Reptile & Amphibian Forums

my wife is a vet tech at the local herp vet, we breed beardies but are just getting into snakes. anyways a client at her work bought a corn snake that had 5 babies after they got her home. 3 died so they decided to take the other two to dr. jeff, he gave them to us to see if we could get them eating because we have saved many bearded dragons. they are currently eating wet cat food with vitamins and stuff in it, but now i would say they are 2 months old and have never eaten anything but that, i am trying to get them to take pinkies or crickets but have been unseccessful for about 2 weeks now. i have tried to smear the cat food on them but as they are tube fed that stuff i dont think they can taste it or recognize it. i need some help or info because i dont want to be tube feeding these snakes forever and i want to keep one. i dont trust anybody i know to do it faithfully like i would so i dont want to give one up untill i get them eating right..... PLEASE HELP!!! thank you...

Try using a live pinkie. Put the snake in a deli cup with the mouse and leave it overnight in a dark place. If that doesnt work I would leave the snakes alone for a week or so, no tube feeding or anything, and then try again. Tube feeding and force feeding are stressful on them, although it has to be done sometimes. Good luck.

EP
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Occupants not paying rent:
7 balls
2.1.10 corns(candy cane, creamsicle, ghost, 6 normal, 4 anery )
1 pueblan milk
1 everglades rat
1 cal. king
1 gray band king
1 w. hognose
1 bearded dragon
1 fish
1 mouse
3.3 cats

i did try pinkies but i just put them in their hide box and the snakes wouldnt go in there anymore but i only left them for about 3 hours because i didnt want to waste them as they were my last two, i buy them for my sudan plated lizard, so i just fed them to him and i am gonna buy some more tomorrow....i will try the deli cup thing and leave them in there this time....thanks bro!!

Here are some things to try - good luck!

FAQ - Babies won't eat...

There are lots of tricks for getting babies to eat - some are mentioned in the Manual. Feeding in a little deli cup is one of the first things to try. Some will only take live, or lizard scenting. Some want you to cut the frozen pink in half, then put both halves in the deli cup. Sometimes non feeders start feeding after bumping them around on the way to an expo. Some people have had luck dipping pinks in chicken broth, although it has not worked for me. Or try tease feeding as mentioned in my book. As a last resort, force feed and then brumate them until spring and see if that makes a difference.

I keep a couple of colonies of deer mice and dwarf hamsters to scent regular pinks. I just take out some of the dirtiest bedding and bury the pinks in it (loosely, so they don't suffocate) for about 10 minutes. I find that about 20 - 25% of non-feeders (where I already tried braining, heads, bodies, etc) will usually take mouse pinkies scented with another kind of rodent if you confine them overnight with it in a deli cup. Try rats, gerbils, etc, etc. You never know what might be their cue. If you don't have other rodent bedding, try your local petshop. Maybe I will start bagging it up and selling it at the shows, lol! Of course you can scent with lizard or tree frog for those who don't go for the rodent aromas

Try all of these things, starting with the easiest and least invasive, working your way up to the force feeding if needed.

Good luck!
Kathy Love
CONTACT INFO:

CORNUTOPIA / Kathy Love
Captive-Bred Cornsnakes

WEB: http://www.CornUtopia.com
TEL: (239) 728 2390
EMAIL: kathy@CornUtopia.com

great ideas from kathy - should help you a lot.

however, as it was said already, try LIVE pinkies. There is a more natural feeding response to live prey than ones you have thawed from the freezer.
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-Chris

The reason mainstream thought is thought of as a stream is because it's so shallow. -George Carlin

A fool doesn't learn. A smart man learns from his mistakes. A wise man learns from the mistakes of others. Which one are you?

My Website
N. American Rat/Corn snake care sheet I wrote
Information on substrates

Current snakes:
0.1 Licorice Stick Black Rat (Lola)
1.0 Black Rat (Frankie)
0.1 Texas Bairdi (Rosa)
0.1 Blue Beauty (Brunhilde)
1.0 Green Tree Python (Monty)

one thing I found that got two of my non feeders to finally start eating was dipping them in tuna fish juice.
The tuna fish in water not syrup.
I had been force feeding several hatchlings for a couple of months while alternating through the different methods and finally tried tuna fish juice. Three of the foru started eating on their own with the tuna fish scenting. I just used a little less each feeding and within about feedings had them eating non scented f/t pinkies.
The last one finally just decided that plain ole f/t was good enough....lol
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Corn snakes and rat snakes..No one can have just one.
"resistance is futile"
Jimmy (draybar)

Draybars Snakes

>>one thing I found that got two of my non feeders to finally start eating was dipping them in tuna fish juice.
>>
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Corn snakes and rat snakes..No one can have just one.
"resistance is futile"
Jimmy (draybar)

Draybars Snakes

Please explain

Glad you asked. I didn't want to seem rude by my disbelief.

sorry the reply took so long, but anyways, yeah the way I have been told it is that a teenage bot bought a adult female corn snake from Jack's Aquarium and Pets in Cincinnati somewhere, and about 3 days later it had 5 babies, (now if they ley eggs or not I'm not sure as I am a beardie guy, not a corn snake, just starting in the snakes), 3 died from starvation I guess at a week old maybe, and I have the other 2. One is slightly larger than the other, and they both drop perfect skins every time they shed, which my ball python 'Ernie' does only every once in a while, they both are growing and are very active, but am I harming their instincts by force feeding them??? Any help would be appreciated, and thank you Kathy Love if you are reading this..........

I am in NO WAY questioning the honesty of the person who started this post!

Everyone read that correctly??? If not, go back and read it again before going onward, please...Thanks!

Now,

The information you got was not accurate, for whatever reason.

Corns lay eggs, which take about 60 days to hatch, so there is no way someone brought home a female corn that gave birth to five babies.

Also, it takes MUCH longer than a week for corns to starve to death, even as hatchlings. They will often die of malnutrition, but not in a single week...or even a month, probably.

The facts you have been given by whomever simply cannot be accurate, so there is no way for you to be sure of really has happened. Also, corns don't eat crickets, so don't try those with the babies.

Hope that helps a bit...
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Darin Chappell
Hillbilly Herps
PO Box 254
Rogersville, MO 65742

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