I recently got a baby Black African House Snake from Underground Reptiles, and I’ve been having some difficulty getting him to eat on his own. So far, I’ve only been able to feed him once through force-feeding as a last resort.
To be honest, I’m a bit anxious about having to do that again and would prefer to get him feeding naturally. Does anyone have any suggestions on how to encourage his feeding response or activate his natural hunting instincts?
Any advice or personal experiences would be greatly appreciated. Thank you!
You need to supply information such as enclosure size and type, temps, humidity, heat source, what is in the enclosure, etc. You should not have to be force feeding.
What was the breeding feeding him? Size of mouse and frozen thawed or live?
Have you contacted the breeder on feeding information?
Agree with @caron that we’ll need some more information. As much info as you can give about setup, parameters, handling frequency, and details about the feeding attempts (what type of prey, frequency of attempts, how you’re offering the prey, how long this has been going on, etc.) will be helpful for the folks here to help you troubleshoot.
Are you feeding f/t, live, or pre killed? I’m not a “house snake person,” but I do know that the black housies have a bit of a reputation for turning up their noses at f/t, so if that’s all you’ve tried, you might want to try a live rodent.
I’d also recommend holding off on force feeding, as that can be very stressful for the snake and can make it more difficult to get them to take food on their own.
But I’ll tag @kabre and @inspirationexotics, since I know they work with housies. I know there are a few others on here with housies as well, but I’m blanking on who they are right now.
Edit: @athleticshoelace has a black housie and has worked through some feeding struggles with him, she’s one of the folks whose username initially escaped me.
Thanks for the response. He’s currently in a 10-gallon enclosure (20” L × 10” W × 12” H). I’m using a mix of reptile soil and coconut husk as substrate, along with bark, branches, and a small hide. The warm side stays around 84–89°F, and the cool side is usually 69–74°F. I mist the enclosure once a day to help maintain humidity.
I’ve tried offering both small pinky mice and crickets, but he hasn’t shown much interest in either. I’ve mostly been placing the food in the enclosure and letting him investigate on his own.
As for the breeder, I did contact them. They told me that some of the babies from this group were already having difficulties feeding before being sold. That’s part of the reason I’m reaching out for advice. I understand that force-feeding isn’t ideal, and I’d really like to get him feeding voluntarily.
Did you ask the breeder if it was feeding on pinks? If I remember correctly house snakes might start out eating lizards or lizard scented before going on to mice.
As @jawramik Jennifer said, don’t attempt any more force feeding. Snakes can go a long time without eating. However I know you are worried about him but I believe he will eat eventually. But definitely find out what the breeder was feeding him.
You might try boiling the pink to remove the mouse smell sometimes that works
Edit; Also try using tongs instead of just laying the pink in there. Some snakes do better with eating from tongs.
Do you this one could be wild caught? I was gonna ask but according to op the breeder said they had trouble with a “group” but I suppose that snake could be wild caught……
Honestly I don’t know enough about house snakes or establishing wild caught to give an opinion, but scenting couldn’t hurt. The big thing is going to be zero handling until the snake begins eating.
I don’t work with fuligionsus myself, but I’ve picked up a few things in housie circles! And as folks have said, @athleticshoelace would be a great person to ask for advice here – I believe her lovely little guy Sangfroid went through a non feeding phase.
It looks like your temps are good. If you don’t already, make sure your guy has a ton of clutter. Boaedon fuliginosus are very shy especially as younger snakes – genuinely put so much cover in that you think you’ll never see your snake. (In fact you probably won’t for a good while – especially with wild caught, forming a relationship with a snake is a long-term proposition.) Lack of security is a huge appetite killer.
I third the mandate to not handle the little guy at all till you’ve got a few meals in him, unless there is a health issue.
Being wild caught, you may have to resort to live feeding (and I would do that before another assist feed). This is one of the big reasons that investing in captive bred snakes is highly encouraged – selection for snakes that eat well results in babies much more likely to take frozen thawed. (which is probably why boaedon capensis have a better reputation than fulis, in fact – more generations, on average, in captivity!)
There are some things you can try first though:
Scenting with lizard or gecko
Warming up the pink up to body temperature before feeding
Boiling the pink (dipping briefly in boiling water until it greys a bit)
Braining the pink (poking a hole in the skull and getting some brain juice on the outside of the pink’s body)
Drop feeding at the entrance of their favourite hide and leaving overnight
Putting the pink and the snake in a paper bag together for a couple of hours (this breaks the no-handle rule briefly but I’ve had it work)
@kabre I honestly worry that a 10 gal may be a bit too much for one at that size. Would you consider sizing down?
Hopefully it can get the little one going but this little one may be tough. Possibly gecko or anole prey are another consideration. They mostly subsist on rodents in the wild but they do occasionally go for bird or lizard prey. Sometimes other house snakes if they get too close to food time.
I agree with @armiyana Christina. I think this little guy should be in a tub for awhile. Maybe a 12 quart with lots of clutter and 2 hides. At least until he’s eating consistently……
Sizing down is absolutely another good option, at least until he gets some size and confidence. I tend to err on the side of more clutter rather than less size, but less size + more clutter might be doubly effective.
