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When do I call it quits!

R

redarm

New member
Hi fokes
I have 2 cornsnakes I bought in august . A snow corn that I'm now feeding fuzzies and another one that I have had A very hard time getting to eat .I have tryed everything that I found out on this web sight and and In Kathy Loves Cornsnake manual to get this little girl to eat . ie.Live ,Dead ,In a small container in her pen W/and W/O live ,lizzard scent,w/& w/o live. crickets, live guppies, tease feeding,(this really sucked for me and the snake),and now I forced fed the little girl( again really sucks)three times. last night I put her in a bag with a live pinky and nothing. Oh I've been waiting 5 to 7 days inbetween feeding opertunities. I do not want to force feed this snake forever I feel its very hard on the snake. Im asking for opinions on what to do. In the cornsnake manual the last paragraph on trouble feeding it say that some snakes just are not ment to be.Is there anyone out there that had the same problom Or am I missing something.:( :confused:
 
hi have you tried just a pinkies head, i also had a problem with 2 of my hatchlings and i tryed most things but then a friend of mine sergested that i tried a small peice of a chick thigh about the size of a pinkie so i did and one of my hats fed then had a hot pinkie straight after the other hat had a hot pinkie what i do is drop pinkie into boiling water and leave for a few secounds dry pinkie off and put in with hat straight away. now both my none feeders are like little pigs now. so i wouldent give up yet with your corn just keep trying.

good luck
 
Yes I tryed the head only thing.Also dipped the pinkey in chicken broth before i fed her also didnt work. I boiled the pinkie when I force fed her the first time . A thawed pink is not easy to force down the snake so I boiled it to make it stiff. She still wasnt interested though before I forced it down. Never tryed a peice of chicken. Guess you just gave me another avenue to go down ,thanks

redarm
 
what I heard...

I am a bit squeemish to do it my self, but I was told that if you cut the pinkie so that the brains show, it will eat it.. :eek: I love rodents and have never tried this but I was told it was a REALLY good way to get them to eat..
 
wow

Force feeding is terribly harsh on a snake, as I see you know.

I would stop this practice right away!
Give her a week. Then use the braining method. Doesn't work....then try ASSIST feeding her. You don't have to force anything , and "force" feeding can kill a snake. Assist her by placing the pinkie in her mouth, and placing her down in the cage. She will most likely coninue to swallow.

BUT Its not often corns must resort to this. And I am thinking somjething else is going on here that is making her not eat. Are they living together? Seperate them if they are. Heat it up a bit....give her a 85-88 hot spot for a week instead of 82-85....try a few more things. Then last resort try assist feeding, but not force feeding as this is most likely doing more harm than good.

BTW If you purchased these snakes in August, you shouldn't be force feeding already. They haven't gone nearly long enough to "starve" unless you have been told so by a vet. I understand you are worried but force feeding is saved for only really serious cases, and two months without food is not serious yet, especially if you have already forced food in her.

IMHO
bmm
 
Yea also tried the braining practice . Also it was longer than 2 months I got the snakes in the begining of aug and they were already 2 monthes old . No I dont house them together . I understand thats how canibalism can happen. Also the guy I bought her from couldn't tell me If she ate or not ( not a very good breader in my opinion ) My snow corn was purchaed from a much better breeder. She had a card with her that stated all the eating and that she shed once. the one I'm talking about came with no history at all . I should have known better.
 
well

These things happen, and yes a bad breeder if he couldn't even tell you if it had eaten....

Hmmm lets see....

I think at this point maybe give her a week....rest...then try the assist feeding. She may need a vet visit as something else may be wrong. Keep her tank away from your healthy snake. A vet fecal should be very cheap and can give you an idea of whats going on or not going on. To assist her you can chop a pinkies head off....then ever ever ever so gently push this into her mouth. Not down the throat just in the mouth a fair bit. Then place her down gently. Since she cant really grab the head out, she will most likely start swallowing on her own. A few times of this and she should eat.

But like I said I think a small vet trip could help since you seem to have done your research and tried everything else already.

:)

bmm
 
Redarm,
bmm is correct, force feeding can be very stressfull, However sometimes when a snake will not eat--force feeding can get a snakes digestive system a much needed jump start. It is without doubt, a snake that never eats will eventually perish. I recently purchased a pair of snakes very cheap due to the fact that they would not eat. They were very thin. I decided that immediate action was needed for there survival. This was not a financial decision. My effort was to save these animals. If your animals are going to die, I don't see anything wrong with force feeding, but exhaust all other resources first. I read your posts several times and I don't see where you offered live lizards(maybe I missed it). This has worked very well for me! Sometimes scenting the pinkie is no different from scenting a lizard. In other words, the scent goes both ways. Ultimately we would like to have all our snakes eating mice, but eating anything on there own is better than nothing.

Good Luck!

Matt
 
Hmmmm, I would definately suggest a trip to the vet. There is no point going through the traumatic act of force feeding if there is something wrong with your snake, leaving your hard efforts a waste of time. And like bmm said, I think its a bit soon to resort to force feeding seeing as you have only had them since August. Give it time (and vet attention) and things should work out! :)
 
Something else to try

Hey,

You might trysomething else with the pinky, though I don't
know if it will work well for a snake that's never fed at all.
Try putting the pink (appropriately bagged) in your pants
pocket for several hours. Fairly tight pants would work better,
I suppose. Then go do stuff for several hours -- just
something to move around and stay warm. Within, say,
two hours the mouse is a bit tenderized, is the
perfect temperature, and is very aromatic (when taken out
of the plastic.)

If nothing else seems to work... is there any way you
could bruminate early, just for your non-feeder? If you
have a deep basement that stays 40 or 50 F, you might
send the hatchling through "winter," which is sometimes
just what they need. It's stressful, but probably better
than watching him/her starve to death, anyway.

Best of luck,
TS
 
Try the tail from a mouse if you are going to force/assist feed, it is much smaller and easier for a thin snake to get down.I am not saying it is less stressful, just easier to get down.
 
yeah

But the tail will be easily shook out of the snakes mouth when he preforms the assist feed. The head, will be "stuck" there, making the snake naturally just swallow instead of shaking it out. Which is what you want when you assist fed. I guess a tail might work for force feeding but that should be done anyway in this case yet, only assisted feeding.

bmm
 
I use tails for my non eating blizzard and while it does try to shake them out, if you touch the tip of it's tail, it suddenly becomes more interested in getting away than spitting out the tail.
 
If nothing else seems to work... is there any way you
could bruminate early, just for your non-feeder? If you
have a deep basement that stays 40 or 50 F, you might
send the hatchling through "winter," which is sometimes
just what they need. It's stressful, but probably better
than watching him/her starve to death, anyway.
Click to expand...

It is my understanding that unhealthy snakes should not be brumated at all. If the snake hasn't eaten enough, then it won't have enough body fat stored to survive the hibernation period. It will starve to death anyway.

I have several non-feeders. I have had to force feed them, but I prefer the assisted feeding method. They are very good at getting the pinkies out of their mouths, however. Anytime I try setting the snake down after placing a pinky in it's mouth, it always gets the pinky back out. My snakes are four months old. They have never eaten a meal on their own. They are however, growing quite well....so I will continue force feeding/assisted feeding them until they decide to eat on their own.

I also have an adult corn (5 years old) that was force fed as a hatchling. Her previous owners had to force feed her for several months before she ate on her own. Now she is a voracious eater. I think that as long as the snake is growing and shedding then you shouldn't give up. I'd rather force feed mine that starve them to death!

Good luck! I know exactly how you feel!
 
Thanks for all the suggestions . I did give her the tails from a hopper mouse the first time I force fed her and she spit it out the first time. Had to start over . bmm (I think) is right about hibernating the snake I read articles on the net that stated do not bruminate an unhealthy snake. I guess I'll keep trying, but I'm not too thrilled with forcing this snake for ever It seems to be almost cruel to this snake.

thanks again

redarm
 
good luck

Just try assist feeding a head a few times, and normally this gets them eating after all else fails after three or four times. :)

good luck and keep updating

bmm
 
bmm...

I guess I'm going to try the head thing, too. I definitely prefer assisted feeding to force feeding. Who knows...maybe it'll work when nothing else has!

I've got some live mice...I'm also going to try live pinkies again. I hope to have some born within the next week. It didn't work before, but I'm hoping that since the babies are a bit bigger now, they will eat the live pinkies.

Not a problem redarm :D I just hope all goes well for you. As I said before...I know exactly how you feel. If you ever get tired of trying, then feel free to send the little one to me! I'll pay shipping of course! I'm a VERY patient person...I'll feed as long as necessary to get them to feed on their own. I also work for a vet so I would have access to inexpensive vet care. Don't rush to give up or anything...I want things to work out for you...It's just a thought in case you reach your limit!
 
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Two other things to try to feed your snake.

1. Wash the pinkie with warm soap and water (rinse thoroughly, of course). As crazy as this sounds, it really works for some snakes. Try it on live and f/t pinks.

2. Offer a live anole. I had a snake that I force fed (as a last result) for nearly three months. One day, after scenting a pinkie with an anole, my hand holding the anole got too close to the other hand holding the corn, and he snatched the anole right out of my hand! He wouldn't eat scented mice, or pre-killed anoles. He would ONLY take live anoles for a few more months until I gradually worked him over to f/t mice.

Good luck!
 
Try small amount of lizard skin

I've had some success with a trick I picked up a while back. Peel a small amount of lizard skin off a frozen anole. This skin, when cut off, can be attached to a fresh pink's nose - I've had the best luck when the amount of skin is about 3/8" square. Attach to the fresh pinks nose and leave with the snake in a deli cup, or paper bag, for several hours. I'd had hatchlings sit right up and take notice, and others take some time, but it's by far the most reliable method I've found.

Jim
Northern Michigan
 
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