Reptile & Amphibian Forums

We purchased 2 Corn Snake hatchlings on September 9th 2011. The guy said they were born on July 28th 2011. He said their last feeding was August 28th. When we brought them home, we set up their tanks, and left them alone for a week to let them settle in. Then we got some f/t pinkie mice for them. The female ate with no problems and shed right after she ate. The male wouldnt even look at the food. We posted on other forums asking for help, we have tried everything that we were told. So far we have tried:
1. Teasing him with the food, he turns his head away from it or goes in the other direction.
2.Tried feeding him in the little container that he came in, he wouldnt even pay the pinkie any mind at all.
3. We tried Tried feeding him in his aquarium, he wouldnt eat it.
4. We tried putting the pinkie in one of his hides, still wouldnt eat.
5. We tried thawing the pinkie different ways, still wont eat.
6. Tried buying the pinkies from a different place.Nope
7. We tried "braining" the pinkie, nope
8. We tried dropping the pinkie in on him, he pushed it away from him.
9. We tried putting him in a closed paper bag with just the pinkie, still wouldnt eat.
10. We tried scenting the pinkie with one of my pet rats, nope he turned the other way.

Somebody told us to soak him in warm water for about 15 mins so we did and he used the bathroom, it looked like green balls of slime and white grit, and it smelled worse than death. so we started soaking him 2x a day thinking he was constipated and couldnt use the bathroom and that might have been why he didnt wanna eat. A day or so ago he actually shed, it came off in one solid peice. We thought for sure he would eat since he has used the bathroom and shed, but he still hasnt eaten. Supposedly his last meal was Aug 28th but im not even sure he was eating when we got him...

What should we do? Were at a loss here and i really dont wanna lose him.

We havent rried live because no place near here sells live.

You didn't mention the size of the snake's tank, but I have found small snakes tend to feed better when kept in small enclosures. I know of a number of people who have set baby corn snakes up in 10 gallon tanks and found that the snakes would not eat. When moved to something smaller, like a shoebox-sized enclosure, the snakes began feeding.

Tim

Third Eye

We have had him in several sizes of enclosures, and he refused to eat in any of them. We kept him in the container that we got him in, which was barely big enough for a water bowl. we moved him to a shoebox sized plastic container with air holes, and then the 10 gallon tank and he wouldnt eat in any of these.

You may be forced to take a long trip out of your area to get some live pinkys or an anol to try senting your ft pinks.

I had some babys that would not start on ft pinkys but emediatly jumped on live ones when I put them in. After just a couple live feedings they then easily switched to ft.

Good luck with your little guy.

A
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1.0 BP Nicodemus
0.4 Cal Kings 3 alb 1 het Dora Queen Ace Pearl
2.0 Alb Corn Bizaar Elixir
0.0.1 Rev Alb Nelsons Oden?
0.0.1 toad Jabba

Green balls of slime and white grit with a foul smell sounds like an intestinal virus. If that's the case, you need to take the snake to a vet for antibiotics.

We are currently looking for a good reptile vet near us, i just wanted to ask around and see if anybody else had ever experienced any of these things with a snake.

Yes I did, but I didn't want to say anything. I bought a hatchling from a pet store that wouldn't eat. I noticed it had the same issue of green, loose, foul smelling excrement. The vet told me it had an intestinal virus which he treated with antibiotics but the snake died a few days later. You need to find a vet as soon as possible and have the stool checked for parasites or any other possible illnesses. Good luck

antibiotics have no effect on a virus, they only work on bacterial infections.

Any vet that prescribes them for a virus is missinforming you and ment to say bacteria, deliberatly padding the bill with useless medication, or does not know the difference.

A
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1.0 BP Nicodemus
0.4 Cal Kings 3 alb 1 het Dora Queen Ace Pearl
2.0 Alb Corn Bizaar Elixir
0.0.1 Rev Alb Nelsons Oden?
0.0.1 toad Jabba

Or how about a viral infection suppressing local or systemic immune system allowing for secondary bacterial infection? Happens in animals all the time. Padding of the bill by most vets is not common. My 0.02.
Terry Beatty DVM

Good point.

Sorry, I meant the snake was treated for a contagious parasite. Your snake sounds like it has parasites or some sort of intestinal bacteria from your description of the stool.

I am betting some Flagyl(Metronidazole) given at a typical dose of 50mg/kg of body weight will do the trick. It is a very snake-friendly intestinal antibiotic and works absolute WONDERS for a variety of intestinal bacteria(microbial pathogens). You need to do this ASAP however!!

best of luck with the little guys!

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

serpentinespecialties.webs.com

The funny poop could just be from not eating in so long. I know people may be hesitant to spend a lot of money on a snake that only cost them 20 bucks or maybe a litle more. Corns snake babaies are notorious for refusing to eat. Sometimes entire clutches eat with no problem one year, then the offspring from the same parents have a 50% eating success. There seems to not be any rhyme or reason for it. Many of my babis prefer live over f/t, and they take a while to switch over. Some prefer lizards, or skinks. Then they can be switched over to scented pinks. Some respond to tease feeding, but ye some must be forced fed, at least for a while to get their appetites stimulated. I use to methods of force feeding. One is to force a small dead anole into their mout and use a sexing probe which is very round on the tip and can't scratch the snake, to push it have way. I always try to allow the snake to take in down the rest of the way. This get's his instincts a kick. You may have to repeat this many times untill he starts to eat. Meanwhile always give him the option to eat voluntalrily, maybe rub some lizard feces on the pinky. The second method, and I got railed for even mentioning this one on the King forum, is a pinky pump. The cost have gone down a bit from the 70 dollar price tags they used to have, I have found them as low as 30 bucks. The trick there is not to over feed. You don't want to make him fat, just give him a small dose to keep him alive untill his hunger kicks in. I have had a lot of success in the past with tease feeding, but I have found that it works best with a live pinky! Here is link to a video I made a while back. Having said all this if the snake is indeed sick then he will probably need the help of a vet. I hope the little guy makes it for you!
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King Snakes! Who can make a better mouse trap?
Jorge Sierra

My Site > www.Sierrasnakes.com

Ok the snake was purchased and given a week to settle in and then an attempt to feed was made....good...now the snake didn't eat so there were at least 10 more attempts made to feed the snake in a three week period? I seem to be the only one that thinks so but to me that is just too many attempts in that time frame. Add that stress to the possibility of internal parasites or some other internal problems and it's not very promising.
You need to try a vet as soon as possible and then work from there.
You may get to the point where "assist" feeding is in order. If so, take a pinkie head and work it into her mouth and down her throat. If she holds it down it's a promising sign. Hopefully if it gets to this point she won't be too weak to handle it. Each time you are ready to feed her, give her a chance to eat on her own and if she refuses give her another pinkie head. Do this until she is ready to eat on her own. This can take a while. Sometimes even long enough to get to whole day-olds before she will feed on her own.
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Corn snakes and rat snakes...No one can have just one.
"Resistance is futile"
Jimmy Johnson
Draybars Snakes