baby snake, wont eat, serious?

[fictitious]

Hey, my friend has a baby corn snake, 10" roughly. I have a lot of experience with snakes and know they can go long periods without food but I'm starting to second guess myself here. She hasn't eaten in about 2-2 1/2 months and lost a bit of weight. Still very responsive, feeding schedule left off at 2 pinkies once a week and she was happy, might have eaten once since last molt. I beleive the reason is because she has small scratches on her neck from being, ummm.. coaxed, out of an overflow drain (don't ask how because I didn't want to know. Scratches are non-life threatening, and she's lived with them for about 2-2 1/2 months (see where I'm going?). I'm telling her that's the cause and it's rushing to the next molt and to wait until then. Now I'm hoping that you will agree...
Thanks in advance for any insight.

 

[Mushroom Spore]

Scratches are non-life threatening, and she's lived with them for about 2-2 1/2 months (see where I'm going?). I'm telling her that's the cause and it's rushing to the next molt and to wait until then

Snakes aren't tarantulas - they don't molt, they shed their skin, and they don't rush to do so because of injuries since that doesn't replace the wounded skin anyway. It just rids them of a very thin outer layer.

What are the temperatures in the tank? How big around is this snake compared to its prey items? If a pinkie is too small for it, it may just not want to bother wasting energy eating it (even if you intend to feed it two pinkies, snakes aren't very good at math). You can go as large as 1.5x the width of the fattest part of the snake.

It's also possible that the snake is male, in which case spring is mating season and lack of interest in food is to be expected.

 

[Beardo]

It's also possible that the snake is male, in which case spring is mating season and lack of interest in food is to be expected.

Yeah, I'm sure lots of 10" male Corn Snakes are breeding in the wild. lol

 

[Mushroom Spore]

I don't know anything about corn snake sizes, admittedly. Still, my ball python started going off feed in just his second spring, and he was still pretty small.

I didn't think a 10" corn snake was really a baby, though. The babies I've seen are quite a bit smaller than that. The more you know, I guess.

 

[fictitious]

Snakes aren't tarantulas - they don't molt, they shed their skin, and they don't rush to do so because of injuries since that doesn't replace the wounded skin anyway. It just rids them of a very thin outer layer.


I didn't think a 10" corn snake was really a baby, though. The babies I've seen are quite a bit smaller than that. The more you know, I guess.

The more you know.. lol I beleive that's 1 all lol. :}

My other guess was the seasonal change aswell because it hit one of my snakes with a bat, they were both actually off food for the exact same time until mine ate 2 weeks ago. I'm still getting concerned though, I keep telling her to wait for the next shed (mine was practically banging on the roof for some food after he shed) and if it dosn't eat by then somethings' wrong. By the way, the prey items are about same, to 1.5 size the body width. Doing the right thing? Any clues as to what might be the problem if it dosn't eat soon?

 

[DrJ]

If the snake has been off feed for a long time (obviously it has if it's been 2 months) you need to be keeping record of weight loss. If there is minimal weight loss, then you have nothing to worry about, but when large amounts of body mass are being lost, you need to worry. If you have been feeding F/T, try live, if that still doesn't work, try rubbing the pinkie on a crested gecko...I've gotten several snakes to pop out of their non-eating stages with this technique. However, there is the possibility that it is trying to burmate itself, and if this is the case, you could put it into full burmation for a couple weeks and hope it eats when it comes out. But, being a corn snake, I wouldn't think that it would attempt this kind of thing, as I've never had a cornsnake do this. I would say the biggest factor would be from the trauma of getting stuck in the drain pipe...and you need to convince it that eating a good thing. If you have nothing to weigh it with, you can get a postal weighing machine at Wal-Mart for about $10 or so. These will measure in grams and has a digital read-out. Whenever I put my Graybanded Kingsnake into burmation this last year, I used that to keep track of his weight and would weigh him once a week. But, for a baby snake, every gram lost is a big deal. If things don't improve, you may want to try force feeding...or a start on force feeding by opening the snake's mouth and placing the pinky head in the mouth and see if it takes it. If not, than you may need to seek advice of more experienced snake keepers that could help you more with force-feeding. Generally, one session should get them back on track, but should be reserved for serious situations. However, if the snake is too far gone, force feeding will only do one of two things: prolong the death, or bring on the death. I had one snake die due to force feeding, and another simply live longer. However, don't let that discourage you, I have several stories in which force feeding saved the snakes life and it is now a happy little eating machine! All on it's own! But, hopefully, it will start eating before any force is needed. But, do try scenting the mouse the next time you feed.

 

[Rich65]

Corn snake babies are not always great eaters, but if it was eating regularly then its something else. Hopefully it is not at the point of having baggy skin?
I would try to assist feed before actually force feeding, this consist of opening the snakes mouth and placing the f/t pinkie in the mouth, pull back gently to lock the pinkie against the teeth and let the snake go. In most cases they will start to swallow, if not it might take a few tries.
Another method that actually works well is, braining( not for the squeamish) take a razor blade and a cut a slit down the top of the head on a live pinkie, cut just past the skull and expose the brain matter. A lot of reluctant feeders will be turned on by the blood or brain smell and will start to feed. It only takes a few times to get them going, the next couple feedings I only cut the skin, each time less and less until they take normal food.

 

[Bigboy]

You could always expose the brains of a feeder for it, I hear thats something that works...:liar:

 

[PALAMO]

Try Feeding It A Small Green Anole.....this Usualy Works For Small Corns.

 

[DrJ]

Anoles are almost always wild caught and racked with parasites...you don't want to pass these parasites to your snake. It's too big of a risk for me. I've heard it could work, but I've honestly never seen it work, nor would I try it...simply due to the parasites. That could start a new line of problems.

I've also heard braining works, but I haven't had much success with it. Although, I did use F/T when doing that...I just find that cruel to a pinky mouse, especially on the gamble of whether the snake will even eat it.

 

[fictitious]

Thanks alot everybody, as it sits now she is showing signs of her next shed which should take place in about 2-3 weeks. Also, what releived me is when I saw her she was climbing all over the roof of the tank and appeared normal, well, in a sense that she wasn't sluggish or even appeared sickly. Add also that she hasn't (yet) formed that small fold around the neck when they are underfed. I'm at their place often enough so I'll get them to feed her with a brained mouse. Thanks alot guys.

 

[Bear Foot Inc]

You could always expose the brains of a feeder for it, I hear thats something that works...:liar:

This works wonders! I have never had a baby corn not eat (with 30+ of them) when you brain the pink first, just smash the head with a nail or something (FT works for me, but you might need to use live) They will take it right away!
Its not crews to the pink, it feels nothing, and dies instantly, much less painful then when the snake eats it, though it does sound disgusting.

 

[Bear Foot Inc]

Oh BTW, they do Molt, shed and molt is the same thing....

 

[BlackxLilies]

The braining thing worked on my baby cornsnake that refused to eat