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My baby STILL hasn't eaten!!!!

Mina
07-03-2006, 10:00 PM
My baby corn will be 16 days old tomorrow and still won't eat!!! The breeder tried again to feed it over the weekend, and nothing. The breeder still does not seem concerned but she is the only one, I'm getting really upset!!! I've been waiting for this snake for almost a year, and now that its here, it won't eat!!!! *snarl* How long does it usually take? Should I worry?

CMLReptiles
07-04-2006, 01:30 AM
Your snake should still be fine. you have to figure it takes them 7-10 days for their first shed, and they usually won't eat for another 2-3 days after that. Some snakes just take longer to decide they want food. I have a white-sided black rat that refused food for over a month...now, she'll eat anytime I'm willing to offer food. Just give her time, she'll be fine ;)

Mina
07-04-2006, 07:40 AM
Thanks for the reply. The baby actually shed early. She was the first in her clutch to shed and did it a week after being born. I guess I started thinking that she would do everything that fast. She isn't the only baby in the group that hasn't eaten yet though, I just don't want anything to go wrong, I have been waiting for what seems like forever!!

Mike Pinkston
07-05-2006, 03:07 AM
I have had hatchlings go almost a month before taking their first meal. It makes me nervous as all get out when they wait that long. If you prefer there are a few tricks that you can try before attempting to force feed. You can try what they call "braining". This is when you make a small slice or cut it the top of the head of the pinkie. This scent is sometimes enough to stimulate feeding. You can also try scenting the pinkie. This takes a little more effort since you have to find an Anole (small lizard) at one of your pet stores. You put the pinkie in with the Anole and let them crawl around together. You have to consider that in the wild one of the natural prey items for the corn snake is the anole. I have not scented a pinkie is this way personally but I have heard of others having success with this method. If all else fails you can begin to force feed a small pinkie. Kathy Love gave a pretty good description of this process in a recent thread. Here is a link to it...

http://www.cornsnakes.com/forums/showthread.php?t=36385 (http://)

Good luck!
Mike Pinkston

Mike Pinkston
07-05-2006, 04:15 AM
Sorry 'bout that! Here is the link again...

Description of force feeding (http://www.cornsnakes.com/forums/showthread.php?t=36385)

This is with a bigger snake but the same principal applies.

Mike Pinkston

NI GUY
07-05-2006, 06:15 AM
There is people on this side of the pond including myself have had great success with scenting with tuna juice.