Reptile & Amphibian Forums

My daughter fell in love with a lovely corn snake at a recent reptile expo. The corn snake is about 14-21 days old. It is very inquisitive of everything in it's terrarium and anything that is going on around the terrarium. Our problem is that it hasn't started eating for us. I had some frozen pinkies in the freezer, so I tried those. "Puddles" never even gave a second thought to that one. Today we bought a live pinkie and stuck "Puddles" and the pinkie in a deli cup inside the terrarium. So far, nothing has happened. We're leaving it there throughout the night in hopes that we will have success in the a.m. Is there any other tips someone may give???

I get a lot of baby corns to eat by using a method called tease feeding. But before you take that route there are some other things you can try first, because the tease feeding can be stressful for the snake. Some of these methods can be a bit gross but they often work. Take a thawed pinky and with a razor cut it's head like your gonna split his head right between the eys. Don't cut all the wat thru but enough so some brain matter is exposed. In fact squeeze some of the juice out with your fingers. I told you it was gross. Now put the pinky and the snake in a deli cup with air holes of course, and put that in a brown paper lunch bag. You could use a small box if you don't have a bag. Then place that somewhere very quiet but not in a cold place, and leave it over night. That brings me t another possible problem. If the temperature is too cool the snake may not want to eat. So make sure temps in the cage are around 80 to 85. The best way to manage temps is to have a hot side and a cool side and let the snake choose where it wants to be. If you are using an under the tank heater, just place it so that the pad only heats up one end of the tank. I don't recomend heat lamps since they can dry out the cage and cause other problems. Another trick to get baby corns to eat is to wash a pinky and get the pinky to smell like a lizard. Lizards are most likely what most corns eat for their first meals as babies. so the trick is to rub a lizard on a pinky or place a pinky in a deli cup with a lizard for a few hours. Then remove the lizard and put in the snake. Some people freeze the lizard and cut a peice of skin from the lizard and put it on the pinky. Some people I've heard grind up lizards in a food processor and put some on the pinky. Whatever works. I get good results with the split braining and the tease feeding. Here is a link to a video that shows how to tease feed.> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AHg7sMG4CtA
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J Sierra

Thanks for the tips and the video! The pinkie stayed in the deli cup all night with the snake with no luck. I'm going to try the braining method that you are talking about. Thanks again.

OK, It my sound weird but this has work for me on hard feeders. Take a pinkie get some steaming hot water in a small cup, put the pinkie in the water let it sit in the water for about 20 seconds. Then with forceps take the pinkie out of the water. Now do not touch the pinkie with your hands. turn the pinkie on its back. And using a razer blade make a cut from the neck down over the belly. Place it in with the snake and see if this helps. I know it sounds strange but it works for me.

Tom Swihart

Thanks for the tips. I'm also going to try your method as we really don't want to lose this little one.

my baby hatchling did the same thing yours is doing now. I tried a frozen at first. No interest. Bought a live pinkie an left it over night with "Sunday" in a deli cup like you did. No interest. Tried again with another f/t pink. Still no interest. Waited 4-5 days between tries. FINALLY Sunday ate a f/t pink when I fed all my other snakes. My python eats jumbo rats so I scented it with the rat an he ate! He / she is now eating like clock work every 5-6 days.

That's what we are hoping for with this one. He is so not aggressive that he's never even offered to strike at myself or my 6 year old even one time. I'm going to keep trying different things to see if maybe we can hit the jackpot! Thanks for that one.

Quick ideas:

1) Do not disturb/handle the snake until it is on a regular feeding schedule (has eaten 5 or 6 times).

2) House baby snakes in small containers - like the size of a shoebox or smaller.

3) Do not subject snake to bright lights.

4) Make sure the snake has hide areas.

5) Feed the baby corn in the evening - do not watch it eat. Put the food into the cage (or put the snake and the food item in a container) and leave it alone until the following morning.

6) Make sure your reptile is being maintained at the proper temperatures - with a temperature gradient.