Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I have 2 corns one amel and one ghost....A couple of weeks ago i saw them eat a dead baby lizards that i had caught and put in their cage when i was in destin...but i live in pensacola, fl. and there isn't any lizards around so i'm trying to got them to eat pinkies...well, i finally got my ghost corn to eat a dead pinky but 2 days later he regurgitated it.. why did he do that? AND what can i do to make them eat...i don't want them to die...Thankyou, Joey

okay I just had this problem with one of my bairdi's.

Step one. Calm down. You freaking out isnt helping anything. dont worry we'll get 'em eating.

Your snake that regurgitated got its digestive tract all messed up by doing so therefore dont attemtping to feed it for another full 7 days.

What kind of setup do you have them in? They are housed seperately, corect? If not go down to walmart get yourself a reptile ranch (kritter keeper type container), 8"x11" clear plastic. great for babies. Hot/cold side (temps)? Hides? substrate? Are they in an area with a lot of traffic. Have they eaten before and just stopped?

DO NOT catch any more lizards to feed them. You very well may have inadvertantly given them an internal parasite (lets hope not.) Don't give them anything wild caught.

Tell me this info and i'll help you from there.
-Chris
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The reason mainstream thought is thought of as a stream is because it's so shallow. -George Carlin

Battling ignorance one stupid person at a time.

Current snakes:
0.1 Licorice Stick Black Rat (Lola)
1.0 Neonate Black Rat (het for Lic Stk's) (Frankie)
1.1 Texas Bairds (Jose and Rosa)
0.1 Blue Beauty (Brunhilde)

There are many rasons that a corn will regurge so it would be impossible for anyone to tell you exactly why yours did. But some reasons could be: Handled too soon after eating - should always wait 48 hrs after eating before doing anything with them; Temps too low for snake to digest properly - if the snake cannot get warm enough, it cannot digest the food and will regurge it, otherwise it would rot in its stomach, make sure the warm side is warm enough (also make sure that itis not too warm); too large of a meal - make sure you never feed a larger item than the snake can comfortably eat, you should see a noticeable bulge but not a large one; food fed too often (which obviously is not in your case since you can't get them to eat); going too long without eating and getting a normal meal which would prove to be too much for the stomach to take; food fed too close to a regurge event - always wait 10 days after a regurge to try another feeding and then it should be only half the size food item as what they would normally get, so if it is a hatchling that regurges, a pinky head should be all it gets for its next 2-3 meals spaced 7 days apart, then you can go back to a regular sized meal item at regular intervals if it holds down these meals; a sick snake - one that was born with abnormalities or one that has acquired a sickness or parasites, obviously if it is because of parasited, a vet should be contacted for the proper medications; too much stress. There could be other reasons but these are the most obvious/comon ones. It is up to you to decide/figure out, what the cause COULD have been, we cannot tell you. Remember one thing, sometimes it is just not obvious for what reason it happens, it just happens. So, the important thing is to avoid, at all costs, a repeat regurge. A snake that regurges a few times in a row is not one that will likely make it. So, make sure all the above are checked/followed and then you will have done your best to help this guy along.

There are LOTS of ways to help get a non feeding snake to eat but I can't go into them right now. Anole feeding is one way if you can't get them to eat, but they get to like the anole and you have to switch them over by scenting the pink with an anole - usually done by killing the anole and rubbing the pink in the opened carcus, this gets the snake to eat the pink thinking it is an anole and you scent the pinks less and less with each feeding till it is eating an unscented pink. I have and am working with non feeders and this works very well. Yes, the snake COULD pick up parisites from the anoles but that is something you can clean out of your snake later. Eating some anoles is better than them starving to death, better a snake you have to deworm than a dead one. But there are many other ways including tease feeding, force feeding (either adult mouse tails or pink heads), putting into paper bag with pink, braining pink, etc. etc.

Good luck with you little ones and watch that regurge one, make sure it stays warm.