King Cobra not feeding- any suggestions
I purchased a 7 foot venomoid king cobra from Carolina Reptiles back in November and she still has not eaten for me. I provide educational shows to schools etc., so a venomoid is a must. Se is a healthy and active snake, she just refuses to eat. I had Bruce at Carolina Reptile e-mail me a picture of her eating before I bought her, she was supposedly eating mice. I've offered her a few different types of pre-killed snakes with no luck. I would hate to offer her a live feeder snake and the feeder gets lucky and hurts my girl. She is a Farley aggressive snake hooding and striking regularly so this makes tease feeding a little hard, she focuses on me and not the food. She is a bit thin so I've force feed her twice to try to maintain her weight.
Does anyone have any suggestions on what to do; I don't want to loose her |
First, I'll dare not go into the venomid issues here (very tempting, poor snake). Second, why not try live snakes? Throw some easily obtained Texas rats in there and see what happens. Why did you force feed again? You said she was thin? I will tell you know that only 6 months of not feeding will not make a healthy adult (or even subadult) snake thin. I would suspect you've purchased a non-feeding snake.
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You are not the first person to have recieved one of Bruce's misrepresented butcher jobs. Others have posted here about the dying or dead mistreated kings they have recieved from this unethical person. There are lots and lots of threads about this individual. Use the search function on the BOI to find them. Quote:
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Have you taken your animal (or at least some blood and fecal samples) to a veterinarian? If not, why not? Quote:
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Let's assume for a moment that you have absolutely no access to a vet clinic or any veterinary equipment, which is not a very professional scenario for a supposedly professional educator who is maintaining exotic animals. At a minimum you can see about obtaining Diazepam and a fecal exam from a local vet who will not see your animals in his or her office but might prescribe drugs and run your fecals. Fecals should be repeated throughout the course of treatment with antiparasitical drugs so that you can adjust dosing and duration. If you can't even get it together to this extent, you could always shotgun the snake with 50mg/kg each of Panacur and Flagyl plus a nutritional slurry, repeated at 4 to 7 day intervals X 3. Be quick about it as prolonged restraint is not healthy for kings, and don't put the tube down the glottis by mistake as this will kill the animal. I don't really recommend the shotgun approach, but it may be better than nothing if you really can't be bothered to do a proper job of giving veterinary care. My personal opinion is that anyone who can't be bothered to give proper veterinary care to an animal ought not to have it at all, but in this day and age of instant gratification no one can be stopped from buying and mutilating a king cobra if they want one. Whether it will survive this kind of treatment is questionable, especially without good quality veterinary support care. A skinny, physically traumatized, parasite loaded, stressed, imported king cobra does not have a great prognosis for survival otherwise. You can find some more detailed information on the veterinary treatment of venomous snakes at http://www.snakegetters.com |
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My post is probably going to sound redundant, as Tanith did a superb job of both chastising you for getting a venomoid hack job, but at the same time giving you the neccesary information to try and save the snake. Looks like you found out the hard way what quite a few of Bruce's snakes end up like...non-feeding, unhealthy, traumatized venomoids that don't end up surviving that long (hopefully yours will be an exception to this "rule"). As Tanith said, wild caught snakes are already under incredible stress (which is why a lot of wild caught snakes do not feed right away in captivity) in the first place. King cobras are notorius for being problematic captives when fresh out of the bush. And then, you throw in the fact that it was thrown in the fridge for an hour or so so that it was immobilized, strapped down with pieces of duct tape (or whatever they use), and cruedly cut open, had pieces of it's anatomy ripped out of it, sown back up with cheap, non-medical sutures (there is a pic of a king done by Bruce that demonstrates his sewing technique, the snake died, it was sold with the stitches still in it!), and then thrown in a shipping box and flown across the country. Tell me, you wouldn't really want to sit down for a snack after all that either, would you? I doubt that snake was in captivity longer than a few weeks before ol' Brucey took the blade to it. Again, as Tanith said, venomous snakes can be displayed intact provided you display them in secure, escape proof caging (which is what you should be keeping them in anyway). Children shouldn't get used to the idea of touching venomous snakes. You don't need to use the "shock and awe" approach of education where you pull out your mutilated snake so kids can go "oooh" and "ahhhh" as you parade the poor animal around. I'm sure you mean well. However, venomoids in this country are much more often than not performed on by unexperienced, unlicenced, unqualified butchers in their basements or garages. Snakes are hardy creatures, so some do survive in the long term, but most only make it a few weeks/months. Still impressive, considering the amount of trauma and stress they endure at the hands of their tormentors (the butchers). Learn a lesson from this. Don't buy venomoids. If you MUST buy one (which I can't figure out why, if using venomoids is that imperative to your educational shows, drop venomous from your education shows, and let someone willing to use intact animals do it, there are plenty of them in TX), then at least get a licensed, experienced vet (not all vets know what they are doing when it comes to venomoid surgery, and most won't do it anyway) to do it, so that the snake is at least anesthisized, operated on in a sterile environment, and given pain management medication afterwards. But don't support Bruce and his hackshop. I wouldn't buy a feeder mouse from those fools, much less a snake. |
King Cobra not feeding- any suggestions
Thank you all for your responses and advice, I really appreciate the help.
My normal vet is a 3 hour drive away from me; she is an excellent vet who is very experienced with exotics. My local vet will not see venomous snakes in his office but will make house calls or prescribe appropriate medications if needed. I bought the King as a captive born Indo/Tia mix. I was told that kings grow quickly and go through a thin stage as they grow. I received a copy of a receipt that Bruce got from the vet that he used for the procedure. This was a simple receipt and could have been forged but, I would like to believe that it was not. All of my venomoids except for this one was done by Rich Richey. He does not do hack jobs and I trust his work and care taken to keep the animal as comfortable as possible. As far as the venomoid issue, my local animal control guys, which I try to keep a good working relationship with do not harass me as much because they feel safer knowing that I am a knowledgeable professional and in the event of a dropped cage or God forbid an accidental escape, no children or otherwise would (relatively) be harmed by the snake. I do not make handling snakes look cool or neat is any way. It is simply hard to show the animal and all of its small but interesting adaptations and body parts if it is in a small cage. It is also much more personal and a child is much more likely to walk away absorbing more information if they are stimulated or interested. I always end my shows using a western diamondback that is very “nippy” and show exactly why it is not a good idea to handle venomous snakes. I handle all my snakes as if they are venomous while in the show. I’ll try to catch a few small Texas rat snakes to offer her live and see if I can get a food response. I normally would not consider feeding wild caught food items to my captive animals due to the parasite and disease transfer rate. Do any of you have a better idea on getting her to start feeding. The pictures that Bruce sent me are to large to add into this thread. I'm not sure how to compress the pictures to fit, so if anyone can help me again I'd Appreciate it. Thanks again for the help. Jeff |
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King Cobra not feeding- any suggestions
Ok, I'll agree with you. He has been performing the surgery for "I think" around 20 yrs, under clinical conditions. You are correct he is not a vet, though he is very knowledgeable and good at what he does.
But, we are getting off subject. The real issue here is a poor snakes and friends life. The Cobra is in an appropriate sized cage with multiple hiding places and a small mounted tree to climb on. Jeff |
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I have no confidence any so called veterinary certifications that he might have, given his past record of producing extremely creative fictional paperwork in regards to the snakes he is selling. Search on the BOI for his name and you will see examples of his past paperwork forgery as well as his criminal record. By the time you get done reading, you will be sorry you ever did business with this guy. Actually I'm sure you are already. If you like, PM me your phone number and your vet's information, and I'll start the process of getting your vet in touch with the zoo vets I've worked with who have extensive experience with kings. |
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I agree that it is a good thing to engage the kids' interest, but there are safe and positive ways to do this that don't require mutilating your animals. I understand that not everyone has a facility where they can walk inside a glass walled enclosure and do shows from there, but you can buy sturdy and shatterproof plastic cages for transport. Quote:
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King Cobra not feeding- any suggestions
I always make a point to let my audience know why the animals that I use do not make good pets, I usually go into detain as to why as well. I do not tell the children that the snakes are altered in any way. If I was to get bitten I would then tell them that the snake has had a surgery performed on it as to not worry the audience or give them a false sense confidence. When I do bring out the snakes, I have a safe working distance, and simply put the snake on a desk or on the ground. I never use the "Austin Stevens" technique of snake wrangling. The snakes usually goes into a defensive posture and will remain where it is.
I found an Image gallery and used it: http://photobucket.com/albums/y86/atroxman/ the last two pictures were taken by Bruce. Looking at the pictures I do have a question if it is the same snake or not . Once again, Thanks for the help. I'll try live food first and then go from there, what do you think? Jeff |
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