Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I have a hatchling that WILL NOT eat. Has refused numerous meals and is starting to look very unhealthy. I am considering getting a pinkie press. When using the press do you put an actual rat pink in it or some other type of supplement? Does anyone on here have any experience using one?
-----

Use a mouse pinky and force feed. Not need for a pinky press. See you in Raleigh man.
-----
Thanks and Take Care
Thomas Jones
sweetpetsshop2@yahoo.com

Assist feeding a pinky mouse is an easy and foolproof method, with just a little practice. Its far less stressful on the snake, and poses little risk. Pinky pups would best be used for much smaller critters...

yha.... we have a pinky pump/press here....

Rather nasty sight for us...

We have used them before on smaller snakes... they work great if you know what you're doing--- i tend to have snakes try and jerk away (obviously) and it really freaks ppl. out in the beginning....
you HAVE to know what you're doing... we've never lost one or injured one using a pinky pump... but it is nerve wracking....

I like force feeding better but its also kinda scary the first few times...

Good luck...

~Beth
-----
The rescue site: www.freewebs.com/okreptilerescue

why it works.....

you stuff a pink mouse (killed) down their throat quickly , wet it to make it slde down easier...just get it into the throat and make them swallow it themselves.don't actually shove it all the way down into the gut

why this works.....

it teaches them to actually swallow....some have never swallowed anything before in their lives.....they need the practice

it gets their gut started..not eating...the gut stops making the proper enzymes for digestion...and after awhile..they just aren't hungry at all......starving to death they say does not hurt...

......after you get a pink in it..wait 2 days and give it a small dark mouse fuzzy and see if it eats...

do NOT wait a week...the pink will be gone and stomach will again not care..you need to try after 2 days (maybe 3) while it still is digesting the pink.....if it doesn't eat again..repeat with pink after a few days....you can keep doing this till it eats......

....some balls will start to eat if you just teach them to swallow the one time......I have had baby balls grab and wrap and eat fuzzies after ou shove it in their mouth,while you are holding them...then eat it by them selves...

pinks for sick snakes , small fuzz can be used if you are force feeding rather than "kick starting " them

......there you go......

.
.
.
-----
......

use a small, fresh killed hopper coated in egg whites. Goes down easy and adds a little more nutrients. Mmmmm, eggs.

Brandon Osborne
-----
www.brandonosbornereptiles.com

Pinky pumps suck. I'd agree to assist feed(not force feed) but I'd go bigger than a pinky mouse. A weaned mouse will do nicely. If it's starting to look unhealthy, it's time to intervene.

I gotta do it...I gotta ,,,been seeing this stuff for years....

...people have a website and a company name.....yet they ask this type of question......

......WHY?
-----
......

To learn. I hope everybody continues to try and learn. No matter what you do in life you will learn until the day you lose interest in what you are doing. I don't know everything, I love what I do and I want to prepare to get my name out there so when I get where I want to be I wont be totally unknown. After I have been doing this for 20 years and I have a question I will ask. I totally understand where you are coming from. I do have some great looking ball pythons and will be in my 2nd year of breeding this coming season. Good luck to you.
-----

FIRST OFF LONG REPLY, SORRY!!!!!!! SECOND Do Not let the other guy get to you..... The only dumb question is the one not asked and causes the death of a snake!!!........Anyway, Another method I have used in the past when re-conditioning multiple non feeding baby imports (1990's) was to take turkey baby food, a very small amount of highish calcium/multivitamin ie: reptical (not repcal which is just calcium), a little gatorade. I would make a slurry of this. You could install it into a pinky pump if you wish. I typically use 1cc syringes (NO NEEDLE)and draw it up in the syringe. The barrel on a 1 cc syringe is very small. Then would use water to help it slide down the throat about 1-1.5inches. (Egg whites would have probably been a better lubricant!!) This can be a lifesaver for a very very weak baby that would not handle the stress of force feeding of a pink........This is very quick and the animal can be left in little distress......When and if you use the Turkey slurry administer slow over 10seconds or so.......Handling the animal: the animal will not happily allow its head to be handled. it will take a little effort to keep the animal in line. Thumb and index around the neck and just behind the jaw with the rest of the neck straight in the hand gripped gently to secure the animal. BPs are generally very good about popping open their mouths once you attempt to open it....AVOID GETTING ANYTHING IN THE GLOTTIS!!!!!!......Syringe feed every 2 days 1cc of mixture for 4 feedings total...... BUT before you try this ATTEMPT ASSIST FEEDING take a F/T peach fuzzy mouse Position the animal as above. Keep the animals body on the floor of its own cage, Insert the mouse to the point where you can see the nose of the mouse bulging just behind the jaw (entering esophagus). Hold it there until the animal calms a bit!! release the mouse and the snake gently and slowly into the cage. DO NOT MOVE just watch!! I find that any sudden movement that they will often drop the pink. VERY slow and steady!!!!!!!!!! If when you place the mouse in the mouth and the animal BITES down then release immediately and gently. Often this proceeds constriction and spontaneous feeding.................. One thing I notice when force feeding is the muscles in the jaw behind the eyes, for lack of better terms they tend to hollow out when they are trying to reject the food. I find that when they settle and are not so hollowed during the procedure that they are more likely to go ahead and feed. As a last resort I have also found that gently pinching the head so that the teeth sink into the pink can improve response on the worst of non feeders. The later is on the last attempt only, after it has rejected the "assist feed" 3x's. I will not try to assist feed them more than 4 times in a row. Just too stressful!!! but not as bad as full force feeding and much better in teaching them GOOD HABITS!!! FORCE FEEDING AS OTHERS DESCRIBED!!!....................I hope this helps and REMEMBER KEEP ASKING QUESTIONS!!!!..............God Bless, Lee Van Hyfte

.....OK.....

.....I ask stupid and non stupid question yet too......I know

and I have been doing this for 20 years , plus more......

just certain stuff ,,,you know....

I happen to live in a highly snake people populated area, not snake populated, but people....(I wish the cool snakes lived here and not the people with snakes)

so....if you oticed....I gave you a good answer above....

....good luck......

JY
-----
......

No problem JY. I know I am a rookie, I sit now and say to myself, why didn't I start doing this 15 years ago! I live in an area where there is absolutely no snake people, just snakes! LOL. I have stated on here before, I don't want to take over the snake world, I just want to be a small part of it.
-----

you were smarter 15 years ago

...what happened?......LOL

stay small and stay with all good morphs......

easier than going by the numbers ....

......wholesalers say they want everything , yea yea yea....but they have enough now...now...now...then in February they'll want all you got for less than they are worth now...LOL...feed it 7 months to lose money?..

.anyways.....
-----
......

Pinky presses are horrible. Don't waste your money. If I hadn't just spent $10 on mine I'd have been pretty mad at myself for buying it. force feed instead

don't bother with a pinkie press, i haven't used one in many years.

a pink rat pup is a better choice than a pink mouse. it is more substantial. when we have to force feed, we use thawed rat pups, but prekilled will also work. we thaw them in a cup of warm water, so they are already warm, and wet.

we use a hemostat to slide it past the mouth, into the first part of the throat, and use your thumb to pull it down further from there.

often all you need is to stimulate the digestive tract a bit. for non eaters, i will force feed 6 times, every 3-4 days. that gets everything flowing regularly, digestions, defecation. then i try feeding a live rat pup of appropriate size, overnight. 70% will take the live pup. for the other 30%, another round of force feeding. that will bring another 25% around to feeding on a live rat pup.

of course, i have already exhausted other methods of getting them to eat on their own first, which includes a proper setup, hidespots, temps, mice, rats, live, prekilled, thawed, etc.

i don't recommend force feeding for novice keepers, you can almost always get the snake to eat with skilled husbandry, it is a technique strictly for true non feeding snakes. that is an important judgement to make.
-----
robyn@proexotics.com

Pro Exotics Reptiles