baby cornsnake

[Ariel]

Hi,

A few weekends ago my sister bought a baby blizzard corn snake. Heres a picture of the little cutie, named Leviathan.

Well since we got him we've not been able to get him to eat, we've offered him pinkies as well as (yuck..) cut up pinkies.... He is about 10" long and just under 1/4" thick. What kind of feeders might you recommend?

My mom wanted me to start this thread, IMO I don't think he's ready to eat because since he's white, you can see his waste, which he has yet to pass. He is in a medium sized kirtter keeper with peatmoss and reptibark, he has a hide, a stick for climbing and and waterbowl. The enclosure sits at just above 80 degrees. He's behavior seems perfectly normal.

 

[ZoSoLp510]

Do you know if he/she was previously fed frozen pinkies? If so try wetting the pink with warm water... this should trick the snake into thinking it's the same thawed pinks it's eaten before.

Another thing you can try is leaving a small pinky and the snake alone together in a deli container for a little while.

When I had to switch my KSB over to live pinks, I combined both these methods, leaving a wet pinky in the deli cup with the snake and it worked like a charm. I did it once and from then I've barely been able to keep up with it's appetite!

 

[Luiscifer]

I love corn snakes. Ive been trying to get a bliz but the few i have found havent looked as healthy as ur. Congrats

 

[Ariel]

Do you know if he/she was previously fed frozen pinkies? If so try wetting the pink with warm water... this should trick the snake into thinking it's the same thawed pinks it's eaten before.

Another thing you can try is leaving a small pinky and the snake alone together in a deli container for a little while.

When I had to switch my KSB over to live pinks, I combined both these methods, leaving a wet pinky in the deli cup with the snake and it worked like a charm. I did it once and from then I've barely been able to keep up with it's appetite!

he said they were feeding frozen pinkies, which we're trying to feed him (we don't feed live prey to our other snake either) I'll tell them about trying the delicup thing

 

[Jmugleston]

When I used to keep and breed corns, I would do the following when it came time for feeding. To begin with, all were fed in brown paper bags (the ones used for school lunches). I'd get a thawed pinkie mouse and drop it in the bag. Then add the snake. The top of the bag was folded to keep them both in and then the bag was placed in the cage and left for a while. Typically in an hour or so (depending on how many baby snakes were being fed, I'd go back and let all the snakes out of their private dining bags. If any didn't eat, I'd try the same method the next day, only instead of a thawed mouse, i'd try a split brained pinkie. If that didn't work, I'd try a live pink, but I'd wash the pink first to try and remove some of the smell of the mother mouse. Typically it didn't take much more than this. I did have a few bloodred corns that were so picky that I eventually had to start them off on lizards and then move to mice. This was not the typical case though.

Another thing, if your snake is "backed up" you may want to put it in a deli cup with water that comes only 1/2 up on the snake's body. You want to make sure that at rest, the snake's nostrils are above water. You don't want to drown it, just let it sit in some very shallow lukewarm water for 10 or 15 minutes. A quick soak typically helps them pass anything that is waiting to come out.

 

[Ariel]

I' bumping this thread because we still haven't gotten him to eat despite our efforts, we had to force feed him some baby food today.

 

[Jmugleston]

I' bumping this thread because we still haven't gotten him to eat despite our efforts, we had to force feed him some baby food today.

If desperate you could get a pinky pump from LLL reptile or Big Apple Herp Supply (I think Big Apple changed their name). That may make force feeding a bit easier. What have you tried to this point?

 

[reverendsterlin]

Small corns not feeding are a pain. The easiest way I have found is to basically shove them down their throat. Push in with fingers as far as possible and use a rounded object (pen caps for me) to get it into the throat, then massage it down a ways. I seldom had to do this more than 2-3 times for any individual.

 

[Ariel]

If desperate you could get a pinky pump from LLL reptile or Big Apple Herp Supply (I think Big Apple changed their name). That may make force feeding a bit easier. What have you tried to this point?

I think we're ok force feeding him with help from the reptile vet we work with, especially since it was just baby food, we might try force feeding pinkies if we have to.

as for what we've tried, just about everything, cutting the pinkie, using different sized pinkies, soaking the pinkie in chicken broth, putting him and a pinkie in a deli cup, putting him and a pinkie in a bag. We haven't tried live pinkies yet, but none of the places around here sell them live anymore. (plus I don't think my mom wants to go through what she went through with our hognose, we tried feeding a live pinkie and Phoenix was terrified of it, and basically the little thing just screamed and screamed till it died and only then did Phoenix eat it.

Small corns not feeding are a pain. The easiest way I have found is to basically shove them down their throat. Push in with fingers as far as possible and use a rounded object (pen caps for me) to get it into the throat, then massage it down a ways. I seldom had to do this more than 2-3 times for any individual.

We're going to see whats the smallest size pinkie we can get, and then we'll probably try this, (with help from the vet)

 

[Mack&Cass]

I agree, assisted feeding is the route you're gonna have to go down. Someone explained to me how to do it with balls, who have a different head shape than corns so I don't know if it would be the same, but I can tell you what she told me. She said that you hold the snake by the base of its head and it should start writhing around and opening its mouth trying to get away, when it opens its mouth you put the pinky in its mouth, and she said it should open its mouth even more to accomodate for there being something in there, and once it opens its mouth completely you put the mouse further into its mouth and then set the snake down and it should eat it. Like I said before, she was using this method on balls she was switching over from live to f/t and she said it worked beautifully. I've never dont it myself because I've never had problems with my snakes eating (in fact my two corns are my two craziest eaters), and I apologize if this doesn't apply at all, but short from soaking it in hot water or putting it on a heat lamp, that's all I've really heard. Good luck, Ariel.

-Cass

 

[Ariel]

Thanks, and I guess the way my mom and the vet are going to do it is to take the pinkie and coat it in raw egg and pretty much force it down his throat. which just sounds...so....gross. I'll show this thread to my mom though, and maybe that'll give her some more ideas, though I don't think this'll be the first time she and the vet have had to force feed a snake. (vet is the reptile specialist, my mom is the vet tech reptile specialist)

 

[Frédérick]

It might have been mentionned above, I haven't read the post in his entirety, but have you tried braining the pinkie you offer? it is a gross procedure for most, i admit, yet the smell of a pinkies cephalic liquid is irresistible for the vast majority of picky eaters. it has the benefit to be much less stressful than force feeding and many keepers use this method to train corns/snaes in general to switch from live to f/t mice. hope this helps!!

fred

p.s.: it haven't been mentionned as of yet, so i will explain what braining is the be more clear. you take a sharp object, say a little larger than a needle, and you thrust it behind the head of the pinkie, in the brain. make sure some liquid comes out, you might want to spread it a little around the head, and then you present it to the snake with a tong, grabbing by the tail, making a light circular motion to induce feeding response. this should trigger feeding behavior, i would not place the snake in a feeding bin if it is picky, this is more stressful than feeding in his enclosure, unless there is high chances of accidently getting the snake to eat aspen bedding in the process. if this method doesnt work out, only then i would consider force feeding IMHO. very sweet corn by the way

 

[Frédérick]

ok one last thing! here's a nice forum dedicated to corn snakes, and there are plenty of threads addressing this issue, just use the search function and look up for stickys!! http://www.cornsnakes.com/forums/

Fred

 

[Ariel]

It might have been mentionned above, I haven't read the post in his entirety, but have you tried braining the pinkie you offer? it is a gross procedure for most, i admit, yet the smell of a pinkies cephalic liquid is irresistible for the vast majority of picky eaters. it has the benefit to be much less stressful than force feeding and many keepers use this method to train corns/snaes in general to switch from live to f/t mice. hope this helps!!

fred

p.s.: it haven't been mentionned as of yet, so i will explain what braining is the be more clear. you take a sharp object, say a little larger than a needle, and you thrust it behind the head of the pinkie, in the brain. make sure some liquid comes out, you might want to spread it a little around the head, and then you present it to the snake with a tong, grabbing by the tail, making a light circular motion to induce feeding response. this should trigger feeding behavior, i would not place the snake in a feeding bin if it is picky, this is more stressful than feeding in his enclosure, unless there is high chances of accidently getting the snake to eat aspen bedding in the process. if this method doesnt work out, only then i would consider force feeding IMHO. very sweet corn by the way

I'm going to be honest, that sounds absolutely disgusting, but I guess I'll give it a try, hopefully it'll work. (yuck...) Thank you for the info, I appreciate it.

ok one last thing! here's a nice forum dedicated to corn snakes, and there are plenty of threads addressing this issue, just use the search function and look up for stickys!! http://www.cornsnakes.com/forums/

Fred

Thanks for the link, I'll go ahead and check it out.

 

[Teal]

Seriously... try a live pinkie.

I had two baby balls... neither of them would TOUCH f/t no matter WHAT I did to it, the snake, or the environment. Would NOT touch it.

One baby ended up dying, because her digestive tract wasn't proper.

But the other one.. I tried force feeding f/t - she regurgitated it.

So finally, I bought a live pinkie.. put the snake and the pinkie in an empty tupperware container, put them in a dark, quiet room... and walked away.

Came back 30 minutes later.. she had eaten it.

I don't know if cornsnakes work like BPs for something like this... but that's what I did.

 

[Harmony67]

I have two snakes that refuse to eat anything but live. As long as you are feeding pinkies you can put a live one in the snakes container and if the snake doesn't just grab it and eat it cover the cage and leave it alone for a few hours. Once you get some weight on the snake you can work on switching to f/t.

 

[Ariel]

the only problem is that no one here offers live anymore...

 

[Harmony67]

When you thaw the pinkie do you use hot water or just let it sit out?

I thaw in hot water and give the prey to the snake very warm to the touch. A friend of mine thaws prey overnight and feeds room temperature and has a yearling corn who won't eat. When that snake lived at my house it ate with no problems.

If it absolutely won't eat the dead pinks on it's own you can gently use the pinks head to push the snakes mouth open and push the prey into the mouth to see if it will eat it. Sometimes they'll eat, sometimes you have to push it into their throat yourself. (I don't recommend doing this except as a last resort.)

 

[Frédérick]

good point Harmony, the warmth of the prey item likely plays a good role in feeding response! I too use hot water (not too hot tho!) and the mice feels warm to the touch when I offer it. I think of it this way; the snakes sees the warmth of the mice since they have infrared(?) vision, so the prey seems alive and fresh, then if you make a motion when offering the prey, it seems even more likely to the snake that it's alive, therefore they're seemingly in presence of goooood fresh meat, making it tastier indeed good luck!

 

[Ariel]

Aright, a little update.

We still haven't gotten him to eat. We've tried defrosting in warm water, we found someone who sells live and tried that. Even with the smallest pinkie we can get (newborn) it just looks waaaaaay to big for him to eat. We've tried cutting it up, we've tried forcing him to eat it, we've even tried crickets (someone suggested it to my mom). He did fianlly poop a little today, and we've been soaking him a couple of days a week in warm water.

We're going to be trying braining soon, my moms been hesitant to do it, she had a terrible enough time stomaching cutting them up.

Here is a picture of him next to a new born pinkie mouse