you consider how vulnerable a snake is while swallowing - they cannot effectively defend themselves or escape danger...better to be hungry, but alive. Sometimes moving a tub back into the rack, closing the cage door, replacing a top, or walking past is all it takes to get them to stop. 2) Bad grab. Believe it or not, some snakes aren't real smart when it comes to feeding. If they can't swallow it the way they grab it, they give up...luckily, these guys will usually retake the prey if you just pick it up and offer it to them again. 3)Temperature. This one often comes into play AFTER one of the other two factors has caused the snake to leave the prey uneaten. During all the fuss of constriction and subsequent investigation, the prey item is no longer warm enough to be considered food (how did these things ever survive without us?). 4) Defrost method. Many people, and/or their snakes, prefer a dry defrost method. (of course, this requires extra time & effort...especially if the snake likes warm to hot meals. Wet rodents, aside from lacking aesthetic appeal, will also hold particulate substrates.
 
hhmoore said:
I have had multiple baby snakes (not necessarily BPs) constrict and drop, and a few that would do it into young adulthood. There are a couple of factors that come into play. 1) Movement. Some young snakes are shy/nervous, and movement around them is enough to make them release the prey and not eat. It makes sense when you consider how vulnerable a snake is while swallowing - they cannot effectively defend themselves or escape danger...better to be hungry, but alive. Sometimes moving a tub back into the rack, closing the cage door, replacing a top, or walking past is all it takes to get them to stop. 2) Bad grab. Believe it or not, some snakes aren't real smart when it comes to feeding. If they can't swallow it the way they grab it, they give up...luckily, these guys will usually retake the prey if you just pick it up and offer it to them again. 3)Temperature. This one often comes into play AFTER one of the other two factors has caused the snake to leave the prey uneaten. During all the fuss of constriction and subsequent investigation, the prey item is no longer warm enough to be considered food (how did these things ever survive without us?). 4) Defrost method. Many people, and/or their snakes, prefer a dry defrost method. (of course, this requires extra time & effort...especially if the snake likes warm to hot meals. Wet rodents, aside from lacking aesthetic appeal, will also hold particulate substrates.
Click to expand...
hi harold, thanks for the response.

1. like i said, i always feed when its dark, but do use a small bit of light while putting the rats in, and then i push the rack in as slooooowly as i can so as to avoid disturbing him, not that thats a guaruntee that im not, and maybe i should start doing like w/ the other 2 and just drop it in and go. once i put them in i will not return for a couple of hours min to make sure i give them ample time w/ no disturbance.

2. i did stay and watch for a short while one of the times i tried to feed him and did notice that after he grabbed it, he went for the tail end and then dropped, but like i said, that is the only time ive ever stayed beyond the actual strike and grab to watch so this could very well be his problem. i think i may, in ref to part 1, need to get a small red light and stick around for a while to watch him the next time and see if this is a continuing problem, which could very well explain all this, since like i said, he has eaten, but well under half the times hes been fed.

3. very good point, and one i often worry about when feeding being as i am so new to all this. now i warm up all items together (since its only 3 rats at a time), and his is the smallest of all. do you think because of the smaller size its losing the warmth to quickly? this could again be a very good explanation if that is so, but i will say that he comes after it as soon as i open the rack and will take it as soon as hes in range which is usually pretty quick, prob no more then 30 seconds from time of opening (he is cool to watch hehe). around what temp should the rats be, and whats the best way of checking?

4. when i first started i would rap the rats up in ziplock bags and then place them in the water, but this wasnt always as effective as id hoped, and like you said, the wetness of them didnt appeal to me, and was probably as unappealing to them. i have since purchased some waterproof containers to both keep the rats fresh in the freezer and to keep them dry when preparing them. all 3 are kept on newspaper substrate.

now to expand. when i defrost, i now put the rats into the small container and seal it, then fill up the larger container w/ warmish water and put the smaller container in and fully submerge it by sealing the lid of the larger container for between 1.5-2 hours to defrost. when that time is up, ill empty the large container then refill it w/ very hot water from the faucet and leave the rats in that for another 20-25 minutes or so to warm them up, at which point they are taken directly to the snakes. any suggestions or improvements upon this method are more then welcome, though it does seem to work ok for both my girls.

one final ?(at least for now :D). how long do rats keep for in the freezer and will freezer burn make them not want them? i only buy small numbers, like 4 for each when i go to the pet store, but now w/ 2 babies coming that will be eating much more frequently and are on the same size rats i was considering buying from a supplier, but am afraid of having to toss a bunch because of freezer burn or what not.

thanks again for the response harold!!!
 
I too think it may be a temp issue. I feed different sizes of FT & feed dry of course. The smaller items hold the heat the least longest even though they heat faster. To remedy this I feed directly from the baggie, removing each item as I go. If the water temp (that it's soaking in gets below 110f I reheat the water.... between 120-110 temp to heat thawed prey seems to work well for me. -Deb
 
alrighty then. they are sched to feed again tomorrow nite, so im going to try to make extra sure his is well heated, maybe even put his in for a doubled amount of time while i feed the others. ill change out the water a couple times to make sure it stays at a nice hot temp as well. thanks kathy.
 
I have no idea it it will help at all but try feeding around 5 to 7 PM with the lights on. Maybe a change will help. I have 14 BP's I always feed between 4-6PM without problems, light are always on, some in cages some in racks.

Feed only the problem child and leave the room right away.

p.s. to solve the freezer burn problem buy a Food Saver vacuum seal system. I've been using one for years, you can vacuum re-seal a package of rats many times. A vacuum sealed package will last for over six months without freezer burn or frost problems.
 
I'm honestly not inclined to think of this so much as an issue of prey temperature, since he takes it so readily - usually this is more of a factor when trying to stimulate a strike...you never know until you rule out the possibilities. Try feeding him first - only opening the bin enough to introduce the prey item. Once he grabs it, just slowly back up or sit down (instead of closing the bin and walking away). Don't worry about total darkness UNLESS the snake has demonstrated an unwillingness to eat while it is light. You will probably have better luck by starting with some ambient lighting than by shining a light in periodically (IF he is dropping prey in response to situational stimulus, such as movement). Just watch to see his response after he is done constricting (be prepared to describe his actions later, if this doesn't work...hint, hint). Try to notice where he grabs the prey? Is he just letting go and moving away? Is there some attempt to swallow that is aborted? Any interest at all after constriction? If he leaves the prey, just feed the others, per your routine (closing all the bins and leaving), then go back and reoffer him the same item. If he doesn't take, try reheating it.
I don't bother with fancy methods of defrosting - I dump everything in a big bucket, add water, and wait. Depending on the amount I am defrosting, the size, and the particular animals I am feeding, I will sometimes dump the water and add hot a few minutes prior to feeding. I do a quick shake off of excess water and offer it up. Very few of my snakes have any qualms about snatching wet food.
A general recommendation is not to purchase more than you can use in 4-6 months...but I know that I have used older stuff than that. When you get one that is too badly freezer burned to offer, you will know it (stiff and hard after defrosting)
 
as always, my many thanks for your suggestions guys. since ive always pretty much left right away, i will stay to watch and try to find out exactly what he is doing. i will say i have attempted to feed him a 2d time after he refused by taking the rat out and reheating. he did again take it down, but then left it again lol. little bugger.

im starting to think hes killing and leaving it so i can eat it lol. one of the cool things about him is (this isnt when im feeding) when i stoop down to look in his rack and check on him, he almost always comes from where ever he is whether under his paper or back by his water bowl, up to the front of the rack to check me out. :D i love the little guy!!!
 
Perhaps, if the rat is on the large size for this snake maybe he is working to get it down and having a hard time and finally gives up. Move down a size and give it a try.

You should figure it out by watching what he is doing.
 
I briefly read some of the posts. When I have a snake do that I have to cover them completely. These ones usually need complete darkness. I have it dark in the room with little lights on like computer button light or the temp lights etc... Once I cover them and turn off the light they will generally eat then.
 
hey guys, well, unfortunately he ate for me so i cant give any updates hehe, but its feeding nite again tonite and i just have a feeling he wont be taking it so ill let you know.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top