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hatchling not eating on his own

M

Motley07

New member
Hello everyone. I am new here. I also belong to a UK Cornsnake forum that has been helpful but I also thought I would share my story here:

20 some years ago, I purchased a hatchling cornsnake that basically refused to eat, I tried force feeding, he starved to death and had mouth rot.

My husband (while he was single) purchased a young adult corn from a great place in AZ. The snake lived to be ten years old.

I JUST RECENTLY purchased another corn hatchling from Petco (I work there) I am having a deja vu' experience here as this hatchling won't eat either. I fed him at Petco in the back room and he downed a whole pinky (his first and only) in a matter of minutes.

I purchased him and he has refused all food (voluntarily). After 3.5 weeks of no food, and him getting emaciated, I turned to the other forum for help and they gave me all kinds of 'tricks' to get him to eat. All to no avail. They suggested then, that I force feed. I started to force feed (with trepidation) as it is a last resort (He even refused a live pinky). I am highly worried about injuring his jaw/esophougus(sp?) but so far so good. He has eaten the equivelant of one pinky in the past few days. I cut the pinky into small pieces, and open his mouth with a pen cap stem. The first few times he fought me tooth and nail (who can blame him?) and after a struggle I won by getting the pinky parts into him and massaging his throat. Yesterday, I gave him three pieces and he swallowed them on his own after I pried his mouth open and got him to bite on them. This is a small victory considering before, He would spit them out repeatedly until I pushed the pieces down a bit and held his mouth shut.

I have had him almost a month and he is still alive and not too listless (still fights his feedings). I would prefer someone with more experience help me feed him but the one reptile expert close to home won't do it. The guy gave my snake a 40% chance of survival. Is there anything else I can do??? I don't want him to wither away and die. I have heard of pinky pumps but they are pretty pricey from what I can tell.
 
Motley07 said:
I have had him almost a month and he is still alive and not too listless (still fights his feedings). I would prefer someone with more experience help me feed him but the one reptile expert close to home won't do it. The guy gave my snake a 40% chance of survival. Is there anything else I can do??? I don't want him to wither away and die. I have heard of pinky pumps but they are pretty pricey from what I can tell.
Click to expand...
This is a repost of the method I use, with a lot of success. I hope you find it helpful.

Gather together a couple of wooden toothpicks (tips blunted so as not to injure her) and a blunt rod with a tip small enough to pass through the snake's jaws. I use either a six gauge piercing taper (which you might not have handy ) or a stylus from my PDA. Find the smallest small pinkie you can and warm it until it is very toasty to the touch, about 100 degrees or so. Hold the snake between your thumb and forefinger, directly behind the jaws and firm enough to control head movement. Use a toothpick to gently open her mouth, then lay the toothpick across her jaws to hold her mouth open. Put the pinkie, snout first, into her mouth from the front while sliding the toothpick out the side. You will probably want to hold the pinkie rather firmly on its sides so that your pressure will force it into her throat rather than just bulging the pinkie's torso out. Use the fingers that are controlling her head to prevent her from pushing the pinkie back out while you are repositioning the push rod to force more of the pinkie in. You will be able to feel the pinkie as it passes by your fingers, enough to relax pressure while it passes and then reapply to hold it. The pinkie may split open. Yes, that's messy and a pain to try to force in, a gelatinous mass that wants to go anywhere but the direction you are pushing. Do your best to get it into her throat; it does get easier with practice. Once you have the entire pinkie inside her throat and mouth HOLD HER MOUTH SHUT. Do not let her open it, because her first instinct will be to regurge it right back into your hand. Gently stroke her throat, assisting the pinkie further down. I usually try to get it at least two or three pinkie body lengths down the throat before I let the snake go.

Repeat this every four days, every three if you are able to feed a half pinkie or less. Put the snake and its pinkie in a container alone, preferably in a location with no distractions and low lighting. If the snake does not eat after an hour, feed it. When you are sure the snake is maintaining its weight on this schedule, start allowing the snake to skip being force fed every other feeding: if it doesn't eat this feeding, force it. If it doesn't eat next feeding, let it go hungry. By allowing it to go without food for eight days, you are increasing its hunger and its likelihood to eat on its own. If the snake is not capable of maintaining its body weight with food every eight days, eliminate the skipped feedings until the snake is again in a healthy condition, then try again.

Good luck, and I hope this proves helpful.
 
If it ate at the store but not at your home once you bought it... Maybe you can also try to recreate the conditions in your home that it ate in at the store?? IE = noise level, container... etc I wish you luck and please let us know if anything helps or if he starts to eat on his own... maybe since he doesnt fight it so much wait a few days and then try to give him a f/t pinkie in conditions like the store where he proved he can eat on his own. ??
 
Feeding update on Motley

I have been force feeding Motley since the end of July. He hadn't eaten for a month before that. Ever since, I have been force feeding. I have tried the following:

Braining
Live
F/T dipped in Tuna broth
Lizard scented (Fat-tailed Gecko)
Washing/drying
halved
The only things I haven't tried are chicken broth or anole scenting

I am getting VERY frustrated. He is still stubborn as ever, even more so now that he is growing and stronger. I wait a week between feeds because it stresses us out so much. Yesterday, He managed to wind his body around his own neck and head to prevent me from inserting the pinky. He spit it out at least half a dozen times before I got the whole pinky down him. This time was much more rough on him. He was very agitated and cruised around his viv after he ate. He would touch the glass with his nose and recoil and almost jump at the touch. His neck muscles/skin would puff out just below his head and then deflate. He carried on like this for a couple of hours after eating.

Today he is buried near his water bowl (he never digests on the warm side) and seems o.k, but this last feeding really had me worried I harmed him. I am losing my faith in his will to eat and my own ability to keep this up without hurting him eventually. I feel like I have had beginners luck so far.

I really want him to eat but I don't think he will and I don't know if I can keep this up much longer. It is too nerve-racking.
 
Could you give a detailed description of your set-up? if you can give details on the tank, substrate, hides, heating arrangements, temperatures, thermometers, and so on, there may be a clue as to what the problem is. How often do you handle the corn? Is the tank in a high-traffic area?
I had a corn who was a non-feeder for months, but she is now a big healthy sub-adult. I was in despair too, so along with other members here I know how bad it feels when your snake won't feed.
 
Hmm, let's see:

ten-gallon tank
aspen bedding
two hides (three if you count under his water bowl) one on warm side/one on cool side

temps are 84 on warm side, 78-80 on cool side. (Everyone says this is too warm but both my snake tanks won't go below 80. This is a warm room. I have a fan blowing towards their viv's and they curl up near their water bowls. If it were too hot, wouldn't they just soak in their bowls??

Their vivs are in the office. There is a fair amount of usage and the lights go on and off whenever we enter/exit, but I don't think that would be bothersome.

Oh yes, I've also tried living a live pinky overnight with him and covering his little feeding container. He just is being a little pistol.

I was talking to my mother the other day (telling her my snake woes) and her comment was

The thing that kills me is that he ate on his own ONCE.

I try to be oh-so-careful when feeding him but I can feel his teeth snagging once in awhile. I'm concerned I am breaking them.
 
I still can't find the edit button. Anyway, my mother was like, "All that for a snake?" "I wouldn't bother".
 
If you've got some spare time, you might like to read this thread I've linked. As well as a blog of what happened to my non-feeder, it's got lots of great advice from the people here, who basically kept me going.
http://www.cornsnakes.com/forums/showthread.php?t=30056&highlight=saga
Your set-up sounds good, all I can think of is to stop all handling except for feeding, perhaps screen off the viv to reduce disturbance, and to return to using cut-up pinks as you felt it caused the snake less stress. Good luck with your little one
 
Motley Update 9/1

I *think* Motley is making slow progress towards eating (perhaps someone here has some insight).

I have been force feeding him only once a week for the past 2 months if a whole pinky, twice if half a pinky. We both stress out but both of us are still at it. He is gaining weight and looking pretty good. He has some minor kinks but they seem to be improving. He has grown too.

Last night due to his improvements I decided to feed twice a week again (one whole and one half for the total of the week).

He used to get VERY distressed when I tried tease feeding. Last night he actually laid very still in the small feeder area with his head right next to the pinky half. I had tried bumping his mouth with it and he didn't totally freak like he used to. This time he drew back but didn't try to escape in a panic.

After an hour of lying near the pinky, I again, force fed him. THIS time I got him to open his mouth with the pinky instead of the pen cap. He took it down better than the whole pinky on Tues.

I am keeping my fingers crossed that his added strength and size will give him the courage and desire to strike out and take a washed/scented pinky soon.
 
It is great that he is gaining weight and not regurgitating the pinkies. Try leaving him in his feeding container with the pinky overnight next time. It sounds like he is becoming more comfortable with feeding and you need to let him feed on his own.
 
That's the weird thing (or good thing). In spite of his panic and stress over force-feeding, he has NEVER regurged a pinky, not once! I think he has a very strong will to live, but has been very fearful of the pinkys. He is still ever so trusting and gentle with me. Even though people have said not to handle him until he starts eating on his own, I do because I feel he needs to know that every time I pick him up, it isn't to stress him out with force feeding. In fact, I believe it is making him trust me more.
 
well, I, myself have been force feeding 6.... Jaxom is doing alot too... seems once you get the pinkie down far enough they dont regurge... Its just that they dont eat on their own.
 
Has anyone experienced having a hatchling decide to eat just based on gaining weight and confidence WITHOUT having altered the pinky by scenting it??? Meaning has anyone had a snake just one day (after growing up a bit) decide to go ahead and eat a regular washed pinky???
 
yes :) I have too and its one of the best feelings in the world :) other than seeing them when they first come out of the egg hehe :)
 
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