Establishing hatchlings

I have 1.1 D. couperi, hatched in Spring '05. They are housed separately in plastic drawers with rear heat tape, a humidity box and cool and warm hides, on newspaper, fresh water always. They are both feeding on f/t mice scented with goldfish or trout or salmon, which are also consumed if offered. So far they refuse unscented live, fresh killed or f/t mice and rats. I am seeking advice on how to get them converted over to unscented rodents, and when may I expect to see the famous Drymarchon crazy feeding response? I am enjoying them, but they are quite shy as young 'uns. I was thinking of making them fast for 3 weeks or so in hopes they would get hungry and less fussy, but I hate to seem them miss a meal... What say the brethren? Thankyou, Vic in Nor-Cal.

Hey Vic,
Letting them get a bit hungry before you feed them, is sometimes a good insentive. Also keep cutting back on the amount of scent you apply. And you may need to rinse off the mouse scent too. If they refuse, just let'em sit with it, in the door of the hide, for an hour or two. Eventually they'll come around. Sometimes you can pull the old switcharoo with them, when feeding multiple prey items. Time, patience, and carefull attendance. At some point, they'll be ready to eat just about anything you poke in there. If the gold fish are a pain to get, and or keep, just freeze a couple in a bag. And as always, adapt to them and their needs, and they will thrive for you.

Flea was very picky to say the least. But I was way more stubborn, and or patient than he. Now he attacks anything that comes inside his cage, when hungry. I have to keep one hand on the door to keep him from shooting out of the cage! He's like a dawgawn land shark! When he first came to me, he did not eat at all for a little over a week.{{keep in mind that this was about May, and he was nearly a year old, and not in ecdysis.}} He had to be assist fed a goldfish, which he then swallowed on his own. Then the next goldfish he took on his own, when left alone, overnight with it. Then I got him to take from tongs, from inside his hide. Then he started taking them in the open from tongs. Then I started him on scented mouse pinks. Then after he graduated to unscented mouse fuzzies, I started him on mouse fuzzies, dipped in a mixture of egg, calcium supplement, B complex, and fish oil. All of which can be obtained at Wally-World. He is now growing at a phenomenal rate! Every time I show him to the wife, she thinks I've bought a new snake!!!

Hope this helps. Good to hear from you.
T.

I'd say go ahead working with whatever scenting tricks are on your plate, but give them a week without food. IF they refuse, give them another week.

Patience is the key.

Doug T

Tony and Doug have offered you sage advice and I would follow such to the letter. About the only thing I could say, to expound upon their advice, is that Drys will come around in their own time, so I wouldn't worry too much about scenting for now.
As for their shyness, well young Drymarchon are fairly close to the bottom of the food chain for the first year or so of their life, so they tend to be very reclusive. No worries though, as they soon figure out their place as a top tier predator and lose much of their shyness...

Best regards,

Jeff

Thanks for the advice, I guess patience is what I need. They both ate something a little different yesterday, Pacific Saury (Cololabis saira), an oceanic pelagic baitfish. These "needlefish" I scooped up from a bait ball being slaughtered by salmon and murres...now I wish I had saved/frozen more. They might be a near perfect first few months food, as they are so slender without spines. I better not let my Drys get "hooked" on them...too hard to get. They are taking scented fuzzy mice along with the fish. Has anyone tried feeding a Dry a lot of fish? What happens? Pretty messy I am sure, but they sure seem to like them. Gratefully, Vic in Nor-Cal.

Now that they will eat a smelly bait fish, start trying to scent pink mice with that. I bet they start taking the scented mice pretty quick.

Doug T