Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I received a cornsnake 2 weeks ago. it is very small and thin, a hatchling. They told me it was eating 2 pinkies every Sunday. I tried the following week and it didnt eat anything. I called the shop and they said leave it to setle for another week and i will have no problems. Now 2 weeks have gone by and this little chap still isnt eating. I have done everything. Cut the pinkie up, placed the snake in a container with the pinkie, nothing is happening.

The smallest pinkies look large compared to the size of this baby. Is there anything i can do or feed it (magots? crickets)
I am a novice at this so please tell me in laymans terms. I run a small rescue centre and this chap came in as the owner was going to let it loose in the garden

many thanks
Simon

Try scenting a pinky with an anole. Do you know if the baby was captive bred or wild caught? If the anole scenting doesn't work, I have heard of scenting pinkies with chicken broth (I have personally never tried this but have heard that it works). Cornsnakes won't eat crickets or maggots, they don't eat insects. If all else fails, you may have to try and force feed him, I would only do this if nothing else works because it's pretty stressful for the snake (also no fun for the person doing it). I give you thumbs up for taking the time to get this guy feeding, alot of people think corns aren't worth the trouble. I believe all of them deserve a chance. Good luck with your little guy! Christy

I second that responce. Find out if it was wild caught, who caught it and how they caught it. If the person that caught it was rough with it, it could be injured or just stressed out. I would leave it alone as far as putting it into seperate conntainers and such. Let it get used to its new suroundings, try leaving a live pinky in the cage over night, movement realy turns em on. Besides that he/she will be out checking out the new crib anyway in the dark and in the solitude of the night. I caught one that i had for about a week before it escaped. But it would turn down the pinkys too. I was gona try scented, but since the lizard(actualy a mediteranian gecko) had been thawed so many times i just dropped it in and was gona get a new one, he ate it. I would try a scented pinky, overnight. I would also advise that you refrain from handling it until you get it to feed, in case it is stressed. Good luck skinner

hey there,
i have a question on your set up for the little guy do you have a hide box of any kind either a bowl or an old toilet papper roll, if so try dangling the pinky in front of the opening while it is in there, just let go when or if he hits it, that is how i have to feed my corns they wont eat outside of the safty of their hiding spot, jim