Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hi all, I've had a baby corn for 2 weeks and can't interest it in eating. He's in a 10 gallon tank with an under tank heater on one side, water on the other, a hid at each end, and carpeting for substrate. I posted about a week ago with a pic on the relative size comparted to the pinky he was offered. The snake is a bit small. So far, I tried offering just the pinky head,and small piece of fresh chicken. He seems to move around fine and looks good. He's alos passed a very small amount of fecal and urate material. Any suggestions? I was thinking maybe I should try to feed him in a small container, pehaps that is how the breeder did it. I got it from a private breeder but it was through another person I know and I don't have direct access to talk to the breeder.

if I am reading your post correctly, you have tried to feed it too often for a two week period. Give the snake at least 4 days after it doesn't eat to try again. You can actually end up 'conditioning' the snake to not eat if you give it food too often and it doesn't eat. And yes, putting a baby snake in a deli container is a much better way to encourage the little one to eat. Sometimes it there is just too much room even in a 10 gal. container and if the snake does not move near it will not react to it. So, i would definitely put it in a deli container with a mouse head only, put the container in a darkened place and leave it overnight. And it is best to do this at night time. While I certainly have some that will eat any time of day, the norm is that the corn prefers to eat at night, alone. They are nocternal by nature.
But give the little one a few days off before attempting this and if that doesn't work, there are other methods to try, but not to close in days.
Good luck.

A 10 gallon tank is too big for baby corn snake.
It should be kept in something the size of a shoebox or smaller.
Cup feeding is one of the best ways to feed baby snakes.
There is a basic corn snake care sheet with photos on my website.

Tim

Third Eye

it's nothing to get worried about yet... i have heard that young animals may sometimes go for 3 weeks and sometimes 4 weeks without eating because they sometimes get streesed out a lot more easily then adult corns. Like others previously suggested... let the snake be (no handling or any contact and no offering of food) for some days (4-5) then offer a pinky (possibly with a punctured head and a small amount of blood dripping out) in a deli container or another small container. Leave the corn overnight with the pinkie in there but if he has not eaten come morning, remove the pinkie because it may go bad and may smell really bad.
Good luck with yor corn and, hopefully, bad luck for the pinkie.

I always feed my 2 corns in seperate containers other then their enclosure. Make sure the frozen pinks are thawed ALL THE WAY. Sometimes if I just wiggle the 'meal' alittle my corns will get interested and 'go for it'. I would wait for a couple days too before trying to feed him/her again. Remember, it's in a new enviroment and needs to get settled in. I kept one of my corn babies in a 10 gal and it did fine.