Reptile & Amphibian Forums

How do you open it's mouth to put the pinkie in it? My snake hasn't eaten for 17 days now. I'm worried and stressed over this deal. Do you open the snake's mouth with tweezers? Also, will the snake be pissed if you hold his head and put the pinkie in his mouth?

P.S. It's a pre-killed pinkie mouse.

Give me some suggestions for feeding the snake. What do I need to do? I don't want it to die because it just got him two weeks ago. He has a water bowl, calci-sand, hide-box, two heating sources (heat pad on low and a heating light), and limb to clim on.

1.) don't handle

2.) don't stress

I'm in no way a pro, but I have 3 hatchlings left of 14 that were hatched June 20th and still haven't eaten.

They are active and robust snakes, flicking their tongues and moving around. Only 7 of the original 14 ate right away, the rest, one by one, started eating when they were ready. I figure I have until the end of August before they are in real trouble. Hoping they decide to eat soon. Otherwise I'll be the one needing the advice on force feeding

don't stress. I have had hatlings that have went 50 days until they have decided to eat. It all depends on the snake and how much yoke they ate prior to hatching. If you can't see a visible backbone don't worry.

Have you tried "braining" the pinky and then putting the pinky in with the snake overnight in some small container?

If so, and it still didn't eat, I would try to cut the pinky in half (cut it while frozen; 1 piece being the head, the other piece being the body). The extra blood and gut scent may entice it to eat at least one of the pieces, if not both of them.

And like it's already been said, snakes are fairly resilient creatures. Relax a little and try to keep the snake as stress-free as possible.

-----
alstiver@hotmail.com

1.0 '01 Hypo snow cornsnake (Tesla)
0.1 '02 Ghost (pastel) cornsnake (Banshee)
1.1 '02 Bloodred cornsnakes (Desi and Luci Too)
0.0.3 Goldfish (Kabuki, Isamu, and Yuki)
1.0 American Eskimo mutt (Rusty)

1st, do you have a thermometer? If not, get one.
2nd, calci-sand or any kind of sand is a lousy substrate for corns. Newspaper, paper towels, or aspen shavings are better and cheaper

Questions:
How often have you been trying to feed it, and -how- have you been trying to feed it?
Live?
Overnight with f/t pinkie?
brained pinkie?
etc.,

Force feeding is very stressful to a snake and really should be used only if all the other methods are unsuccessful and the snake starts losing weight.
-----
-audri
Webpage/Pics

I agree aspen is the way to go.

Until the snake is 6 weeks old or more and starts looking "thin," it's much safer to keep offering food. Try different methods until you get one that works. An animal will rarely starve itself.

Make sure the snake has a heat source and a good hiding place. A snake needs to know it will be warm enough to digest the food and feel secure because eating leaves it defenseless.

If you must force-feed it, find someone that has experience to help you do it.

If you can't find someone, gently open the mouth with a finger nail and push the pinky in head first. Make sure the pinky is thoroughly wet first. Then, keep working at it until you get it all the way in and his mouth can close over it. You may need to use something, like the back of a large probe to help push it in and not catch on the snakes teeth. But, be careful!!!! Once you get it past the head, the snake will probably push it back to the stomach within a couple minutes...you might need to massage it down further so the snake gets the idea though.