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i think it's the end :(

C

chibs

New member
So for 3 months now (i've been posting about her before) I've been trying to feed the baby snow corn I purchased at a reptile convention that has been a nonfeeder since I got her. The breeder said all the hatchlings were eating fine, but I don't think that was the case. Well in the past 3 months i have tried feeding her inside of her tank, in a seperate tub, f/t pinkies, a live pinkie, braining, cutting a pinky in half, putting her in a deli cup on top of a drying machine while it was on, tuna scenting, chicken broth, etc to no avail. then one day I got really hopeful after I accidently killed a baby anole and jokingly put her in a deli cup with it and she ate it...i thought i hit the jackpot with lizard scenting but that doesn't seem to be the case :( After the lizard, I offered her a f/t pinky rubbing a pinky on an anole i bought and even letting the anole run on it...left it overnight, and nothing. about a week after I had the anole, it happened to shed, so i gathered up all the shed, and a week later i offered a f/t pinky that i wrapped in the anole shed...hopeful that she would eat a anole scented pinky sausage, but nothing. At this rate she she looks pretty emaciated and seems less and less active. Tonight I finally tried to force feed her (my first attempt) and i feel as though i was causing more stress then good...so after a few tries i gave up (she never opened her mouth...even getting it open was a process). there were even moments when she would stop moving and i thought a few times that she died right there in my hands. After giving up, i cut off the pinky's tail and slid that into the side of her mouth. At this point...i'm terribly saddened. I feel like I have tried everything possible to get her to eat, and nothing. all of her temps are fine and humidity is great. i have her in the same room that i have my two ball pythons which are great feeders (seperate thermostats since the BP tanks are warmer) and an anole. if she makes it through the the night, i thought of getting two f/t mice for my BPs (which are eating live) to cut off their tails to see if i can force feed that to my little corn.

At this rate, she's skinny and you can pinch what little skin she has left on her body. I even thought that maybe she is so forgone, that I may need to end her suffering, which i'm not sure I could bring myself to do. is there anything....anything at all i should still try to do!? Because she is so skinny, will a mouse tail be too much?! :nope::nope::nope:

:(
 
I don't have any answers for you, just wanted to say how sorry I am. I just recently bought a baby normal corn on July 10 and she's only ate for me once, which was on July 17. I too am trying everything and really worried about her. But I had alot of encouragement from all the wonderful people on here, and some things I have not yet tried. Good luck and I will keep your baby in my thoughts.
 
I've heard some babies will only take anoles. Maybe try feeding her another anole an make sure she is hydrated. Perhaps soaking her a little will help? Just couple of ideas.
 
I've heard that putting garters that won't feed in a milk bath helps. First put them in a water bath so they poop in that. And just get them before they start drinking the water. Perhaps it might work with corn too... They'd git some calcium and stuff from it at least...
 
Have you tired taking her to a reptile veterinarian?

Besides that, I think I can help you:
I had a snake like yours once. It would not eat at all, and force feeding went horribly for both of us. I honestly felt she was going to die. I started tube feeding and I also got her an antibiotic shot from the reptile vet I go to.

I then kept leaving live food with her cage. One day, I came in and found she had eaten them all. Never have had trouble with feedings again.

Try different temperatures, substrates, hides, cages and anything else you think might work. You could be surprised how picky some snakes are.

Another thing, try just leaving her alone and keeping her in an isolated area. Only open her cage to try tube feeding, and during that time refill the water, clean, etc. This can really help stressed snakes.

Hope this helps
 
Our veterinarian has recommended adding very small drops of liquid B12 to water in order to stimulate appetite. We tried this last year and had some success. She also recommended Pedialyte (liquid nutrition typically for human infants) to us to help supply nutrients. Sorry to hear about your struggle with feeding and hope it turns around for you.
 
I'm sorry:(

Maratila said:
Have you tired taking her to a reptile veterinarian?

Besides that, I think I can help you:
I had a snake like yours once. It would not eat at all, and force feeding went horribly for both of us. I honestly felt she was going to die. I started tube feeding and I also got her an antibiotic shot from the reptile vet I go to.

I then kept leaving live food with her cage. One day, I came in and found she had eaten them all. Never have had trouble with feedings again.

Try different temperatures, substrates, hides, cages and anything else you think might work. You could be surprised how picky some snakes are.

Another thing, try just leaving her alone and keeping her in an isolated area. Only open her cage to try tube feeding, and during that time refill the water, clean, etc. This can really help stressed snakes.

Hope this helps
Click to expand...

I don't think these are good recommendations totally. Leaving live food not a good idea and how many did you leave? Changing vivs, hides, temps, bedding... very stressful for a young snake.
 
I'm not saying change it every day, but give time for each setting. I did it as a last desperate attempt for a snake. Everyone was telling me to put it down, but I found that a new cage and new hides helped me.

I left live food in there, even though I'm usually against it, because I didn't have any other choice. The prey were frogs/lizards/the occasional pinkie, and I moved the snake to a bigger cage where there was plenty of room. I wasn't worried about the snake getting nibbled to death by a frog or by a lizard. When it was in the smaller cage, I used just one live prey item at a time.

It would only eat when the prey was in its cage. All snakes are different...
 
Okay, this is what I would do, Decap. a pinky. Hold the snake and gently pull the skin on the chin while taking a card or something similar and slipping it under the nose to get that mouth open,usually once you reach a certain point you just have to tap the inside of their mouth with it and they open wider to get out the irritating object, moisten the pinky head with water, some people use egg white, then gently and slowly poke it down the throat just far enough to be able to gently pinch the neck behind the the babys head and slowly slide that pinky head down. I have done this before and though it's kind of stressful and scary, it's really easy if you just stay confident. You aren't going to hurt the snake, as long as you don't squeeze, besides, a mild injury is way better than the alternative. It sounds like your snake is very weak, as soon as you get that food down just put it to bed to rest. This method has worked for me and after just a time or two all my trouble babies started eating pinks on their own. You can never give up, you just have to be firm and confident, you can get that baby eating.
 
Just a thought, have you tried little chunks of rat tails?
If the balls are easy feeders, get them rats this go around and try that. SOME corns like rats.
It is a lot easier to force feed tails than a whole pinky. Corns are very difficult to get their mouths open. You have to be firm when you hold them and be patient.

I really hope that you still have some luck, I am so sorry that you got such a picky corn :(
 
to update: so my little corn is still alive this morning...she seems to be moving a lot more today then she was yesterday, but still rather motionless. After searching tons of snake forums and google searches last night, today i made my own "pinky pump" after work. I went to petco and bought a small bird feeding syringe and then at home thawed a pinky and basically pulverized it in water. (sorry to be graphic). the body is still kind of intact, but it is basically a pink watery liquid. I used that to inject into her throat. I figured that most of the nutrition in the pinky is in the bones and stuff, but surely there must be nutrition in the guts and brains and whatever else is in the liquid? My priorty has shifted from trying to figure out what will make her eat, to getting any kind of nutrion into her. After I get paid this friday, I'm going to buy a kitchen scale to begin to weigh her and take exact measurements of her weight and the amounts of liquid i pump into her. My hope is that if she can handle this...and puts on, if any, weight on...i can get her big enough to handle a small anole...and once she's actively eating SOMETHING...then I can focus on getting her to eat some kind of scented or otherwise regular rodent. any other corn veterans think i'm going in the right direction? I think if i can plump her up, I can start from square one and retry all of the things i've done before. She's currently in a 10g tank, so if it might help...i'm happy to get her a smaller tub if people think that may help
 
Hope you can help her at least maintain a good weight so you have time to try different things and make her start eating.

Best of luck.
 
Nanci - what was it you posted on a different thread that worked? I remember it was something I hadn't heard of but you said it had been working well. Maybe it was in reply to the OP?

I hope this little one eats! I know some are so darn stubborn. It's amazing how stubborn they can be that they would die before they would eat food offered to them.
 
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