• Hello!

    Either you have not registered on this site yet, or you are registered but have not logged in. In either case, you will not be able to use the full functionality of this site until you have registered, and then logged in after your registration has been approved.

    Registration is FREE, so please register so you can participate instead of remaining a lurker....

    Please be certain that the location field is correctly filled out when you register. All registrations that appear to be bogus will be rejected. Which means that if your location field does NOT match the actual location of your registration IP address, then your registration will be rejected.

    Sorry about the strictness of this requirement, but it is necessary to block spammers and scammers at the door as much as possible.

undigested pinkies

D

donnie

New member
I got a snow corn in January. It hatched in September I think. I got it at a reptile expo and the vendor didn't have any info for me. I already had three corns and have always gotten feeding records. For weeks I thought it was regurgitating mice 2-3 days after feeding and tried everything to remedy it. He's in a tank with three other snakes I got from a different vendor the same day. None of the other snakes were regurgitating. I recently learned that the snow isn't regurgitating at all; it's worse. The pinkies are passing through the snakes system almost completely undigested. It's been on two small pinkies a week, like the other three, since I got em. He's weaker and less active than the others. My question is will this clear up or is it slowly dying?
 
I would say take it to the vet. That many snakes living together is going to stress them out. And if one is sick it will infect the others. And like you have seen it is hard to tell for sure which snake is not doing well from pooh or regurges. I would really suggest that you house them separately and when you get new snakes in QUARENTINE them in a different room.
 
Really? I would think if it were parasites or disease I would have problems out of the others as well by now. Anyway a vet around here is out of the question and I'm not taking a $15 snake for a $300 vet bill lol. My hypo, my ghost, and my candy cane all live very nicely in a 20 gallon high. They bask together coiled up in the vines and hide together coiled up under the cork. They're very active and healthy. My younger ones, my butter, my lavender, my amel, and the snow all are very small and live in a 10 gallon. The lavender attacked the snow and clamped onto it's neck the day I got em. I haven't had any stress related problems out of any of my yearlings or the other babies. Does anybody know about breeding problems that might cause this?
 
I havent read anything about this kind of thing resulting from bad breeding. Honestly I think its stress related. The others might be infected but not showing signs because they arent as stressed . However, if it is a disease or parasite than you will never know since you are not willing to go the vet. Truthfully putting your entire collection at risk. Which is ignorant within itself. You came here asking for help but you totally blew off both suggestions. I dont think you are going to get many others.
 
I would also suggest doing more research in owning and caring for corn snakes. There is a wonderful book by Kathy and Bill Love as well as one by Don Soderberg.
 
I have heard a lot about inbred corns and breeding the feeding instinct out of blood reds, for example, and some of my research has pointed to bad husbandry. I studied corns for a year before I got my first one and have never heard of undigested mice.
 
Never heard of breeding out the feeding instinct in bloodred let alone corns. But yes bad husbandary would be my first guess as to why your little guy is dying.
 
donnie said:
I have heard a lot about inbred corns and breeding the feeding instinct out of blood reds, for example, and some of my research has pointed to bad husbandry. I studied corns for a year before I got my first one and have never heard of undigested mice.
Click to expand...


I would really like to see the literature cited on the breeding the feeding instinct out of bloods.
 
From Donnie's girlfriend.....First of all, we have 7 snakes and no problems out of the other 6. They all are good eaters, digest just fine, and seem very active. They are shedding and all have gotten bigger. This one snake even when we did quarantine had the same result. The vets we have here do not have a lot to do with snakes. So, we don't have the option of taking it there or I would have already done that. Our main reason of posting on here was to see if anyone else has had any of these problems and knew why and how to help this snake. We decided to get corn snakes because a friend of ours has had a corn snake for almost 2 and a half years with no problems. So, anyone have any idea why this is happening and what we can do OTHER than taking it to a vet.
 
If they are sitting together, and curling up together, then they are fighting. I agree that the stress of having them living together is causing your snake to go down hill. And honestly, in my opinion, if you are not willing to spend money on vet bills, don't have pets. It doesn't matter how much the animal cost, it is a living breathing being, denying it proper vet care is animal cruelty.
 
donnie said:
From Donnie's girlfriend.....First of all, we have 7 snakes and no problems out of the other 6. They all are good eaters, digest just fine, and seem very active. They are shedding and all have gotten bigger. This one snake even when we did quarantine had the same result. The vets we have here do not have a lot to do with snakes. So, we don't have the option of taking it there or I would have already done that. Our main reason of posting on here was to see if anyone else has had any of these problems and knew why and how to help this snake. We decided to get corn snakes because a friend of ours has had a corn snake for almost 2 and a half years with no problems. So, anyone have any idea why this is happening and what we can do OTHER than taking it to a vet.
Click to expand...


As Donnie stated he would not spend $300 on a $15 dollar snake was already mentioned so the vet argument you are stating is invalid. The vets here don't do snakes either but have one about 80 miles away and I go there. I do know there are instances where people can't afford to do it and I understand that. But what it comes down to, you came on here asking for help and we offered what we thought would help you and mostly the snakes and because it didn't agree with what you are doing you choose to get offensive and not listen. So be it, it is on your hands. And if all the research had been done on husbandry and corns the cohabbing thing would not have come up.
 
donnie said:
From Donnie's girlfriend.....First of all, we have 7 snakes and no problems out of the other 6. They all are good eaters, digest just fine, and seem very active. They are shedding and all have gotten bigger. This one snake even when we did quarantine had the same result. The vets we have here do not have a lot to do with snakes. So, we don't have the option of taking it there or I would have already done that. Our main reason of posting on here was to see if anyone else has had any of these problems and knew why and how to help this snake. We decided to get corn snakes because a friend of ours has had a corn snake for almost 2 and a half years with no problems. So, anyone have any idea why this is happening and what we can do OTHER than taking it to a vet.
Click to expand...

I have never had this problem with my snakes. I, honestly, believe that is stress related, or some kind of parasite or disease. The snakes system is not disesting the pinkie therefore not getting the nutrients it needs to survive. The only way to find out why is to get it to a vet. Your bf stated earlier that he is not willing to pay 100 dollars on a vet bill for a 15 dollar snake.
 
Even with the issues and thoughts on cohabbing aside - don't you think that's an awful tight space to be fitting that many snakes into? Cohabbing is your choice, although not a suggested one, but I think if you are going that route then you seriously need larger tanks.

Honestly, I think it is just difficult for people to give you any other advice besides to separate at this point. Stress is an obvious cause that is the simplest to deal with, and if it's not that, you should rule it out as a possibility. How do you know which snake is having the issue? Have you seen that snake defecate?
 
Actually it was a breeder that explained how the feeding instinct ruined the blood red market breeding. But there's plenty of info on the web about bad husbandry.
 
If the lavender attacked the snow and bite his neck... YOU HAVE STRESSED OUT SNAKES. The dominance of the lavender over the snow will stress them out beyond words. Stress can lead to bactria or parasites in the snakes body to overrun the system. Stress can also cause poor disgesting, does your snakes have belly heat? It is very important for hatchlings to have belly head to properly digest food... If you had done a YEAR of research some of things things could of been avoided and You quite possibly could have a healthy thriving snow!
 
Why is it if they coil up and sleep together that they are fighting??? Please explain this cause every breeder I talked to at the, Midwest Reptile Exhibit's, their snakes are always coiled up together and seem very content. Don't mean to sound "bitchy" however I just don't see how this is "fighting"...
 
Yes, they have proper adequate heat. As stated before their are 4 snakes all together, same ages who all except for the one are completely fine. None of them have attacked the other since they were first taken out. I believe they were hungry since after they ate they have not done this since and we have had them for over 2 months. This snow was like this before we got it, it passed a pinky the vendor had fed it before we bought it. So, that leads us to believe it CAME with whatever is wrong with it. I WOULD be willing to take it to a vet if we had one that would treat it. However we don't.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top