Reptile & Amphibian Forums

i have a baby motley that is about 6 months old that simply refuses to eat. he has ate 1 time on his own and the rest i have had to resort to force feeding. he does not seem to be putting on any weight at all. so my question is "Am i just prolonging the inevitible?" i dont want to keep him in pain if he is in pain. when do i just let nature take its course or is it a matter of personal opinion?

btw he is still very active and alert.

As long as the snake is active and alert I would continue to try feeding him. You'd be amazed at how long snakes can go without feeding. Have you tried putting the snake with a pinky mouse in a paper bag overnight? All it takes is one meal to get them kick started.
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1.2 Chihuahua's
0.1 Cockatiel
1.1 Normal BCI Colombian Boa
1.0 Brazilian Rainbow Boa
1.0 Woma Python
1.0 Jungle Carpet Python
0.1 Leucistic Texas Rat Snake
1.1 Hypo Everglades Rat Snake
0.1 Mexican Black King snake
1.0 Sunglow Corn Snake
1.0 Sunglow Motley Corn Snake
1.0 Coral Snow Corn Snake
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My baby was hard to get to eating too. I tried f/t, live, scented with rat. He finally ate when I thawed a pinkie under hot water then some body juices squeezed out the belly area an he took it with out hesitation. All the while mine wouldn't eat he was active an drank water. Oh, ya, another thing is I put a heating pad under his cage set on low. I have him in a 5 gallon tank with hides an water an fake plant.

Try giving him day old pinks. The tiniest you can find, and follow the other suggestions with the tiny pink.
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King Snakes! Who can make a better mouse trap?
J Sierra

Have you tried scenting the F/T rodent by smearing crushed anole parts all over the rodent?. Additionally you can even stuff a tiny piece of lizard tail inside the rodent's mouth. This also can work very well with many problem corns as well as many other types of young snakes.

~Doug
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"a snake in the grass is a GOOD thing"

my website -serpentinespecialties.webs.com

Good advice from everyone for methods. One more thing you might want to consider is a brief cooling period. In most areas where corns occur in the wild hatchlings brumate not too long after they are out of the egg. Try keeping it at 50 to 60 degrees F for two or three weeks (make sure it has not had a meal in 10 to 14 days first). Warm it back to 80 degrees and offer a meal after a couple of days. Sometimes this works. Good Luck.

I have a tip that has ALWAYS worked for me, no matter how picky of an eater the snake was. i slice the pinky 3 times, once across the head, and 2 more slices on the body. the scent of brain matter attracts the snake, and with ever problem feeder ive used this on they snatched it right from my fingers without hesitation. i even got graybanded kings to eat FT unscented pinkies this way on the first try.

Best of luck to you