Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I have a bp that is over a year old, and has not eaten since Aug. 19. I've done basically everything except braining.. I don't need help, but I got an idea. I tried a force feed, but it did not work. I realized that him stuggling made a big big problem. And once the mouse's head is in the shoulders are tough work! It's nearly impossible unless it is a teeny mouse! And if it doesn't want it, it'll spit it up. I figure that a tube, with an inclined front will allow it to easily slide down it's throat, smoothly without trouble. If you get the tube down about 6 inches, and drop a small dead mouse in, then get a long instrument to force the mouse down a bit more... You could pull the tube out and it'll have been fed. I bet that once the pipe is out, it'll barely notice the small mouse. You could perform this on large bp's every 3 days or so, with maybe more then one mouse. It'd keep them healthy until they fed again. I think it'd be a real great tool available. Less stress on you and the snake. Does such a device already exist? Dunno, but it sounds like something I need to make.
-----
Ball-Pythons.Net

Hi there,

If your guy was eating before August, then I hate to break it to you but you are no genius (no offense intended). BP's often fast for very long periods, and there is nothing abnormal about an adult male going for 4 or even 6 or 8 months without eating (especially during breeding season). It's possible all this force feeding is just messing him up on eating on his own!!!

Please, if he was eating before August, and looks healthy and not emaciated, then leave him alone and don't force feed him anymore! He may not eat till May, but he will eat again!

Good luck,
Christy

Yeah, I know. I was talking more or less about the device... I just threw in the story to explain how I came about thinking of it.
-----
Ball-Pythons.Net

force feeding puts a tremendous amount of stress on a BP. You certainly aren't a genius if you tried to force feed during breeding season...

>>Yeah, I know. I was talking more or less about the device... I just threw in the story to explain how I came about thinking of it.
>>-----
>>Ball-Pythons.Net
>>
-----
- Joel Smith

"If you're not part of the solution, you're still part of the problem"

IF force feeding is absolutely needed....and yeah, I know sometimes it is, but I don’t know that winter fast is a reason to force feed. Anyway~ if you’re going to force feed and “Assist” feeding has failed, then there is an easier way. Get an oral syringe and a feeding tube (Ask at Vet, items are cheap and re-usable if you sanitize them). Get vet or experienced friend to teach you how to tube the animal (easy to do once you know how, but if you accidentally put the tube down the esophagus you will kill the snake) Tube a thin mixture of Feline A/D feed (ask at Vet, costs about .90 cents a can, and you won’t use it all) pedalyte (unflavored) and nutra-bac (not sure where you can get that now, check classifieds.) The few times I have done it, the animal in question either died or began feeding voluntarily with-in 2 to 3 doses (once a week) of the A/D~ nutribac tube feeding.

Now I have only done this to snakes that have been off feed long enough to actually begin to look thin and scraggly.

Good Luck

I don't need help with my bp, I'll find a way. I was just seeing what you think about the device thingy.
-----
Ball-Pythons.Net

I think tube feeding would be easier, which is why I suggested you might want to learn how to do that rather than try to re-design the pinkie pump. (You have seen those haven't you? If not, run a search on the net)

I think your larger tube would be almost impossible to get far enough into the snake without damaging the snake (They are VERY un-cooperative when you want to stuff something down them) And if you actually got the mouse in the snake~ it would be easier for him to regurge that mouse than it is to regurge that thin mix of A/D.

Good luck though! Merry Christmas!

Have a merry x-mas yourself, hehe.

I guess it would not work then. I'll try what you suggested some time.
-----
Ball-Pythons.Net

.....well...........

as they said.....balls do not need force fed.......

and the best thing would be to get gerbils...or hamsters etc-----------...and wait.......

IF you need to force feed an animal...yes...tubes have been used for years....on cows.....horses...gators......snakes..etc etc etc...maybe not Marsians yet?.......

......caulking guns have been used with long tubes and a liquid mix of food product......about a pint..pint and half can be given at one time this way **(I know...too much for a snake)...*....long ago they used raw eggs,baby food,beef broth,starches,etc etc etc...and even all mixed.....

......tube with a dowel that fits into it.....shove down a small mouse........yes it works......

anything shoved into an animal makes stress......bigtime......

and if they are in need of force feeding..they are already stressed........physically too.....*(stomach and intestinal juices are out of whack for sure by then)....

at times feeding an emaciated animal will kill it right away....been there done that more than once....*(baby corns alot)....rather force and have them die ,than to play their non-eating games for more weeks...wastes my time and wastes food items..........

..........so.....

yes...it works........

have fun........

JYReptiles.........*with balls that don't eat for months at a time....then start in fall and eat all winter even.......

balls are odd.......

we have them anyways.......("we" as in you and all of us).....

I hate to be disagreed with too
Anyway,if the animal needs to be force fed, its best to tube feed as a last resort( quick nutrition that will probably stay down).Jacking the mouth open and forcing a mouse through the tube would cause more stress than the animal needs, enough to actually keep him off food. But who knows, you just might be right and the first person to come up with this great idea.

So, you've got a ball python over a year old and has not eaten since Aug. 19. You've been frantically trying to get it to eat. It doesn't want to eat so you resort to force feeding. So you continue to obsess cause it's not eating. It's a vicious cycle. So, STOP OBSESSING!!!

You gave so little information so here's some questions: Has it lost any weight? Has there been any changes to its environment?Are the temps ok?

Oh, but I forgot, you "DON'T NEED HELP", but "I GOT AN IDEA." Well, here's my opinion of your idea. Stop encouraging or promoting force feeding of snakes. You know ball pythons tend to stop eating from time to time.

You need professional help, and I don't mean a therapist for your obsessing. Go to a qualified reptile vet if your snake is losing weight or hasn't eaten for an unusual amount of time.

At getting my message across. I didn't need help with my bp, and I know all about how bad force feeding is. I kinda figured it'd head this way. And I made the massive mistake of saying force feed, instead of assist. I didn't even get it past the shoulders when I figured Monty had had enough.

I was more or less aiming at the idea of tube feeding. To see if it had been done, with sucess, or failure. I wanted opinions on the idea, not help with my snake. I need to be more clear in the future I suppose.

I got the info I need, the idea sucks, been done, and too stressful. Thanks.
-----
Ball-Pythons.Net

“It's nearly impossible unless it is a teeny mouse!”

Exactly! So just step down to a smaller-sized food item. I would say nix your tube idea for a number of reasons. The simplest is that you’d be putting something of a larger diameter down the snake’s esophagus in order to insert something of smaller diameter. So, why not dispense with the tube and insert one or more very small, lubricated rodents? Additionally, the leading edge of your tube would have to be precision ground, I would think, to avoid tearing up the snake internally.

However, I do believe your tube and plunger apparatus could be used to great effect in a Chamber-of-Horrors-type short story. Get busy writing!

-Joan