• Posted 12/19/2024.
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    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.
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    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.

Picky eater - suggestions on the next try

J

Jonathan P

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Hello all (sorry about the length)

I have been reading this site and many of the forums plus the many other wonderful forums out there about similar breeds and difficult feeders.

I recently purchased a nice albino Nelson's milk as a hatchling from the local Petco. Caught them at the right time as it was mispriced and I got a good deal. Supposedly it was eating f/t pinks. The first weekly attempts with a f/t pink and Starburst in essentially a butter dish failed. The 2nd week I attempted a live pink in the smaller container again, no good. The 3rd was surprisingly immediately successful with a f/t as all the local stores were out of live pinks.

Since then the 1st attempt of another f/t pink was refused - he was left in the feeding container at the temp of 80 degrees overnight. The 2nd week I tried tuna scenting of the pink, again no go. 3rd week was a live pink, nope. Since he was still looking strong and not emaciated I decided to keep trying 4th week I tried chicken scenting and he seemed interested so I left the room to insure no interuptions, next morning no luck. This week being the 5th made me worry - he still looks strong and is mellow but exploring his viv a great deal more. So I tried anole scenting - extreme interest but didn't eat.

Boosted by his interest in the anole scenting and not wanting to wait another week and risk having to force feed him I decided to try purchasing a decent sized live anole, just 1 day later. I put it in the feeding container and put the feeding container sealed in his viv. He came out and started exploring the feeding container. After about 15 minutes I picked him up and set him in with the anole. After 5 minutes of exploration of the small container he started licking the anole on its tail then began looking for the head. 5 more minutes and I heard what sounded like the lizard scrambling to get out/away. I peaked and he had the anole by the head and was constricting like a pro. He has finished the anole and after an hour of rest I removed the lid from the feeding container and will allow him to crawl out into his main viv at his leisure.

The anole didn't leave as big a bulge as I had expected. But I don't care he did good and has some nutrition in him.

Any suggestions as to what should be my next feeding after this? I am hoping to not have to go through the several week process again. Any thoughts?
 
www.applegatereptiles.com has great info and Bob is a perfect guy to talk to. He is really helpful and fun. I personally have no experience with them, sorry I cannot help any further.
 
I've had better luck feeding picky eaters in their original cage, they are less disturbed and more willing to eat. First I'm assuming it's in a small shoe box or smaller sized container with some kind of paper for substrate. I would gently and quietly remove everything (water, hide, branches, whatever) from the cage 20 to 30 minutes before feeding time.

Now, quietly place the largest live mouse you think your snake will confortably eat and go away for 30 minutes or so, don't watch it, don't check on it, go away. I'm saying largest baby mouse because the older they are the more active they are, a pinky is not very active but a crawler or hopper will move around a lot more and entice your snake to strike.

After you feed your snake a couple of times you can start to switch it over to F/T because you definitely want to stop feeding live as soon as you can.

I know the above isn't exactly rocket science but maybe it will help. Good luck.
 
I agree with Don, my first instinct would be to stop moving him around to feed him, just make sure he's on a substrate he won't accidentally ingest along with the prey item.

The second thing that occurs to me is that if you have gotten him to eat a mouse pink in the past, I wouldn't try giving him anoles and chance getting him "hooked" on those unless it's an absolute last resort.

I have very little experience with Nelsons, so this is just my opinion from keeping snakes "in general", FWIW. ;)
 
Thank you all for your suggestions. I will definitely try leaving him in his viv with no distractions at the next feeding. I'll update as he eats/doesn't eat.

Jonathan
 
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