How long before I should worry?

[blueturtle]

I have recently gotten a new baby corn. I was told by the store that they get fed on sundays and that the corn I was getting had eaten. Well last sunday came and sure enough my Semy was out and about in search with full tongue flickering. I figured she was hungry since it was her normal scheduled feeding day so I took her out, weighed her and put her in a small container with a freshly defrosted and warmed pinky. I even slit its back open to further entice her. At first she did investigate it and even opened her mouth over the pinks mouth but quickly moved away as if to say "Just Kidding!" :rofl: I took the hint that she might want to be alone, so I left. 3hrs in there, alone, covered, and definitely undisturbed, all she did was curl up in a corner. I had to leave for work so I put her back in her viv and tossed the pink.

Last night I arrived home from work around 11pm to find her being a busy hunter again and drinking water. I put her in her feeding container and put in a nice warm slitted pinky and gave a bit of a wiggle before leaving her alone. I put the container back in her viv and left her there overnight with the pinky. This morning, I awoke to her "asleep" in one corner and the pink in the other.

I really don't want to start to worry.

Some helpful info:

-She's 5.4g
-She's believed to be an early '08 with 2-3 feedings at the petstore I bought her at.
-She looks to be about 12-13 inches in length. I'm eyeballing as I dont want to stress her by trying to measure her.
-She's in a 20gal Long tank with plenty of hiding from vines and substrate as well as 2 official hides, one on each side.
-The overall temp in the tank ranges from 80-86.5 without the UTH turned on. Its been hot here lately and I dont want to overheat her.
-I'm using probed thermometers to take the temps.
-Her feeding container is one of those small Kritter Keepers. I have the smallest size from when I bought my RES turtle hatchlings down in Los Angeles for 5$ in the garment district.

I'm a bit worried because of her small weight. I read somewhere that hatchling weight was around 8g. Any help and input would be greatly appreciated!

 

[Weebonilass]

My littlest one was 6g when I brought him home back in Dec/Jan and he's only 8g now, but eats on a regular basis.

Are you positive that this one ate at the store? Our first corn was a non-feeder that the store swore ate, but when I finally got a copy of the feed record from the BBB, it showed that every feeding that one hatchling hadn't eaten. One time they marked that the one with the white on the head didn't eat... well, she had white on her head.

You should offer it only every five days, too often will simply stress the little one more. You might try putting her in a smaller tank. There have been a couple of incidents on here where the snakes ate after being put in a smaller (10 gal) container. Actually, I think there was one that even as an semi-adult they preferred the 10gal. But that might be simply a bad memory

She may have been blue at the store and getting ready to shed. So I would wait four days before offering again. Then DiamondLil has every method under the sun that she tempted in an very long thread

I think this is the link...

http://cornsnakes.com/forums/showthr...highlight=saga

 

[Weebonilass]

Don't know why that link didn't work...

http://www.cornsnakes.com/forums/showthread.php?t=30056&highlight=saga

Or do a search on "saga" you'll find it that way.

 

[blueturtle]

Thanx for the input. I finished reading that 56pg long thread last night. I'm just hoping that it wont come to the point of force feeding her.

 

[Weebonilass]

Thanx for the input. I finished reading that 56pg long thread last night. I'm just hoping that it wont come to the point of force feeding her.

I'm impressed Most folks don't try to find an answer before asking. Our first one didn't eat for a month before I took it to a vet and she actually was parasite it. Your little one can't afford to lose alot of weight, but its not time to worry just yet. Still might want to think about downgrading her from that 20gal to a 10gal. They are pretty cheap.

 

[zeeboismysnake]

-The overall temp in the tank ranges from 80-86.5 without the UTH turned on. Its been hot here lately and I dont want to overheat her.

Is the rest of the house this temperature? If so, that could be a factor. The first time I tried to feed Cotton, he wouldn't eat. I followed the whole "leave in container overnight" thing to no avail. Then I realized the temperature was a bit warm, around 75. A few days later I made sure it was an even 70 when i fed him again. Left him in the bowl overnight and woke up to a fat little snake.
I'm guessing he didn't want to eat because he wasn't used to eating at the higher temperature. So I'd say-if at all possible-get him to an area that's around 70 degrees. Good luck

 

[Weebonilass]

Is the rest of the house this temperature? If so, that could be a factor. The first time I tried to feed Cotton, he wouldn't eat. I followed the whole "leave in container overnight" thing to no avail. Then I realized the temperature was a bit warm, around 75. A few days later I made sure it was an even 70 when i fed him again. Left him in the bowl overnight and woke up to a fat little snake.
I'm guessing he didn't want to eat because he wasn't used to eating at the higher temperature. So I'd say-if at all possible-get him to an area that's around 70 degrees. Good luck

Sorry, I would disagree.. 70 is too cool... the warm side of a tank should be around 85 and the cool side of the tank should be around 72 - 75. They will almost always hang out around the warm side of the tank after feeding.

If they had to have 70s to feed, most of the snakes in the wild wouldn't eat. The SouthEast gets dang warm in the summer

 

[zeeboismysnake]

I'm not saying the cage, just the temp to feed at. Sorry, was just trying to contribute what's worked for me...

 

[Caryl]

Have you tried using only a pinkie head? Very small babies might be reluctant to try a whole pink. Just a head is not only smaller, it's very scent-rich.
How about using tongs to introduce the mouse, and make the prey "move" a bit? Some are more likely to take prey that way.

Also, some baby corns want anoles instead of mice. I understand that this is often true for Miami phase hatchlings, as well as diffusions. Miamis also tend to run smaller than some, so that may be explain your baby's small size.

I think your tank size is ok, since you have lots of hide choices. Good luck, and let us know how things progess.

 

[Weebonilass]

Actually IMO, two hides for a 5.6g snake in a 20gal tank is not enough. Some snakes don't find vines that secure. In the wild, a hawk could still pick them up for dinner.

My 8g baby is in a 10 gal and has three hides and I bought him a water dish that actually has an opening that he can crawl into and it tends to be his favorite since I added it to his world, which makes four. I think I've seen him in the vines once, maybe twice, when he was going from one hide to another. His warm side is 84.7 and his cool side tends towards 73 - 76.

I'm hoping one of the more experience folks would chime in here. I've only had one non-feeder myself.

 

[blueturtle]

Weebonilass, I honestly don't think that my little Semy is at all stressed or scared anymore. She loves the vines and scurries all around and even sleeps in them. She also sleeps in the hides and burried under the aspen. The one thing that shows me she's not stressed or scared in her viv is that alot of times i also find her sleeping on top of the aspen in plain view. And not in a corner but like in the middle. She even comes up to the glass when I put my finger up to it. She'll follow my finger around. She really does utilize the whole tank. :dancer:

Oh and I alway try and research my own answers, if that don't work then I ask.

Caryl, Both times that I tried to feed her I used long plastic tongs and gave the mouse a little wiggle. The first time she seemed interested after a while, but only for a bit. The second time, she didnt want a thing to do with it. If she could talk, I swear she would have been saying, "O-M-G! How Gross!"

I haven't tried just a mouse head though. How should I go about doing that? do I cut the head off while its frozen or after its been thawed? uke01:Also, if I do it while frozen, can i save the body to feed to it later so that its not going to waste?


Zeeboismysnake, When I left her overnight with the pink, I know that the temp did drop a bit to around mid 70's. Currently its at 73.


I was thinking of trying a live pink to see if she'd take and then try switching her or even giving her a washed one. I read in that saga thread that washing the pink with either irish spring or unscented dial helped.

I wanted to know how to go about doing that and knowing that there isnt any soap residue that might harm the snake.

I think I'm gonna wait until next week around wednesday to try again. What do you guys think?

Btw, thank you for all the input you've all given me.

 

[blueturtle]

Here's a picture of my little Semy. I took this picture of her after "playing" follow the finger. She seems to like to follow my finger across a small section of the glass. Its cute.

Just thought I'd post a pic of her so that it'd entice others to give me some great ideas at how I could help her!

 

[diamondlil]

She's absolutely beautiful! Are your mice from the shop she was bought at? I know it may sound strange, but one time I used a different supplier, the mice looked and smelt ok to me, but most of my snakes refused them. Washing pinkies in Ivory soap has worked for people, my former non-feeder went through a stage of only eating washed live pinkies, which wasn't much fun.

 

[blueturtle]

No, the mice aren't from the same place. Unfortunately I bought Semy at Petco. :uhoh: I know, bad, huh? But in all fairness, she was alert, and everything about her seemed fine.

The pinks I got from a reptile shop. I probably should have gotten my corn from them but when I saw her I just fell in love.

When do you think I should try feeding her a live pink?

 

[blueturtle]

Ok, I just got off the phone with the sales associate that helped me that night, and I asked her for the records, she put me on hold and later came back and said the one I had gotten ate 2 pinkies on the 24th. I asked her how they told them apart and she said by color and description. She described Semy pretty well and on top of that Semy was the only one of her kind in the tank, the rest were albinos.

She doesnt have any kind of lump. What I did notice was that she had what looked like a black smudge very close to her opening. It looked like it was an internal smudge, almost as if her skin was so light I could kind of see inside. Does that make any sense?

Would that be poop?

She also told me that they feed in an empty petco carrier box. The kind that they send you home in. So next time I try to feed, I'm going to try in that.

 

[Caryl]

Yes, "an internal smudge" near the cloaca could be digestive tract material - aka poop. This is most likely the case if you noticed a "smudge" that wasn't there before. I can follow the progress of the food on my amel and my snow that way. Your baby's quite beautiful. I can see why you fell for her!

As far as when to cut a pinkie, it's easier to do it frozen, and you can save the rest that way. However, it's less messy to thaw if you cut it afterward. You can't save/refreeze any part that's thawed.

Don't pester her about feeding. If she ate willingly before, she will eat willingly again. Once every 3 days is often enough to offer. And feeding in the same type container that she's used to is an excellent idea. Keep us posted!

 

[blueturtle]

Last night while playing "follow my finger" with her, she got into an "S" and looked like she was getting ready to strike. After 5seconds of bracing her self, she struck....the glass. I'm taking this as a good sign that hopefully she'll be ready to eat pretty soon. You know, getting her instincts back.

I'll keep you all posted!

 

[Weebonilass]

Yes, "an internal smudge" near the cloaca could be digestive tract material - aka poop. This is most likely the case if you noticed a "smudge" that wasn't there before. I can follow the progress of the food on my amel and my snow that way. Your baby's quite beautiful. I can see why you fell for her!

As far as when to cut a pinkie, it's easier to do it frozen, and you can save the rest that way. However, it's less messy to thaw if you cut it afterward. You can't save/refreeze any part that's thawed.

Don't pester her about feeding. If she ate willingly before, she will eat willingly again. Once every 3 days is often enough to offer. And feeding in the same type container that she's used to is an excellent idea. Keep us posted!

Sorry once every three days is too often. If they refuse, they tell you to offer on the next feeding day... that for a hatchling is 4-5 days. My little one has regurged once on me... it's when he ate on the 4th day. Personally, I'll hold off until 5 from now on.

 

[highcolorcorns]

just my 2 cents...I've had this problem, but with a pair of milk snakes..same difference. One day they would eat a pinky whole just fine, and then refuse flat out to eat for over a month. I've found personally that the cutting the head off does work. You said he acted like he was going to eat, then just quit, mine did the exact same thing, but not with the pinky head only.
Another strange, last resort option, that I have done..wash the pinky with the soap (as someone already advised) and then going outside your home and find one of those Geicos or a green anole..rub the lizard on the pinky and then try feeding again. It's worked for me in the past as a last desperate measure.

 

[Corny Noob]

Well I'm also hoping your baby didn't regurge at some point.
2 pinkies for a snake that size is WAY too much food o_o