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She Ate!

DollysMom
10-17-2015, 01:30 AM
I'm both relieved and happy, :cheers: and want to add to the collective wisdom.

First, thanks to LauRuffian, Nanci and others for this thread: http://www.cornsnakes.com/forums/showthread.php?t=141521

Second, when you say, "she ate" to your husband with no context, say it very slowly lest it be confused for an expletive, but I digress.

I tried feeding my new baby, Cleo, who I will have had a week tomorrow, 5 days ago. I left a 2 gram pinky on a deli lid overnight in the viv and she totally ignored it. I figured I had tried feeding a little too soon and determined to wait until tonight to try again.

So just after dark tonight, when I knew she was active, I got another teeny pink ready. She literally ran from it! Ouch.

I knew she was previously a good eater from her size of 14 grams and from the impressive poop she made on the drive home. Still, I figured she needed a little help 'cause fleeing is not a good sign. I gave the pinky a bath in very hot water and blue Dawn (which is what I had handy) and put it and Cleo in her deli cup in the viv and covered it with a paper towel.

I couldn't sleep, so under very low light (nightlight) I just checked and there was no pinky, but a lump in miss Cleo's tummy. Success! I feel a whole lot better knowing she just needed a clean pinky and some privacy. WTG Cleo!:eatpointe

hypnoctopus
10-17-2015, 01:55 AM
That's always a great feeling!

jagodzinski
10-17-2015, 09:18 PM
Congrats! I'm so happy for you. That's great news.

DollysMom
10-17-2015, 10:16 PM
That's always a great feeling!

Congrats! I'm so happy for you. That's great news.

Thank you both!

Nanci
10-18-2015, 10:59 AM
Glad she ate for you!! I'd try her on plain very hot next time, and if she doesn't eat, then maybe just a drop of Dawn. My Dawn-eater from this season weaned off it in three meals.

DollysMom
10-18-2015, 11:11 AM
Glad she ate for you!! I'd try her on plain very hot next time, and if she doesn't eat, then maybe just a drop of Dawn. My Dawn-eater from this season weaned off it in three meals.

Thanks Nanci. Will do. Your advice is greatly appreciated.

kdickens
10-18-2015, 12:35 PM
Great to hear! I found it a great relief when mine started to eat! On Oct 15 Loopy ate in a paper bag (again) after not having to go that route the week before! But 3 days later (last night) he shed again! So that might be why he was a little finicky eating last time. Wasn't sure if he was about to shed so I offered it and he ate it! If I'd know he was that close to a shed I wouldn't have even offered it. Glad the 'Dawn' trick worked, I've never tied it.

DollysMom
10-18-2015, 12:56 PM
Great to hear! I found it a great relief when mine started to eat! On Oct 15 Loopy ate in a paper bag (again) after not having to go that route the week before! But 3 days later (last night) he shed again! So that might be why he was a little finicky eating last time. Wasn't sure if he was about to shed so I offered it and he ate it! If I'd know he was that close to a shed I wouldn't have even offered it. Glad the 'Dawn' trick worked, I've never tied it.

Yes, when Cleo didn't eat I immediately thought of Loopy and his paper bag. I'm sure that for some of them all that shipping and the many changes are a little daunting for their little snakey psyches. Add to that mice from different sources and the different sights and sounds of their new environment, well, it's easy to understand why some of them go off their feed a bit.

I'm so glad Loopy is growing and that there was a reason for his picky eating this time.

I'm not sure which of the three tricks, Dawn, very hot water (allowed to cool so as not to hurt snake), or the covered deli cup worked. It may have been all of the above. I was kind of going on instinct in that she may not have liked the smell of the mice from the new to her source and that she needed more confined spaces considering that she had lived and had been fed in a rack all her life up to this point. When I bought her I did ask if she was on frozen thawed, so that and her healthy size were in our favor.

This was one problem I never had with Dolly. What a little glutten he is. At Cleo's age, he would eat a pink and slither around looking for more! Still no sign of him :cry:

Kalista
10-18-2015, 02:27 PM
That first feeding is such a relief!

:bird:

MysticExotics
10-18-2015, 02:58 PM
That's great!

DollysMom
10-18-2015, 04:34 PM
That first feeding is such a relief!

:bird:

It sure was a huge relief. After she ate she looked up at me innocently as if to say, "You were worried about what?"

That's great!

Many thanks!

DollysMom
10-21-2015, 11:09 PM
Feeding number 2 went off without a hitch with a warm pinkie in the covered deli cup in the viv. Little Cleo definitely wants close, dark quarters. This time I only waited 1.5 hours to check. She's so cute when I check and she looks up at me with her mouse tummy bulge. I released her and she slowly slithered right out of the cup.

kdickens
10-22-2015, 12:57 AM
Congrats on another feeding! The older and more comfortable they become, I think it changes them a bit. On the 15th Loopy regressed and had to eat in the paper bag but a couple days ago, on the 20th, he again ate outside the bag, in subdued lighting! I don't try to feed in bright light. So ... that was successful. And I'm sure Cleo will soon change her ways!

DollysMom
10-22-2015, 03:10 AM
Congrats on another feeding! The older and more comfortable they become, I think it changes them a bit. On the 15th Loopy regressed and had to eat in the paper bag but a couple days ago, on the 20th, he again ate outside the bag, in subdued lighting! I don't try to feed in bright light. So ... that was successful. And I'm sure Cleo will soon change her ways!

I have no doubt. I think of Loopy and Cleo as kindred spirits in the eating department. Whatever it takes as long as they eat!

The first time she ate for me she'd gone 1.5 weeks without. This time it was only 5 days (what I consider normal for this age) and I've started handling her more, too. Gosh, she is a fast little worm, lol.

DollysMom
10-28-2015, 08:56 PM
Feeding was a few days late due to work we were having done on the house. Better to delay feeding than to risk a regurge.

Anyway, Cleo ate like a big girl tonight. She was out hunting in the viv. I put her in the normal feeding bin, weighed her and wiggled a warm pinky for her. She didn't strike, but when I left the pinky she sniffed it and then immediately chowed down. All I did to help her was to do it all in dim light.

I'm so happy. I'm sure she just needed some time to settle in. She lost a gram from bringing her home to now and still hasn't gained so she's holding at 13 grams, but this was only her third feeding with me and they are teeny 2 gram pinks. I'll give her just a little bigger next time.

WTG, Cleo!

kdickens
10-29-2015, 12:19 AM
Cool! Congrats on a successful chow. I know the subdued lighting helps. Loopy hasn't gained a lot of weight either. He's eating 'small' pinkies and is gaining weight, but not as much as I'd like to see. When he's at 16 grams I'll start giving him 2 reg. pinkies. This pic was taken the 28th (yesterday) when I had him out for a bit.

Nanci
10-29-2015, 09:28 AM
When I'm weaning babies off having to be covered, I'll start with covered, pretty dark, then go to 3/4 covered, then half covered (I feed them on my bed, so I just tuck the deli cup all the way or partly under a pillow) then uncovered, but set aside so the baby can't see me moving around the room, then not in direct view, but the baby may be able to see me from a distance, then finally right in plain sight. Usually I don't have to go through all these steps, and it's simple to go back a step on the same feeding if the baby isn't comfortable.

DollysMom
10-29-2015, 06:23 PM
Cool! Congrats on a successful chow. I know the subdued lighting helps. Loopy hasn't gained a lot of weight either. He's eating 'small' pinkies and is gaining weight, but not as much as I'd like to see. When he's at 16 grams I'll start giving him 2 reg. pinkies. This pic was taken the 28th (yesterday) when I had him out for a bit.

Love the pic and I love Loopy. Your little guy has a special place in my heart for sure.

They gain so slowly on small pinks. Sometimes it's only a gram or two a month. Both of our little ones will start gaining once they are on fuzzies, but it seems like forever to get there!

When I'm weaning babies off having to be covered, I'll start with covered, pretty dark, then go to 3/4 covered, then half covered (I feed them on my bed, so I just tuck the deli cup all the way or partly under a pillow) then uncovered, but set aside so the baby can't see me moving around the room, then not in direct view, but the baby may be able to see me from a distance, then finally right in plain sight. Usually I don't have to go through all these steps, and it's simple to go back a step on the same feeding if the baby isn't comfortable.

Thanks Nanci. Good info!

Last evening's feeding was a trial that worked, but if she hadn't eaten I would have put her in the covered deli cup and then proceeded more slowly. I stayed a few feet away and didn't move a muscle until the mouse was all the way down and she was acting like, "Let me out of here."

What I'm going to do now is slowly bring up the lighting. Having the room light on a dimmer is a great help!