Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Yesterday I tried to feed my new Corn Snake (6 days with me, 7 days today) but he wouldn't eat, not completely unexpected. I placed him in a separate container with a thawed and brained pinky mouse a little larger than his head. Unfortunately he hasn't quite tamed down yet so getting him into the container was probably pretty stressful as he tried to run a few times which I'm certain didn't help things.

I left him there covered for about 10 minutes with no luck. So I took my feeding tweezers and cut the pinky open a bit so the organs were exposed, I tried to tempt the snake by lifting the mouse and err.. dancing it in front of him, but that just seemed to scare him. So I decided that the stress wasn't worth it and put him back into his enclosure.

Today I'm trying a different technique. I've put a brained pinky (this one had quite a bit of brain gravy, so fingers crossed) on a saucer into his enclosure, I figure the saucer will keep him from ingesting the substrate while also allowing him to approach it at his own pace.

But again, I'm not holding out for him eating. When handling him I noticed that his ventral side was a little pink and with a little research I found that it could mean he's beginning to shed in which case it would be normal for him not to eat... That or he has some horrible horrible illness, so he's hoping for a shed.

I'm included a picture of the pinkness, let me know if you think it's a shed.

wait about 2 days to see if he goes blue. If not, place him in a deli cup with a pinky and put it in the closet for about an hour with no disruptions. my problem feeders sometimes take an hour or two before they'll eat.

If he still doesn't take it, brain the pinky and wipe the juice all over its body and try again.

Also, make sure that the temperature isn't too high in his cage. If it is, he could be dehydrated and that will cause him to not eat. You can increase humidity by placing a wet sponge or a wad of wet paper towels in the center of the cage. Try that and lower the temp slightly and then try feeding again in 24 hours.
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1.0.0 Great Plains Ratsnake
1.0.0 Corn, Lavender Aztec het for Amel
0.1.0 Black Ratsnake
0.0.1 Texas Rat (tame)
1.0.0 Broad Banded Water Snake, Hypo
1.0.0 Black Bassador Retriever
2.1.0 Godchildren, 1 Evil, 2 possible hets

Thanks for the great advice. Since I already had a pinky out I'm going to go ahead and try the deli cup. Thanks again.

The warm side is about 83F substrate surface temp and about 88F in the warm side hide, there's also secondary warm side hide that sits at about 85F and the cold side is 73F during the day.

Great success, he has eaten. Thank you so much, it's a load off of my mind.

What is the deli-cup technique called? If it doesn't have a name I'm just going to call it thunderdome-ing.

Congrats... I'm sure Tina and Mel won't mind you using your "Thunderdoming" nickname... ^_^
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Holly

0.1 Lavender California Kingsnake (Lizzie Borden) (missing )
1.0 Florida Kingsnake (Eddie Gein)
0.0.2 Cornsnakes (Lyle & Erik Menendez)
1.0 Bearded Dragon (Charley Manson)
1.0 Orange Marmalade Cat (Oliver)
1.0 Black Cat (Shadowfax)
1.0 Egyptian Arabian (Bagan) (Deceased )
1.0 Tennessee Walking Horse (Durango)

2.0 Toddlers (Justice & Trevor)

glad it worked.

When you resort to thunderdoming, be sure to remove the hammers and chainsaws. but keep the bungee cords in there. the snake will love it.
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1.0.0 Great Plains Ratsnake
1.0.0 Corn, Lavender Aztec het for Amel
0.1.0 Black Ratsnake
0.0.1 Texas Rat (tame)
1.0.0 Broad Banded Water Snake, Hypo
1.0.0 Black Bassador Retriever
2.1.0 Godchildren, 1 Evil, 2 possible hets

when my snake wouldnt eat i put the put the pinky in his habitat with him somewhere where you dont have much substrate so he does not ingest it and left it over night and bam morning came and the pinky was gone

I know it may seem gross but just try a pinky head. Many captive snakes, especially babies are intimidated by larger prey items. Even though it's just a pinky it probably seems large and scarey to the hatchling corn. My adult corn wouldn't take weanling rats for 6 months. I took me that long for me to figure out that she was intimidated by the size. Now she just takes 2 smaller prey items. Good luck! I hope that works for you if you try it!
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No, we're never gonna quit,Ain't nothin' wrong with it,Just actin' like we're animals - Nickelback, Animals