Non-Feeder Tricks

I would like to make an all-inclusive list of feeding tricks, collect them all together, and post a sticky thread in my personal forum. So far I have:

* Boiled
* Original Ivory Dish Liquid
* Chicken Fat
* Dawn Liquid
* Joy Liquid
* Slit
* Rat-scented
* Bird-scented
* Anole-scented
* Mediterranean Gecko-scented

I know there are a ton more. Please reply with anything that has worked for you!

(If you're reading this and have a non-feeder, the boiled method is _very_ successful- that should be the first thing you try, followed by Ivory soap scenting).

I had a fair amount of success last year with tuna fish scenting( water... Not oil).

Brained mice.
Live pinks. If you can get them. (I had good success with this.)
Generally in combinations,
Left overnight in,
Covered deli
Brown paper bag (I had good success with this one.)
In their own viv.

I've had the best results making shicken stock from the instant broth cubes, and plunking thawed pinkies in the hot hot liquid, then putting the hot pinkie in a deli cup, then the snake in there, putting on the lid quickly, and covering with a black towel so no light or disturbance happens. Leave overnight, only check in morning, because disturbing them ("I just wanted to see...') usually causes them to spit it out or stress out and not feed after all that work.

Also, this: http://www.cornsnakes.com/forums/showpost.php?p=1366638&postcount=159

Good thread Nanci, it would be nice to have a stickie on this subject.

My first go-to is washed with soap and hot water (a deli or smaller quarters seems to really help).
Then washed with Ivory and still lightly soapy.
Then live.
If live doesn't work, time to get creative, if you have a recent shed of any lizard, it's worth a try -I have scented with live guppies successfully more than a few times, also.

But I had boiled (well, poured boiling water over them until starting to turn white) work on three VERY stubborn babies last year, and will move it way higher up my list this year. Unfortunately, they don't all seem to want the same thing.


With hognose; scenting with live fish, toads, salamanders, and tadpoles are my go-to.

I don't have any new ones that have been posted but I thought I would share how I try each one and I think a lot of us recommend.

When starting out with a new baby I offer the f/t pink and if the baby doesn't eat right away then I will cover them so they can't see anything like Dave already recommended and leave it be for at least 30 mins. At that point if they don't eat I will reheat the pink and leave the baby overnight. If the baby doesn't eat overnight then I will wait 5 days without any handling of the baby. After 5 days I will redo the steps above moving on to one of the tricks above, usually boiled is my next step. If the baby still doesn't eat then I wait another 5 days and try another trick. You don't want to repeatedly try back to back because that can stress out a baby and cause it not to eat.

I do want to add the note that all the feedings I offer babies are done in a small deli cup and not in the cage. When they are in a small area with nothing but their food that helps encourage them to eat as well.

Tease feeding - I read about it a few days ago here and watched a video about it. It's where you slap the snake enough times with the pinky (ofcourse while holding the snake in a specific way). Anyway, you slap it enough times till it thinks the pinky is the one holding it, and voila.

Tease feeding has it's place, and I have been feeding a woma that way for 8 years to ever get a meal in him (I will never breed him b/c of this trait). But in my belief, slap-feeding works best for a feeding strike, not a new baby corn snake that has yet to figure out food. Corns aren't prone to defensively bite and hang on to begin with, and slapping a spooky baby yet to understand what her mouth is all about has the potential to be TERRIBLY counter-productive. I know I have posted on here about it working for me before, but I think I wasn't as diligent about trying to get them to eat on their own then. I will still try it before force feeding, and try it in a heartbeat to a fasting 20 gram baby. Just saying I'd check off a few options before tease feeding a baby that has never eaten. But when they put their mouth on food, they sometimes swallow it! I will do everything I can to make them put their own mouths on food before I do it myself. I just prefer them do it out of a desire to eat than fear.

Hope this helps!

Maybe this is common knowledge and everyone does it, but no one ever talks about the moments before feeding (for the snake), so:


I will put mine in their small feeding containers and leave them in the container in a dark room for 10-20 minutes before giving them the pinky. Chasing them around and getting them out of their viv seems like it would wind them up, so letting them wait in the feeding container gives them a chance to calm down.

I've also "scented" the container with a pinky so they can smell it while they wait. And I also cover the container with a heavy book rather than put the lid on, so that I'm not fumbling with the lid trying to take it off and scaring the snake again before eating. Just lift the book off, drop in a pinky, set the book back on.


I've never had a problem feeder, but I do this for my young snakes anyway. I figure it doesn't hurt anything, and if it helps, all the better. I'll let them wait in the feeding container while the pinky thaws, and getting them out before thawing the pinky lets me check them for signs of being in blue, too.

Amanda47 said:

Maybe this is common knowledge and everyone does it, but no one ever talks about the moments before feeding (for the snake), so:


I will put mine in their small feeding containers and leave them in the container in a dark room for 10-20 minutes before giving them the pinky. Chasing them around and getting them out of their viv seems like it would wind them up, so letting them wait in the feeding container gives them a chance to calm down.

I've also "scented" the container with a pinky so they can smell it while they wait. And I also cover the container with a heavy book rather than put the lid on, so that I'm not fumbling with the lid trying to take it off and scaring the snake again before eating. Just lift the book off, drop in a pinky, set the book back on.


I've never had a problem feeder, but I do this for my young snakes anyway. I figure it doesn't hurt anything, and if it helps, all the better. I'll let them wait in the feeding container while the pinky thaws, and getting them out before thawing the pinky lets me check them for signs of being in blue, too.

Click to expand...

I love this idea. I've only had to throw out a couple of thawed out mice because my snake was in blue, but it's annoying. I just got a new baby yesterday (my second snake ever) and my fingers are crossed that she won't be a problem feeder. I love the idea of having a sticky on this topic. I'm doing research all over again even though I've already raised a corn from hatchling size. Every snake is different after all.

I've had a few non-feeders this year. Only two have refused twice. Today, four of five non-feeders (one of them a twice-refuser) took Dawn-scented pinks. (I didn't have Ivory). Granted, three of those were on their second offering, so they probably just weren't hungry enough for the initial feeding. But still- it's a relief, only having one at the moment, with only six unfed babies left.

Nanci said:

I would like to make an all-inclusive list of feeding tricks, collect them all together, and post a sticky thread in my personal forum. So far I have:

* Boiled
* Original Ivory Dish Liquid
* Chicken Fat
* Dawn Liquid
* Joy Liquid
* Slit
* Rat-scented
* Bird-scented
* Anole-scented
* Mediterranean Gecko-scented

I know there are a ton more. Please reply with anything that has worked for you!

(If you're reading this and have a non-feeder, the boiled method is _very_ successful- that should be the first thing you try, followed by Ivory soap scenting).

Click to expand...

Can someone explain what all these methods are?

Boiled: pour boiling water on pinkies
Ivory/Dawn/Joy - dip/wash pinkies in soapy dish water
Chicken fat- dip in CF (or tuna juice, chicken broth etc)
Scenting- rub lizard, rat bedding or whatever on pinky

with all these methods, they will eat better if fed at dusk and left alone in dark, small container with pinky

I guess I should add that tease feeding is my favorite method for getting mine to eat and the first thing I personally try after f/t pinkies.
Here is a post I wrote several years ago with description:
http://www.cornsnakes.com/forums/showthread.php?t=54474

I've had to throw out 2 now.. I only have 1 left now.. until I get paid again.. I was hoping the ones I had would last nearly a month for her

If it is your Tess you are having a problem with please pm me with what you have done. I really wouldn't try again right away.