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Force feeding Motley

Motley07 said:
Someone on the Cornsnakeforum.com/UK told me Peaches is an amelanistic corn (red albino) NOT a creamsicle like I thought. I don't typically like albino animals but her peachy tones are what drew me to her in the first place, so I think she's lovely even for an albino :)
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A creamsicle IS an amel (corn/emoryi cross, so just not a pure corn). If you were told creamsicle, than that's what I'd go with. Whomever told you that on the other forum probably was not aware of what a creamsicle really is, as you can't always tell just by looking.
 
Motley07 said:
I have a thermomter on the cool side (upper right of tank on the back) which reads 80 degrees, and also a thermomter on the lower left front side near the heated substrate that also reads 80 degrees. I can't quite figure it out. Peaches hangs out by her water bowl most of the time so I guess the heated side is a bit too warm. I plan on getting a dimmer switch to use on the UTH which admittedly is a bit too large for the tank size. I don't understand though, why my 'cool' side reads the same as the warm side!!
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Possibly because its summer and its just 80 degrees in your home. Mine is probably like that until I put the AC on.
 
Motley07 said:
Yep, I've tried braining but perhaps did it incorrectly? I snipped a hole in the top of the pinky's head and squeezed out the 'juices' the pinkys were also cut in half lengthwise, exposing organs and the brain. He just isn't interested in eating on his own just yet, but I am having faith he will as he did eat ONCE on his own (at Petco) it is only a matter of time before he makes up his mind to do it again.
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The two times I have ever cut lengthwise, my hatchling did not eat it. I dont blame her cause by then it doesnt look like a mouse anymore, its just guts and blah, if you have to cut it, cut it the other way, across the waist, as long as the girth of the pinky does not exceed 1 1/2 times the biggest girth on the snake youll be Ok.

Again, I would give him a few days of doing absolutely nothing............then cut a pinky at the waist and after it is thawed out, heat it in chicken broth.

If the pinkys girth is too big because I know you said Motley is a little thin.....Put the pinky (after its defrosted) into a paper towel and roll it like a piece of dough, breaking the bones and making it thinner, then do the broth and give it to him. Someone here had me do that and it worked........My snakes dont like anything cut.


Like I said, if it wasnt for chicken broth my hatchling would have been needing to be force fed for the last 8 months. Give it a try...........the smell might jog his appetite cause regular mice aint doing it.
 
Im sorry you and motley are have such a ruff time.
You are talking temps and i wonder what kind of thermometer you are using. I ask as some will perhaps not give a accurite reading. I use a digital with a probe so i can tape it to the bottom surface for a reading. A temp gun will work well also.
Most hatchlings seem to eat better at a temp above 80..If you could try 82 or 83 that might help. Perhaps he would even like it a bit warmer then that.
It was just a thought and good luck with Motley....
 
You said your UTH was too large? How much of the tank does it cover? Ideally it should be 1/3 - 1/2. If possible you should purchase a digital thermometer with a probe and place it in the substrate on the warm end to give an accurate reading. 'Stick on' thermometers, even when placed at the bottom near the substrate dont give accurate readings as UTH's are more of a contact heater so will heat through the glass and warm the substrate but not so much the air. You ideally need to be looking at 85 in the warm end, and 75 in the cool end, but in a warmer environment it can be difficult to achieve the cool end, ive heard some people either use a fan, or place a sealed bag of ice on the lid of the cool end for a short period of time to bring the temp down. I cant see it being a problem for me as I live in 'rainy' old England! Good luck though, and nice pics!
 
The tank is a 30 breeder with dimensions of 36 X 18 inches. The UTH is the size for a 55 gal. The previous owner of the tank actually had TWO UTH stuck to the INSIDE of this tank on the SIDES. She also had two lamps, one with a ceramic heat emitter (HOT, HOT!!) She probably cooked her poor boa). I unstuck one and placed it underneath. It was too long to fit across the short side, so I placed it along the back left corner going the long way (the 36 inch direction). It takes up 1/4 of the tank bottom. The glass itself is pretty hot to the touch but the substrate over it should fix that, right??

I have heard that dimmers don't work well on UTH. Can anyone recommend a thermostat brand I can buy and where to get it?? Petco sells the mats and thermometers, but not regulators (thermostats).
 
I took a short extension cord and cut it in half. Went to Home depot and got a slide dimmer switch and put it in between the two halves. Works great to regulate the temp. (make sure everything is grounded)
 
Motley07 said:
The tank is a 30 breeder with dimensions of 36 X 18 inches. The UTH is the size for a 55 gal. The previous owner of the tank actually had TWO UTH stuck to the INSIDE of this tank on the SIDES. She also had two lamps, one with a ceramic heat emitter (HOT, HOT!!) She probably cooked her poor boa). I unstuck one and placed it underneath. It was too long to fit across the short side, so I placed it along the back left corner going the long way (the 36 inch direction). It takes up 1/4 of the tank bottom. The glass itself is pretty hot to the touch but the substrate over it should fix that, right??

I have heard that dimmers don't work well on UTH. Can anyone recommend a thermostat brand I can buy and where to get it?? Petco sells the mats and thermometers, but not regulators (thermostats).
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Sure, heres a good thermostat.

http://www.reptilesupply.com/product.php?products_id=76


By the way, the glass shouldnt NOT be hot to your touch. Think about it, it shouldnt exceed 85 degrees, and our bodies are 98 degrees in temp, it should feel warm to you, not hot. Sometimes I touch mine and get nervous that its not on....but I have one of these in there.

http://www.reptilesupply.com/product.php?products_id=392


I think that heat mat is too big, a 36 is a 30 gallon isnt it? a 55 gallon is 47 inches long so i dont know how much of a gradient your going to get, but I know some people here dont even use a gradient. Anyway check that site out, its alot cheaper then places I have here so I get all my stuff there.
 
I think the heat mat might be ruined. Parts are so hot I cannot keep my hand on for long (the substrate over it helps). and other spots are just right. I think I am going to peel it off and get a new, more appropriate sized one.
 
Well then its not 80 degrees for sure. The good news is maybe you found your problem. The bad news is corns burrow, so the substrate over it does nothing, if it burns you, it burns the snake. Hopefully they stay away from it until its replaced.


By the way, when you get the digital thermometer make sure the probe is right on the glass. You want to measure the temperature of the glass, not above it.
 
Well, I peeled off the too large heat mat with the hot spots and purchased a smaller one (30-40 gal) Zoo Med UTH. Almost immediately, Peaches has noticed the difference. She is now moving back and forth between the cave (over the new heatmat) and her favorite spot, squeezed between her water bowl and her log. She seems to be saying: "Ahh, now that's MUCH better!) The new mat doesn't have those awful scalding spots. Next, I am going to order a thermostat and digital thermometer w/probe.

Now for another Motley update. He looks good (although I found ONE kink, about midway through his body) and his weight is good. He is alert and active. However, I tried washing a pinky and dipping it in hot tuna broth. He was alone with it for an hour and NOTHING. I force fed him the whole thing this time. No messing around with the little pieces. He spit it out about three times before I got it down. He tried to regurge twice, so I held his mouth shut and massaged it down to his stomach area. I know it isn't too large as he downed the same size pinky over a month ago on his own at Petco.

I am STILL prying his mouth open with a pen cap as the pinkys are too soft and squishy to force his mouth open and he absolutely refuses to be teased into biting pinkys. I hope he keeps this one down and wants to eat on his own someday. I have tried every trick in the book (maybe not EVERY, but many!) to make the pinky more appealing and yet he continues to refuse. When do I give up?? I can't force feed him forever. Does the kink affect his eating??
 
OOPS!! My mistake!! I felth the NEW Zoo Med UTH and it too is way too hot with my hand directly on the glass. I can't keep my hand on it for long. Why are these things so hot??? The manufacturers say it warms the air 5-10 degrees more than the air temp. I hope the thermostat can fix this. You say that even with my hand directly on the glass, that it should feel warm (where I can keep my hand on it) right??
 
Just read the directions again on the heat mat and it said for lightweight substrate (aspen) and burrowing reptiles (corns) that a Zoo Med cage carpet must be used underneath the substrate (right over the heated glass) to prevent the reptile from getting to the hot glass. It's funny because my husband had just suggested I do that before I found that in the directions. I happen to have two pieces of this carpet because I tried it out on my Fat-Tailed Gecko and I didn't like it so I switched to repti-bark instead.
 
If you use a thermostat to control the mat then your snake shouldn't get burned as the mat will stay at the right temperature. Themostats can fail occasionally though, so it's best to monitor with a digital thermometer too
 
I just want to encourage you with your forced feeding. I purchased a baby butter at a reptile show last summer and had to force feed it for 4 months before it started eating on it's own. I tried every single trick and finally what worked to get him eating on his own was green anole skin. I went out and got 2 green anoles and I managed to catch one of them shedding and peeled off it's skin and kept it jar. Each time I went to feed my butter I would wash the pinky with soap and then wrap a little piece of skin around the pinky's head. I then put him in a small ceramic plant pot with the pinky and he eventually ate it. After a few times he got the hang of it and started eating regular F/T. Just to list the tricks I tried.

Feeding live
Freshly killed
Brained
Washed
Anole saliva scent

I always left them over night locked up in a little ceramic pot.

For forced feeding I found if you let the pinky sit for a few hours it will get rigor mortise and stiffen up nicely. They are much easer to stuff down when they are all stiff.
 
Just a note on tuna scent. Some people say it works but I've never even been able to get a good eater to take a tuna scented pinky.
 
The repticarpet over the glass (under the substrate) did the trick for the hot areas of the heatmat in Peaches viv. As far as Motley goes, I am trying CHICKEN broth next feeding, after that, a pinky scented with anole. He WILL eat. He's a fighter and a sweetie at the same time and I know he wants to live.
 
I just fed a corn we bought at a show. It ate for me once and then refused (shedding in between). But anyway I just finally got her to eat by just touching the head of the pinkie in tuna water. It actually worked! I was so glad. Of course she is not a hatchling. I just wanted to say tuna worked for me. :crazy02:
 
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