Not eating

[Maize]

We had a regurge 12 days ago. We've been trying to feed the last 2 nights and he isn't interested. We are very concerned about this.

He had just gone through a regurge recovery (he is a hatchling 16") we had feed him a pinky head 3 times 5 days apart then pinky headless body 2 times 5 days apart then he looked like he was going to shed (gray eyes) then his eyes cleared, no shed. It had been 7 days since he had last eaten. So we tried feeding him a whole pinky. Then he shed that night. Then 2nd night after feed he regurged. I think the pinky was too much for him. So we've waited the 10 days and now he isn't interested in eating we've tried a pinky head the last 2 nights and he isn't interested. It's been 20days since the last time he has eaten and held it down.

Should we wait a couple of days before we try to feed him again? Is there anything else we should do?

I've since learned that this is what happens during shed gray eyes then clear up then shed so we should wait until shed before feeding. :headbang:

[MegF.]

Some snakes will eat even in blue(mine for example) so I wouldn't worry that you offered the food. I would wait until your next scheduled feeding before offering again. What are your viv temps like and are you feeding in the viv or out? If you are feeding in a seperate container, I would put paper in the viv and feed in there to avoid stress. Check to make sure that your belly temps are around 82-86 and not higher or lower. The fact that it is 2 days or so seems to point more to cool temps than warm, but you can't always count on that. Do you feed frozen thawed? If not, you might have inadvertantly given your snake parasites or bacteria from the live mice.

[Maize]

He does seem cool to the touch and he is hanging around the cool side of the viv. We're putting in a paper towel tube tonight. On the warm side it is around`80-82 degrees. We've read in this forum a paper towel tube is real good for the corn to self regulate. On our feed we use frozen pinkies. We let them thaw all day then run hot tap water on them for 3 minutes before we feed it to him.

Thanks for the advice on waiting. He's next schedule feed will be in 3 days

[Rosebear]

On our feed we use frozen pinkies. We let them thaw all day then run hot tap water on them for 3 minutes before we feed it to him.


When you say you let them thaw all day, you mean in the refrigerator...right?

Also, there was a post about not using hot water as it "cooks" the delicate skin of the pinkies. I'm not as concerned for you about that as I am....thawing all day if not refrigerated.

[MegF.]

I use hot water to thaw my pinkies, but I don't thaw them out all day. I'm also hoping you mean in the frig. I just pop them frozen in the hot water for a couple of minutes until they're hot, snip 3 or 4 cuts in the back of the pinky, and feed.

[Maize]

Yeah we take them out of the freezer and into the frig. Although if we can just put them in hot water directly from frozen we will start doing that.

[Maize]

Just to let you know. He ate. This time I didn't thaw the pinky. We just put it in hot tap water for 3 minutes and then feed the head to him. I think ya'll are right. I think before we may have been cooking the pinkies a little.

The other thing I'm noticing is he seems to hang around the cool end of the viv a lot and I think it may be too cool over there. I'm wondering if it's just that he likes that hide the best. So we switch the hides around a bit. We have a tree, water container, rock, paper towel tube (1/2) and he burrows in the aspen too.

[Rosebear]

I'm glad to hear he ate. Really glad!

While I'm no expert, not by any stretch, I can tell you that my lil guy tends to hang out at the cold end as well. He has reasonable humidity, a cool (to cold) end, and a warm-warm end. He has a hide on the warm end, one in the center, and when I find him on the cool end, he's burrowed in the substrate. He seems to work toward making himself comfy.

I wish you all the best; this is the BEST place for knowledgeable info and caring help. I hope your snake finds its way to recovery quickly.

[peep_827]

Maize, I'm glad you got your baby to eat. These people on this board are fantastic, Monty and I have a lot to thank them for!!!

Monty was staying in the cool side too, until I moved his favorite hide, and he moved to the warm side with it! So I put it in the middle. Now that he's getting a little bigger he seems to go into the hide on the warm side for a day after he eats, I'm sure it's instinctive but I think maybe they have to get used to their environment too. ???

[Maize]

I wanted to thank everyone for the help. This forum is great. We have learned a lot.

we moved his hides around and sure enough he seems to like hiding under his water the best so we placed in the middle.

One question is, it's pretty obvious that his sight is pretty bad. He definitely responds to light. But sometime He will be kind of looking for a hide or at least that's what it looks like and one will be inches away and he appears to give up quickly and just burrow. Is corn's eye sight that bad?

This kind of follows into my second question or concern. To get him to eat I put his food on a paper plate in his viv, (for now when he fuly recovers I'm going to take him out and put him in a seperate container. He seemed to not be aware that the food was there. So I picked him up and justkind of kept moving my hand slowly so that his head would be pointed in the direction of the food. Well it worked, he he found the food. But now he seems to want that all the time. He seems to like eating while holding on to my hand. I figure when we get back to whole pinkies if he hasn't given this up it should be alright because I'm going back to just putting him in a different container. I figure this caoxing will be alright during recovery, but not after.

Thanks again ya'll.