tired or affected by drugs or alcohol. Pace yourself
and don’t attempt to feed an entire litter in one
session. This can be a very frustrating time and if
you reach the end of your tether with an uncoopera-
tive animal, put it away and try another day.
Assist-feeding is generally regarded as the process
of placing a food item in the mouth of a snake and
allowing it to swallow the item voluntarily. Force-
feeding by contrast is placing the food item in the
mouth and gently pushing it far enough down the
throat so that regurgitation is difficult. Some snakes
can be readily started using assist-feeding. Others
may require repeated force-feeding before they will
feed voluntarily.
There are many items that are suitable for assist- or
force-feeding; thawed pinky mice, mouse
‘drumsticks’, mouse or rat tails, fish, juvenile eels
(elvers) and meat have all been used by various
keepers. In its simplest form, assist-feeding entails
gently picking up the neonate snake, placing a small
pinky mouse in its mouth, putting it down again and
1.
leaving it to its own devices. At this point you may
need to be very still if the snake is going to swallow
the food. You can usually tell pretty quickly what is
going to happen. Chewing motions generally result
in the food being taken, while a reluctance to bite
down in conjunction with a delay of more than two
or three minutes often ends in rejection. Sometimes
death adders can be more definitive than that -
shaking their head violently sideways, and flinging
the food 20-30cm. away!
Some snakes are so small when they’re born that
even a newborn pinky is too large to get down. This
is where long thin items of food are better; I have
had great success with mouse ‘drumsticks’ and they
have great food value comprising muscle, bone (for
calcium) and roughage if you leave the skin on. For
many small snakes the hindlimb of a small weaner
mouse is ideal. It is smaller in cross section than a
newborn mouse and easier to handle. Once
punctured, pinky mice become limp and very
difficult to manipulate in a snake’s mouth, whereas
a mouse leg retains its integrity because it has a
series of bones supporting it.
I have found drumsticks very easy to
prepare, but you will need a good pair of
sharp dissecting scissors. Start by extend-
ing the hind leg of the thawed mouse and
pinching the skin near the foot with your
forefinger and thumb. Then push the skin
up the limb, much like rolling up your
sleeve. You’ll find that the skin comes
away relatively easily, exposing the calf
and thigh muscles. Cut the leg away at
the hip joint, trim of the foot and you have
an entire back leg ready for assist-
feeding. Of course, there will be a bend in
this food item at the knee, and you should
consider whether it might be better cutting
the leg at the knee joint and feeding the
two pieces separately. Given most of the
1.
A straight crop
needle loaded with
turkey mince
supplemented with
calcium is
prepared to feed a
young elapid.
2. The mixture is
injected into the
deep oesophagus
or stomach.
Images courtesy
Shane Black.
2.