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Baby snake help

lilbug82
08-07-2012, 04:54 PM
my son bought himself a corn snake about a month ago. It has not eaten since we have got it. When I try to feed it, it turns away and goes to the other side of the container. I am looking for advice on this, I have talked to people here that have snakes and have been told a baby can go up to 3 months with out eating.
Also any advice on getting it to eat. It seems healthy and is very active. I am trying frozen pinkys.

Ryan_J
08-07-2012, 05:45 PM
Just to be clear how are you defrosting them? Are you braining them? Washing them? Feeding in a deli cup?

lilbug82
08-07-2012, 05:48 PM
I put the mouse in a ziplock bag and put the bag in hot tap water, I tried braining one and the snake took off even faster when it smelled the head, I was told I didnt need to wash them and I feed it in a feeding container I got at the pet store.

Buzzard
08-07-2012, 05:50 PM
Have you tried leaving the food item in overnight? If not, try this it usually works well for us with picky eaters.

lilbug82
08-07-2012, 05:52 PM
I have left it in for a couple hours in the evening but the mouse kinda dries out, is that ok?

Ryan_J
08-07-2012, 05:54 PM
Try this. Thaw the mouse. Wash it in dish soap. Brain it. Put it and snake in the smallest container you can and leave them alone for some quiet time in the dark. Just to be clear do not 'offer' the pink to the snake. You want to unsettle him as little as possible. Just slip him in with it. Make sure you are not trying too often. Also I would stop all uneccassary handling between attempts. Let him rest and calm. If his cage/tank/tub is large downsize or offer more hides (toilet paper rolls work).

bitsy
08-07-2012, 05:57 PM
If a defrosted pinkie dries out in a couple of hours, then the chances are the temperature is a bit too high. You can normally leave them in with the Corn overnight and they'll still be whole.

If you can take the temperature on the floor of the tank on the warm side with a digital thermometer, it should be around 85 degrees. That'll feel lukewarm to you. Not very hot at all. If the temps are too high or too low, it can interfere with their digestion and put them off eating. Sometimes getting the temp right can be a quick fix for a non-feeder.

lilbug82
08-07-2012, 05:58 PM
doesn't washing it change the smell of the mouse? I only try feeding it every monday, that was the schedule at the pet store. Usually when i give it water or clean the cage it just comes to me and gets on my hand. Its a very friendly snake.

lilbug82
08-07-2012, 06:01 PM
If a defrosted pinkie dries out in a couple of hours, then the chances are the temperature is a bit too high. You can normally leave them in with the Corn overnight and they'll still be whole.

If you can take the temperature on the floor of the tank on the warm side with a digital thermometer, it should be around 85 degrees. That'll feel lukewarm to you. Not very hot at all. If the temps are too high or too low, it can interfere with their digestion and put them off eating. Sometimes getting the temp right can be a quick fix for a non-feeder.


Summer where I live is usually 31C (87F) on average, it gets hotter so keeping the cage cooler then that is a little hard. Could that be why the snake isn't wanting to eat?

Ryan_J
08-07-2012, 06:07 PM
Yep, thats the ideal. Seems wierd that it comes to your hand and you mentioned its very active.

lilbug82
08-07-2012, 06:09 PM
Yep, thats the ideal. Seems wierd that it comes to your hand and you mentioned its very active.

yeah it comes to me and gets on my hand, its active in the evening moves around a bit during the day usually goes in its water i think to cool down

AliCat37
08-07-2012, 06:11 PM
Try to thaw it out in just hot water. Not with the plastic bag around it. Don't dry it off either, just put the hot pinky in a small container and plop the snake in there too, leave them alone in the dark over night.

Ryan_J
08-07-2012, 06:12 PM
Man I wouldnt want to eat in 87 degrees either jk. Do you have anywhere you can put him that can shave the temp a few degrees? Closet/ Basement (if its warm enough).

bitsy
08-07-2012, 06:13 PM
Summer where I live is usually 31C (87F) on average, it gets hotter so keeping the cage cooler then that is a little hard. Could that be why the snake isn't wanting to eat?
It certainly takes away the ability to thermoregulate, which is important for a cold-blooded animal. 87 is getting towards their safe maximum of 90 and ideally, one side of the tank needs to be in the low to mid-70s.

It could well be why he isn't eating.

lilbug82
08-07-2012, 06:16 PM
Im not sure what to do about that then, it is hot and dry here. I have a chameleon to and I have to shower her once a day at least to keep her humidity up.

bitsy
08-07-2012, 06:20 PM
Can you rig up a fan and point it at one end of the tank? Maybe create a makeshift cooler by half filling an empty plastic bottle with water and standing it the freezer without the lid. When frozen, you can put the lid on, wrap it in an old towel and put it at the cool end of the tank.

lilbug82
08-07-2012, 06:34 PM
I was dethawin him in just hot water with no bag but I was told that it can take away the smell of the mouse. No one feels like eating in this heat. No where in my house is cooler, it goes down about 10 degrees at night but I have tried feeding it in the middle of the night and it still takes off when it smells the mouse.

griff531
08-07-2012, 06:42 PM
I never want to feed my snake a live mouse, but if he dosent eat soon, well i guess thats the only thing you could do :(

bitsy
08-07-2012, 06:43 PM
Try putting the pinky in with the snake just before you go to bed and leave them together overnight. Even if it dries out after a while, the absolute quiet and dark might help the snake feel safer. They'd be vulnerable to predators while eating in the wild, so feeling like the "big pink blobby monster" (<-you!) is watching, could be putting him off.

I think you're a way from trying live yet.

If it's the temperature that's putting the snake off eating, then live won't make a difference.

lilbug82
08-07-2012, 07:03 PM
I was told live pinkies wouldnt really make a difference anyways cause they don't move. Also no where in my town sells live pinkies.
I will try feeding over night and see how that goes.

griff531
08-07-2012, 07:58 PM
If you have a pet store that sells live mice, breed them and you wont have to worry about paying for pinkies

lilbug82
08-07-2012, 08:46 PM
I know that's the cheaper way to go but at $1 a mouse it's not that big of a deal. And I also bred bugs do my chameleon so mice to would just get to be to much.

susang
08-07-2012, 08:51 PM
Curious you said the temp is 87* in your house, but what is the temp in the viv over the heat pad?

lilbug82
08-07-2012, 08:53 PM
I don't have the heat pad on cause it's to hot, when I did have it on the snake never went near it and spent more time in its water and trying to get out. It made the cage way to hot.

susang
08-07-2012, 09:12 PM
OK heat pad off but what is the temp inside the viv say under a hide and where the baby hangs out?

lilbug82
08-07-2012, 09:16 PM
It's the same as the house

susang
08-07-2012, 09:20 PM
I think the key is temp as it isn't a constant temp of 87* in your house. I have used fans in really hot weather, but the temp needs to be monitored. Today where I live it is 97* but tonight it will be in the mid 70*s.
The mouse needs to be really warm/hot when you feed it. some snakes don't like the smell of thawed mice, that's why some said to wash it. Some snakes want the mouse washed and dried, some like them wet.

susang
08-07-2012, 09:21 PM
It's the same as the house

How are you measruing the temp, it is not common for every area of ones house to be the exact same temp.

lilbug82
08-07-2012, 09:24 PM
No it's not alway 87, if you read about I said at night it drops maybe 10 degess. It's also a very dry heat here. That's why I said I try feeding her at night.

lilbug82
08-07-2012, 09:26 PM
It's a small house, livingroom and kitchen are pretty much te same thing. I have a thermometer in the kitchen and there is one in the snake cage, bedrooms upstairs are even worse then the main floor. The bathroom on the main floor is the o my cooler place and that's cause it has no windows, but I am not putting a snake in my bathroom.

susang
08-07-2012, 09:32 PM
Sorry I didn't see the 10* drop comment. I'm trying to help but it is unrealistic to say the temp is 'the same as the house'. People keep corns in the desert and they eat. Given everything else seems OK with your hatchling the temp is important and so is the temp of the pinkie. If you are using a stickie temp thing on the side of the viv, it is not the best way to measure temp in viv, neither is your kitchen temp.

lilbug82
08-07-2012, 09:42 PM
No I don't use the sticky ones, I use digital ones with the snake and my chameleons I also have the infrared thermometers that you point and it shots a lazer that reads the temp. I don't see how you can say my house can't be all the same temp when you don't know what my house looks like. I get your trying to help but I am very capable of reading the temps in my house and am well aware of proper thermometers. I am not new to snakes, just new to one that doesn't want to eat.

susang
08-07-2012, 09:48 PM
No I don't know your house or your experience, sorry just trying to help.

lilbug82
08-07-2012, 09:53 PM
It's ok. It is odd but like I said its a small open house and it's all big windows, yes people in deserts raise snakes and where I live is almost a desert. My chameleons have a hard time here to, I can't have heat lamps on during the summer cause it's to hot and I have to put them in the shower cause it is so dry here just misting Thier cages doesn't keep them hydrated enough. I'm just looking for help getting her to eat, my son has wanted a snake since he was 3, he has saved up for 3 yrs to buy one and I don't want it to die on him.

susang
08-07-2012, 10:53 PM
Curious you said the temp is 87* in your house, but what is the temp in the viv over the heat pad?[/QUOTE]

[QUOTE=susang;1482491]OK heat pad off but what is the temp inside the viv say under a hide and where the baby hangs out?

It's the same as the house

How are you measruing the temp, it is not common for every area of ones house to be the exact same temp.

No I don't use the sticky ones, I use digital ones with the snake and my chameleons I also have the infrared thermometers that you point and it shots a lazer that reads the temp. I don't see how you can say my house can't be all the same temp when you don't know what my house looks like. I get your trying to help but I am very capable of reading the temps in my house and am well aware of proper thermometers. I am not new to snakes, just new to one that doesn't want to eat.

OK but you realize many people come on this forum who know nothing about temps and how to measure them. Which is why a page ago I asked how you measured temps. !!!! If you had said lazer and infrared I wouldn have dropped this a page ago. I hope your baby starts eating for you.

lilbug82
08-07-2012, 10:56 PM
I get that, trust me I see alot of that on the chameleon forum.

diamondlil
08-08-2012, 05:02 AM
Can you rig up a swamp cooler? A fan blowing over iced water would help some with the heat and the humidity

lilbug82
08-10-2012, 09:06 AM
so i tried the putting the snake in a container alone with the mouse all night thing and it still didnt eat. any other suggestions?

bitsy
08-10-2012, 09:50 AM
I think trying to cool one end of the tank artificially is your best bet. If it's too warm and the snake can't thermoregulate then it can't digest properly, which would actually make eating dangerous as a regurge risk. It's been a problem for a lot of folks this summer.

Apart from that, have you worked through all the tips for non-feeders in the FAQ?
http://www.cornsnakes.com/forums/showthread.php?t=28342

You can add to that the rather odd trick of putting the hatchling in a tub next to a working dryer. For some reason, a period of vibration can stimulate some to eat.

lilbug82
08-10-2012, 02:09 PM
Try to thaw it out in just hot water. Not with the plastic bag around it. Don't dry it off either, just put the hot pinky in a small container and plop the snake in there too, leave them alone in the dark over night.

I did what you said and got up to a dying snake, she died about an hour after i took her out of the container.

Nanci
08-10-2012, 02:39 PM
Sadly, some babies never eat. It wounds like you got one of them. I'm sorry. Don't be afraid to try again, maybe with an older snake.

lilbug82
08-10-2012, 02:43 PM
We are getting another one at the end of the month, I guy who breeds them here is going to a reptile show and is going to pick me up one.

BloodyBaroness
08-10-2012, 02:49 PM
I did what you said and got up to a dying snake, she died about an hour after i took her out of the container.

What type of container did you use?

She was probably heading to far south at that point anyway.

Nanci is right some babies never eat.

bitsy
08-10-2012, 04:11 PM
We are getting another one at the end of the month, I guy who breeds them here is going to a reptile show and is going to pick me up one.
Make sure you get one which has already eaten at least three times - ask him to bring the feeding record with it, to be absolutely certain. I don't consider hatchlings to be reliable feeders unless they've eaten three times in a row. If they eat twice then refuse the third, I reset the count and start it again.

I'm sorry you got off to a rocky start.

lilbug82
08-10-2012, 04:13 PM
Yeah he is getting me an established one

diamondlil
08-10-2012, 04:15 PM
Sorry you lost your little one, but will you be able to correct your temperature regulation being a problem before you try again?

lilbug82
08-10-2012, 04:19 PM
This guy breeds snakes and doesn't think it has anything to do with the set up or heat. He told that pet store not to sell them so young and he bought up the rest of the babies. He says it was just to young and not an established eater. He had to force feed the ones he bought.

diamondlil
08-10-2012, 04:21 PM
If it was just a case of being too young, then force feeding isn't necessary at all, a healthy hatchling has enough reserves to stay healthy until it's ready to eat

lilbug82
08-10-2012, 04:24 PM
Some still die. And it's not that they were that young he said try should be established eaters but the pet store hadn't feed them since they came in. He said that's why he quit working there. He breeds and raises them, all the ones that were with my snake are healthy and alive and have even shed.

susang
08-10-2012, 05:24 PM
I'm sorry for the loss.

my son bought himself a corn snake about a month ago. It has not eaten since we have got it. When I try to feed it, it turns away and goes to the other side of the container. I am looking for advice on this, I have talked to people here that have snakes and have been told a baby can go up to 3 months with out eating.
Also any advice on getting it to eat. It seems healthy and is very active. I am trying frozen pinkys.

I did what you said and got up to a dying snake, she died about an hour after i took her out of the container.

From healthy to dead in three days??? You did have holes in the feeding bin? Because lack of oxygen could explain a quick and sudden death. It just seems something else is wrong besides a snake not being established or failure to thrive. If the siblings to this snake are established by breeder
ex-pet store worker, why don't you get one of those? If they are so established after tube feeding.