Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hi guys...

My mother got several large snakes from a gentleman who had to give them all away...Amongst them was a 3 1/2 foot albino corn snake...

She had all the snakes for a few months...All but the corn snake was eating...She was going to get rid of him and I said I'd take him...

Being my first snake...I researched as much as I could on general snake care and specific care for his breed...He's in a 50 gallon aquarium with UVA and B lighting...Substrate is aspen...He has a very large mixing bowl for water to swim in or drink that I change daily...Temp on hot side is 80F...Cold side is 70F with a nice gradient in between...Lots of climbing areas and hiding areas as well...

After a month of me having him I attempted to feed him a frozen pinky...He ate it no problem so I gave him two more immediately which he ate just fine...

That was the only time he's eaten...I've had him for 6-7 months now and he's only eaten the once...3 months ago I bought appetite stimulant and supplement and have been force feeding him once daily for a week every month...

He's shedding properly...He's active...He's still passing excrement...I've taken him to a vet and they've said he doesn't have parasites or anything and can't figure out what's wrong with him and why he's refusing to eat...

I've tried feeding frozen pinkies fuzzies and adult mice to no avail...

Is this a common problem ? Should I be terribly worried if he's still active and such ? And what can I do to try to get him to eat normally ?

I appreciate all the help...Thanks guys...

TRY A LIVE RAT PUP....A 3 FOOT SNAKE SHOULD BE EATING LARGER MEALS THAN PINKIES.....JC

>>TRY A LIVE RAT PUP....A 3 FOOT SNAKE SHOULD BE EATING LARGER MEALS THAN PINKIES.....JC

Yeah I know he should be eating more but he's not going after anything...I've tried to make sure the temp of the frozens are warm enough but am thinking I should buy a live and thwack it then attempt feeding to make sure body temp is good enough to attract my snake...
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1.0.0 albino corn snake ( No name )
0.1.0 parrot fish ( Name cannot be repeated )
1.0.0 floridian gar "Elive"
1.0.0 Iridescent shark "Lucky"
0.0.2 Black skirt tetras ( No name )
0.0.2 Silver dollar red hooks "Killer" and "Fluffy"
1.1.oo jack dempseys and god knows how many fry "Mom" and "Dad"
1.0.0 violet goby "Darth"
0.0.2 ghost catfish ( No name )
1.2.0 manganos ( No name )
0.0.4 common goldfish lovingly called "Too big to eat"

A live rat pup should be harmless to a snake so I would not personally bother killing/stunning it. Sometimes having a live food item in front of them makes a snake more likely to perceive food as actually being food.

>>A live rat pup should be harmless to a snake so I would not personally bother killing/stunning it. Sometimes having a live food item in front of them makes a snake more likely to perceive food as actually being food.

I went to the pet store and got a live mouse...Threw her in the feeding cage with my snake...My snake was off doing his own thing for a moment then caught glimpse of the mouse...Instinct took over and he zoomed in for a swift kill...Very very impressive...One of the neatest things I've seen for awhile...

Sorry for pic quality...Was taken with my phone...

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1.0.0 silver queen corn snake ( No name )
0.1.0 parrot fish ( Name cannot be repeated )
1.0.0 floridian gar "Elive"
1.0.0 Iridescent shark "Lucky"
0.0.2 Black skirt tetras ( No name )
0.0.2 Silver dollar red hooks "Killer" and "Fluffy"
1.1.oo jack dempseys and god knows how many fry "Mom" and "Dad"
1.0.0 violet goby "Darth"
0.0.2 ghost catfish ( No name )
1.2.0 manganos ( No name )
0.0.4 common goldfish lovingly called "Too big to eat"

What you might try doing to get it off of needing live food is continue to feed it these live mice [supervise this VERY closely!!!] for a few weeks so it begins to associate the feeding tank with food. Then try either f/t or pre-killed and use tongs to wiggle the mouse around a bit so it just looks like a live food item. I've heard many say that it helps if you warm a f/t mouse up to body temperature using warm water so it "feels alive" but I've never noticed any difference. My guess is that if it takes the wiggly but dead food from the tongs a couple times you should eventually just be able to drop a dead mouse in there with the snake and it'll figure out to eat it without your assistance.

As a general note, whenever you are feeding live mice or rats to a snake (pikies are an exception...) you MUST SUPERVISE THE PROCESS CLOSELY! There is always a chance that if a snake is uninterested in the food that the rodent will turn on the snake and inflict damage. Please check out the link below showing what happened to a snake that was left unattended with a live rat...
http://forums.kingsnake.com/view.php?id=1514899,1514899

typos...

yeah, start using rat pups. they're the same size as adult mice but can't harm the snake. you can leave them in there for prolonged periods without supervision or worry. That's how I managed to switch my watersnake over to rodents.

Also, instead of using heat lamps, try undertank heat pads that you get from petsmart. only put half of the pad beneath the tank otherwise it may build up too much heat.

lamps often dry out the air and if your snake doesn't have the proper humidity, he won't eat.
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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

>>yeah, start using rat pups. they're the same size as adult mice but can't harm the snake. you can leave them in there for prolonged periods without supervision or worry. That's how I managed to switch my watersnake over to rodents.
>>
>>Also, instead of using heat lamps, try undertank heat pads that you get from petsmart. only put half of the pad beneath the tank otherwise it may build up too much heat.
>>
>>lamps often dry out the air and if your snake doesn't have the proper humidity, he won't eat.

I have an undertank heat pad with a thermostat as well as the lamps...Temps are as I mentioned...

I'm currently breeding two females and one male mice for future feedings...Plan is to feeding him a couple more times with live ( Yes I know keep an eye on 'em...First two mice he ate started trying to gnaw on him after he attacked so I had to pull on their cute wittle ears o_o; )

Afterwards gonna start thwacking 'em to see if that works...Hope it does...

Thanks for all the advice guys...I really appreciate it as I'm sure my snake does as well ( Yay he has a full tummy )

-----
1.0.0 silver queen corn snake ( No name )
0.1.0 parrot fish ( Name cannot be repeated )
1.0.0 floridian gar "Elive"
1.0.0 Iridescent shark "Lucky"
0.0.2 Black skirt tetras ( No name )
0.0.2 Silver dollar red hooks "Killer" and "Fluffy"
1.1.oo jack dempseys and god knows how many fry "Mom" and "Dad"
1.0.0 violet goby "Darth"
0.0.2 ghost catfish ( No name )
1.2.0 manganos ( No name )
0.0.4 common goldfish lovingly called "Too big to eat"