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INJURED SNAKE, need expert help***graphic***

I wanted to post a follow-up:
A little over two months after losing his tongue, Marty has yet to eat on his own. We have tried force feeding with no luck and tube feeding attempts were quite the ordeal. I really hate to put the poor guy through all that stress. The breeder I got him from suggested I not tube feed and see if offering live pinkies weekly might get him going again... he wants nothing to do with them, can't get far enough away. My BMS does enjoy the weekly treat however.
This just blows my mind, him having such an aggressive prey drive prior.
In all this, he has never attempted to bite or even shown fear of "the hand" when I get him out of the cage... really breaks my heart watching my sweet boy fade away.
 
Oh man I am so sorry. I really hope he decides to eat for you soon. That would be a very difficult thing to watch.
 
What is his weight now and is he losing a lot of condition? They can go quite a long time without food and often without too much weight loss. He's been through a lot and with all the stress from the injury, the surgery, healing, force feeding....it's all a little much. I'd leave him completely alone for a couple of weeks and then offer a f/t prey item just before dark in his tank. If he's in his hide, put it near the doorway and then leave him alone. Make sure it's plenty hot. He may still have some residual pain in the tongue that's holding him back so you might have to be patient.
 
Snakes are incredibly scent-oriented animals. The loss of his tongue means he can no longer smell prey, so he may never eat for you, even if you offer him live pinkies.
 
Meg- he has lost about 30% of his body wieght- he was around 34g in November, he is 25g now. Still has some muscle tone and is moderately active.

NikeMoth- yup, I know. Just hoping his other remaining senses will step up a bit, much as other creatures do that have faced adversity.
 
I was reading a study called "Effects of Prey Movement and Prey Odor on Feeding in Garter Snakes"

I know Kings aren't Garter Snakes, but it said "The tongueless snake was less attracted to the moving earthworm at a distance than were normal snakes and the use of vision seemed less integrated rather than compensably improved."

So it doesn't seem like they'll learn to compensate.

It also said, "A long-term tongue-less adult fed by opening her mouth and thrashing about her cage when presented with earthworm odor"

So maybe it's a matter of increasing the amount of prey smell, he's missing his tongue but his Jacobson's organ should still be working just fine, the scent just needs to get to it. Maybe try braining the pink before assist feeding?

Hope this helps, and good luck.
 
That's a good thought. You can also try opening the abdominal cavity. The scent is quite strong that way and many of my baby amazons were much more attracted to the f/t pinky when I did that-literally burying their heads in the cavity as if to get the full scent. It's possible with a stronger scent base it might help. I'd still wait at least a week though to give him some time to relax again and then feed in the cage near dark so that he feels completely safe.
 
Three months since losing tongue and no interest in food I offered up a live fuzzy (truthfully a bit big, but it was the smallest I could find). Within 3 minutes all hell had broke loose inside Marty's tub. "Prey drive" is a gross understatement, holy cow the light switch has gone off! I also threw in a small f/t to see if he would take it in his highly stimulated state... within minutes of consuming the fuzzy he was working the f/t over. He is now climbing the walls looking for more... this will do for now.
A major mountain has been topped... doing a little dance in Fort Worth, TX!
 
OMGosh this is awesome news!! Thank you so much for sharing!! I am thrilled to hear he started eating again. I will be keeping my fingers crossed he continues to do so. YAY!!
 
AWESOME with a capital AAAAAA! So glad to hear that things have turned around. A little patience goes a long way.
 
I am so glad you got the little one eating. Maybe soon he will start seeing F/T as food and you won't need to use live to coax him into eating. I am glad that he is eating either way!
 
Fantastic! I thought about this guy last night before bed and was meaning to ask for an update. Glad to hear that he's chowing down!
 
Congrats!!!!!!!
Your determination to keep him alive was very inspiring. Good thing he had a great owner like you that never gave up. Keep up the great work!
Cheers! :cheers:
 
Thanks y'all. The wife and kids were very happy to recieve the news.
He had gotten down to about 20g. He is 9 months old, guessing he should be in the 45-55g range? Hopefully he will settle into a regular feeding regime and do some catching up.
 
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