Problem swallowing

[Jared O.]

Hi all,

A little background... We have had our corn since approx. July of 2010. He was shedding so he didn't eat for us immediately. After he shed he started eating fine and had been eating a frozen pinky regularly every 5 days. He even ate during his shed cycle in November.

On Wednesday, his scheduled day to eat I gave him his pinky like I normally do in a tupperware feeding bin. He took it and got it in his mouth fine. He got it all of the way in his mouth to the point where his mouth could close and that was it. This went on for about two hours and the pinky stayed in the same spot. I put the whole feeding bin in his tank to see if he would finish digesting. When we woke up the next morning he spit the pinky out.

So, we left him alone for the next five days and didn't handle him at all because I figured that this stressed him. This bring us to yesterday which was his next scheduled feeding. I get him a frozen pinky from another store because they tend to run smaller than the ones that I had from Pet Smart. The SAME EXACT thing happened this time as well.

I am hoping that someone might be able to shed some insight on this or point me in the right direction.

Thanks
Jared

[Jdog3131]

I'd feed these meals, five days apart. The goal is to let her system recover gradually.

pink head
pink head
pink rear end
pink rear end
whole pink, cut in thirds, feed two pieces
whole pink, cut in thirds, feed two pieces
remaining two pieces
whole pink, cut in thirds, feed three pieces
whole pink, cut in half, feed both pieces
at 16g, feed two meals of 1.5 pinks, in three pieces
double pinks, four pieces

At the appropriate weight to move up, (going by the Munson Plan, conservatively, meaning let the snake get 2-3 grams over the cut off for the next step before increasing the prey size)
peach fuzzies, two or three pieces
fuzzies, two or three pieces
hoppers, slit the back and both sides of the mouse with about five slits on each side

If you can mail order Nutribac, say from Kathy Love, I'd use that on all meals for a year.

Until she's kept down four meals, I would not handle her at all. She is going to be having reduced calories so you don't want her burning those off, and you want her to be as stress-free as possible. By Nanci Do that and remember DO NOT HANDLE.I know it said it in there,but that can't be stressed enough.

[Jared O.]

I think that is the regurge procedure which I have read up on, however I do not think this is a regurge although I am not sure what it is. I have considered cutting the pinks the next feeding just to see if he can get them down.

[bitsy]

That's very peculiar. If you've tried a smaller pink then it can't be too big for him. Sometimes they're put off by being watched, but then they'd normally spit it out quite soon rather than holding onto it for a couple of hours then spitting it back while you weren't around. It could be that he's decided he's spooked by spectators - wouldn't be the first time a growing hatchling had developed an odd foible out of the blue over feeding.

All I can suggest is that next time you feed, you offer food just before you go to bed, then you immediately switch off the light and leave him completely alone overnight - no sneaking back to peek. See what happens.

Are you sure his last shed was complete? If there's a ring of old skin left on the body this has been known to cause constriction and give them problems with swallowing.

[Jared O.]

bitsy,

That's interesting about the full shed. I have noticed after the first time this happened that around his neck there is a little bit of skin that looks like when they shed but contributed it to the pinky getting stuck or something. I didn't really consider it a shed until you just mentioned it.

Maybe I will try putting him in a tub with a towel and some water like I saw suggested on here to see if I can get the rest of it off (if in fact it is part of the shed). I will probably wait another couple of days to try this as I want him to settle after having problems last night.

[bitsy]

Good idea. Sometimes stuck skin can be difficult to spot, so a bit of a soak might do the trick. Let us know how it goes.