Reptile & Amphibian Forums

My girl has a 26" or so burm that has yet to have it's first shed. For a little over a month now it defecates with small frequency I would expect from living off yolk, but though it gets longer it doesn't get fatter and has yet to take interest in mice or rats. I think it is necessary to force feed a pinky or fuzzy mouse and hopefully this will give him that "taste" for food. As I have seen it described I should carefully open the mouth with a flat spatula (very small one) and work the mouse in with my fingers head first. As it goes down I use the eraser part of a pencil to push it further and as soon as it is far enough I should massage it down his body. Does this all sound standard? Has anyone else had this problem with a neonate?

I would be very cautious with force feeding. A neonate can live off the yolk sac for quite awhile in some cases. I would only force feed if it is a life or death situation, and in your case I would wait a bit, as it may have the adverse reaction to what you want. In many cases, force feeding can scare the snake away from food, cause it will associate that climactic event and the smell and taste of food.

If the baby is about to die, then do it, but I really wouldnt otherwise. Just keep giving it feeding opportuities, and it will get hungry and feed. Good luck, and I hope you dont have to force it.
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1.0 Albino Green Burm
0.2 Normal Burm
1.1 Java Retic

The stress that the snake would undergo would be catastrophic. The snake would probably regurge the food and there is a very real possibility that it would become phobic of its prey items. I would only do it as a last resort and as a lifesaving step rather than a precautionary step. I would, however strongly recommend the use of a pinkie pump. It is a little device that basically liquidfies a pinkie mouse and squirts it into the snakes stomach through a small tube. Much less stressfull to the snake and works a lot better than the actual act of force feeding. Hope this helps, Todd

Well, by now the snake does not have too much wieght to it. Theres lots of growing room, lots of extra skin and length, but he really needs to fill it out. He doesn't use his tongue as much as a normal snake does and really I don't think he knows it's for hunting. When I do have a pinky in his face he doesn't flick his tongue in interest, instead he holds it inside his mouth and simply retreats elsewhere. Is there a way I could enduce a feeding response, perhaps scenting the mouse or even braining it (which I assume is cracking its skull and smearing brains on its head)? Whatever measure is taken it should definately be within the next week.

Take your snake and place it inside a snake bag or a pillow case. Place a pinkie mouse or rat (do not use a live mouse or rat for obvious reasons) inside the bag with the snake and secure the bag so neither can escape. Place the bag back in the cage and leave it alone for atleast 24 hours. Do not disturb it in any way. Your snake may be stressed a little and the darkness and secure feeling within the bag might help induce a more calm attitude and thus a feeding response. Good luck and keep us posted. Todd

Well, my attempt at leaving him with a pinky and a blind fuzzy for 5 hours didn't work. I will try the 24 hours circut on friday. I read in "The Ball Python Manual" a way of force feeding that seems better than other methods. You do open hte snakes mouth, use surgical forceps or something like that and place a small pinky a little in the throat (or was it all the way in?). But that was it. Leave the snake alone and theres a chance it will get over the trauma and realise "pinky tastes good, I should finish swallowing this." I thought if that method worked it might actually give him that taste for blood. Does this work for burmese pythons as well as it seems to work for ball pythons?

It should work with all snakes. Jsut ensure that the prey item is much smaller than would normally be given and understand that jsut because your snkae takes the prey this way doesn't necassarilly mean that it will take the next time it is offered food. Good Luck. Todd

You might try braining. Works well for me. except with this stubborn retic. I have only had him for a week so no biggy
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Justin