Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hi everyone. Im a regular over at the turtle boards, as that is my specialty. But recently, a friend of mine acquired 2 young sonoran gopher snakes..or so was told to her.(i will post the pics below)

One of them is supposed amelanistic, and was born last august. It was born with a deformed jaw...the lower jaw seems real small, and turned downwards as is the upper snout. The snake wont eat. I tried a dead pinky today, with no luck. I opened up the pinky, exposing the guts and still nothing. What should I try next? Im worried about the little snake, because it has'nt eaten in almost 3 weeks. The catch is, it was purchased at a show, and the breeder told my friend that the snake has been eating. The snake was given away free because of the deformity.

I somewhat doubt that the snake can eat on its own. It may have been force fed. I told my friend to separate this snake from the other, slightly larger snake..which is healthy and eats well, by the way. Any advice on this situation would be greatly appreciated.

I saw those pics and those are quite nice Sonorans!

As far as the snake with the deformed jaw....first thing, separate it from the other snake's cage, if they are housed together. Stress may be at an all time high for this particular snake, and keeping as much stress as possible off the snake may be a key in getting it to eat on a regular basis.

Make sure your friend provides a hide box as well for security.

If the snake was born last August, it would have had to eat sometime. The snake MAY have been eating for the previous owner. Did your friend receive a contact number or email addy from the breeder? I would have him call him up and ask him as many questions about this particular snake as possible. Any good breeder would be happy to answer questions in order to have a satisfied buyer.

The jaw thing may be a problem, and that was cool that the snake was given to your friend and not sold.

The snake may be too big for pinkies, so try a mouse fuzzy. That may be the food he is accustomed to eating. I honestly don't know if the jaw deformity would play a part in whether the snake would eat a bigger rodent or not.

Also..make sure the temps are not too hot. 78-82 AT THE HIGHEST works real well for my gophers. And again....the most stress-free enviroment the snake could be given, i.e.: hidebox, less chance of seeing major room traffic, maybe less handling thatn normal for a while, etc.

Keep us posted!

Billy
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Genesis 1:1

Thanks alot. Im on the case.