Help with SD retic!

It's a feeding problem really.

When feeding this little guy he takes the food off the tongs no bother, sometimes misses but that's not the issue.he constricts then leaves the food, sometimes sitting on top of the food, so I then have to offer on tongs again after spending about twenty mins trying not to get tagged by him as he is very enthusiastic when it comes to feeding, this process is repeated at least twice before he begins to swallow food! More often than not it takes three or four times, am I doing something wrong or is this typical of super dwarves? The food is defrosted thoroughly before offering and he is fed in his rub. This snake isn't remotely aggressive, but on feeding days he would strike at his shadow!

Does anyone have any experience with this or any hints or tips on how to get this young lad eating first time?

ive had snakes of different species like that before, i never seen it as a feeding problem though. different snakes do different things................

Have you tried leaving the food in there, after he has constricted etc? I've had a few snakes before that would strike and constrict their prey, then leave it, often moving away from the food. But I'd leave them to it anyway and when I return (whether it was the following morning, or just later that day), the food was usually gone.

Id say leave it with him it could be the fact that your there he gets distracted and needs to be 100% of his attention on the grub.

Yes this has been tried! If you leave it with him he just lies on to of it! I'll resist with it but I hate wasting food! So I usually take it out and strike feed him again!

The g stripe we moved on recently and our sd male both done this........starving the sd male for 2 weeks put stop tp it but the g stripe seemed to do it repeatedly for no reason and likewise didnt even eat if left with him all night.
Try making him fight for his food by holding tight when he strikes and coils and try to pull it away from him a couple of times....just be careful he doesnt decide to have a go for your hand while doing this lol

Wear a glove when attempting the above method lol.

One of our mainlanders does this every single time. He's a pain. He usually does it when he's distracted or if he doesn't get the rat by the head.

To overcome (though it doesn't always work out) it we do the following:

Ensure the snake gets the prey by the head.
Allow the snake to 'kill' the rat, i.e. make the snake believe he is slowly killing the rat by continuously wriggling it for a few seconds after he's caught it.
Leave snake completely alone in the room and check back 20 minutes later.

Best of luck!

Yeh I have noticed that if he gets the head he chomps it down ritley! I'll give wiggle technique a go and see what happens!

Thanks for all the replies

If that's the case, he sounds like a lazy feeder, so be sure to keep up with thefood size upgrades or you'll have trouble getting him up to appropriate sizes as he grows