sick baby corns :(

[IronOutTheIrony]

so back in may, i hatched my first clutch of baby corns. i was ecstatic that all the eggs were fertile, and even happier that the all hatched healthy baby snakies! they really gave me a hard time when it came to eating though. out of the four, i have only one that eats on her own, and we are assist feeding the others. way back when, i was given a hatchling as a gift that was very sick and i had to assist feed for almost three months, and she is now the most active snake in my collection and is growing pretty quickly, so i had faith in the non-eaters. well i lost one of the babies last week. :cry: he was very lethargic for a few days, and barely came out of hiding. my hubby went to change the water dishes, and he found the poor little guy belly up. today, i went to feed the remaining three, and they are all very lethargic. even the one that eats by herself. i picked her up and she basically went limp in my hand. prior to this, they were all super active, and would flail around when you would pick them up. im so upset, i don't want to lose anymore babies. the temps are the usual, they always have fresh water and plenty of hides, i always keep them clean. why are my little ones so sick? :crying:

[starsevol]

I am really sorry this is happening to you. What did you try before assist feeding if you don't mind me asking. Assist feeding should be one of the last things you try because it is so stressful.

[IronOutTheIrony]

:awcrap:I know, I hate doing it. I left them in the deli cup with the food overnight, washed the pink with dish soap, brained the pink, cut the pink in half, put the pink in super hot water, I tried making them angry by dangling the pink in front of their noses. when I did that, they would bite it, but not eat. so basically everything but scenting and live. I don't know if they were all sick from birth, or if one got sick and somehow passed it to the other babies (I also have five adult corns and theyre are all okay) when they all hatched, I did have them all in the same tank for about two weeks. could that have something to do with it? im afraid to take them to the vet because im afraid they wont be able to handle the stress.

[starsevol]

:awcrap:I know, I hate doing it. I left them in the deli cup with the food overnight, washed the pink with dish soap, brained the pink, cut the pink in half, put the pink in super hot water, I tried making them angry by dangling the pink in front of their noses. when I did that, they would bite it, but not eat. so basically everything but scenting and live. I don't know if they were all sick from birth, or if one got sick and somehow passed it to the other babies (I also have five adult corns and theyre are all okay) when they all hatched, I did have them all in the same tank for about two weeks. could that have something to do with it? im afraid to take them to the vet because im afraid they wont be able to handle the stress.

Have you tried thawing the pinks out and pouring boiling water over them? Sadly, your babies might be too far gone for that now, but some members here swear by it!

[beautifullywild77]

Sometimes babies just weren't meant to survive. :( It is the down side to breeding. I have two granite pied side that have refused everything I have tried. I am prepared to cull them when the time comes if they don't start eating on their own.

I wish you luck. I would try the boiled pinks. That has worked wonders for many!

[Nanci]

It doesn't sound to me like they were sick, but like they just couldn't get started eating. Even assist feeding has its limitations. If you have babies next year, and they don't feed, we can probably help you troubleshoot in the correct order to have the best chance of getting them to feed. But it's VERY difficult sometimes- that's why you see non-feeders for free; because some breeder doesn't want to lose their mind trying to get them going. But- it was so good of you to try.

[IronOutTheIrony]

ive thawed them, then put them in really hot water, not boiling though. Ill have to try it. any thoughts as to why one died? theyre not starving, they keep the pink down when I assist feed.

[IronOutTheIrony]

I just dipped a pink in boiling water and put it in a feeding container with a non-eater just to see what would happen. I poked my head in the snake room about an hour later, and was surprised to see a very lumpy baby! I'm heating up another one to see if the other will eat. I have tried some pretty ridiculous things to get these babies to eat, but I would have never tried boiling water. Thank you so so much, faith in my babies has been restored!

[HVani]

Yay! Glad they are eating for you :) That must be an amazing feeling.

[diamondlil]

I just dipped a pink in boiling water and put it in a feeding container with a non-eater just to see what would happen. I poked my head in the snake room about an hour later, and was surprised to see a very lumpy baby! I'm heating up another one to see if the other will eat. I have tried some pretty ridiculous things to get these babies to eat, but I would have never tried boiling water. Thank you so so much, faith in my babies has been restored!
That is wonderful news!

[beautifullywild77]

Awesome. Boiled has worked wonders for a lot of breeders and it was only by accident that one of the members hear boiled the pinks and fed them.