I think I am about to loose my baby albino

[tompro019]

he keeps refusing to eat. He hasn't eaten since I got him, Been about 2 months. I posted awhile back and was told to just keep trying. I just fed all my others, and left him alone with his food in the dark again, gave some water too. We will see what happens.

[wycherley]

Have you tried giving him a pinky head, he might be more interessted in a smaller meal an with the neck exposed the smell of the blood might help him? Let us know what happens.

[Iguanagirl8662]

Things that have worked for me are pinky in tuna juice and rubbing the pinky on chicken. Good luck, hope it eats for you.

[Tim66/corns]

Yes the tuna water saved a non-feeder that was given to me. Also make one of the pinks super hot! Dry it & then brain it. "Cut the head with a razor blade" Have found this one very effective.
Good luck.

[tompro019]

I will try that, ty. I might mix the two ideas, and soak the cut off head in tuna juice. Ty

[Nanci]

I've also heard recently of several people having good luck with chicken juice, raw juice, not broth, AND rubbing the pink in chicken fat from a piece of KFC chicken.

[PJ@PJCReptiles]

You have been some real good advise so far so I thought I would repeat everything they have already told you. So here are a few other options.

First off, has this snake ever eaten for you?
Live day one pinkie might do it
Try room defrosting, brain the pinkie with a clean needle (I have a small probe that I use strictly for braining pinks)

How is his/her muscle tone? If you hold the snake up and let it hang down so to speak, is it all limp or trying to pull itself back up?

Just trying to help you and your snake out. Good luck and keep us posted.

PJ

[pwargcm]

have you tried live at all? if it senses the body heat and then constricts and feels a pulse it might be more appetizing. i know its just a pink but who knows. worth a shot id say. also maybe you need a pet anole to rub on your mice for it. try everything you can.

[strawberry_bunny]

I agree tuna juice is great got my sand boa eating again after her fast

[tompro019]

The snake still has strength to pull it's self up. Has never eaten for me. Not even interested in the pinky, this was a pet store bought snake. They said it ate, but I don't know. It won't even strike at the pinky. Snake just not interested.

[MinLynn]

I agree with the tuna water. We had one that was refusing and as soon as we soaked a pink in warm tuna water and offered it, she gobbled it up and never refused afterwards.

[danielle]

I hate to say it, but have you tried live at all or a prekilled? Ha the snake pooped at all for you? I would give live a shot and just monitor carefully, if that doesn't work you could try to grind up a half of pinky making it liquidish or even an egg yoke if thats easier for you. Draw it up in a baby syringe (no needle) and gently slid it in your snakes mouth sqeezing it out slowly. Then just hold the snake upright for a minute so he can't regurge it and hope it stays. Sometimes when an animal is really weak from not feeding they won't eat on their own and you have to help.

[Nanci]

What are you feeding him in? Are you feeding him in a very small container? Are you making the pinks very hot, over 100F? Are you giving him PLENTY of time, like an hour, without checking on him?

[Coryell]

ya i would think to try live, as i know of pet stores only feeding live. Thats an option and i hope it helps.

[tompro019]

Well I tried the head off at room temp soaked in tuna water. Snake was not interested. I will try the super hot tomorrow, and see what happens.

[tompro019]

Also how do you recommend getting the pinky super hot?

[caleb]

i would try putting the pinky in a plastic bag and running hot water over it. a pretty close friend of mine has a king that will only eat really warm pinks and this is how he does it.
hope he eats soon

[tompro019]

I have put him under hot water. I don't think he has pooped. I will have to try live. Just gotta find someone around here that has some live. My mice don't have any pinkys right now.

[blaznee]

try to rub your baby mouse head on a lizard shed.

[tompro019]

I don't have any lizard shed.

[blaznee]

ask for it in your reptile shop maybe, if lizard works, gecko probably works too

[tompro019]

I gotta go to another town, not a reptile store here, but I might try that.

[wycherley]

Maby he's a vegetarian:shrugs:, try giving him some lettuce or even a salad?

[torsten]

Maby he's a vegetarian, try giving him some lettuce or even a salad?

Is that a serious suggestion? I don't think this would be a good idea personally.

[wycherley]

ROFL, ah Torsten i wish i could remember being that innocent:)

[torsten]

ROFL, ah Torsten i wish i could remember being that innocent

For a start I have seen people write serious suggestions along those lines before.
Secondly some people who are having problems feeding might come along and read that and think it was a serious suggestion and try it, although it probably wouldn't be too big a problem as they aren't likely to eat it.
Thirdly that response was unnecessary.

[wycherley]

look man i came on here to help tompro not argue with you, if you cant tell the difference between a friendly post and one thats arguing with you i suggest you stay of the boards untill you grow up.

Don't worry guys i dont feed trolls, so i wont respond but if an Admin can see this and can delete these post as they dont help help anyone thats fine with me.

[wycherley]

forgot, tom good luck with the feed :)

[hezikiawilson]

when i have a problem eater we have found that beheading and squashing the head works well. we also leave them in their cages in a deli cup with the intended meal over night.

[tompro019]

Thanks everyone. I have tried everything but live, he just isn't interested. He still has strength to climb around. I would take him to a vet, but was told not to because there is nothing the vet can do but check for sheds, and give suggestions. I have checked for any left shed. None on him. Again, he is very yound probably a late 08 I got him back in Feb. hasn't eaten for me yet. Again thank you I appreciate all the advice, and I will continue to try, and maybe it will help.

[minktrapper24]

Good luck!

[tompro019]

Thank You.

[pwargcm]

i would seriously still suggest live. i know most chains around here like petsmart, supplies plus, and pecto all offer me live feeders of all sizes. i dont buy from there for my rodents but its just a suggestion since you dont have any good mom and pop shops around. also if your gonna lizard scent it, dont use a beardie shed or anything. i would go with anole as this is one of their main diets in the wild. good luck bro.

on a sidenote. im no professional. but i think if a snake isnt eating for quite some time its gut flora may be diminishing. if i am right on this i would get some nutribac. to be certain i would pm kathy and ask her about that. shes a really helpful person when it comes to corns.

[coxy1130]

I'm no expert but the heating option seems like a good idea to me. I noticed a real difference in the feeding behaviour in my little guy when I heated up the pink, basically I got bored of waiting for it to defrost at room temp so I got a large bowl, filled it with boiling water 3/4 of the way up and then a little cool water to make sure it wasn't completely scolding, then floated a small tupperware on the water and placed the pinkie in there. I got really cheap little tupperwares so their really think so a regular one probably wouldn't transfer the heat too well, you could make a little tin foil floating thingy or something if you cant find anything like that I guess.

He used to sniff around his food and move around his feeding bowl for about 10 minutes before he took it, now he takes it almost straight away and fairly aggressively to (really wolfs it down), I would recommend however making sure its warm to the touch and not too hot just in case :D. But remember to wash it to get ur scent off I use feeding tongs to dip it in the water after I do this.

Just my two cents but I did notice a real change.

[zorro]

look man i came on here to help tompro not argue with you, if you cant tell the difference between a friendly post and one thats arguing with you i suggest you stay of the boards untill you grow up.

Don't worry guys i dont feed trolls, so i wont respond but if an Admin can see this and can delete these post as they dont help help anyone thats fine with me.

Go away brat, are you serious "SALAD"
tompro019 I have sent you a PM hopefully to help.
John

[kelihe]

Thanks everyone. I have tried everything but live, he just isn't interested. He still has strength to climb around. I would take him to a vet, but was told not to because there is nothing the vet can do but check for sheds, and give suggestions. I have checked for any left shed. None on him. Again, he is very yound probably a late 08 I got him back in Feb. hasn't eaten for me yet. Again thank you I appreciate all the advice, and I will continue to try, and maybe it will help.

Hi tompro. Just wanted to say that our vet will force feed to help the snake along. He is an exotic vet and has snakes of his own. He also will give a dewormer too just to make sure there are no internal parasites. That could disrupt their appetites, I would think. So there are a few other things that a vet can do, IF they are a good exotic vet. I'm lucky to find one. Also the Plano Pets Store sells every size of live rodent in mice and rats if you want to travel that far. They also have a website with directions on how to get there. I had to buy several live rats till we got my baby python switched to F/T. The guy there at Plano Pets if pretty helpful too, he even offered to help me get my ball python eating if we couldn't get it switched to F/T. She would not touch a F/T rodent at first so we fed her live for six weeks and then she was pumped and ready to go and took F/T the next week and has been eating like that ever since. She was also a petstore buy..never again..and we were told she was eating. No way! If I were you I would consider a vet visit if you know of a good one and try feeding a live pinky. Just my 2cents.
Good luck and sorry for the long post.

[tompro019]

Kelihe, where are you from? I have been to Plano pets several times. The owner is a good guy. I will have to find a vet only one in my town that even knows anything about snakes. He is still not good with them. I will see what I can do. Thank you.

[kelihe]

Kelihe, where are you from? I have been to Plano pets several times. The owner is a good guy. I will have to find a vet only one in my town that even knows anything about snakes. He is still not good with them. I will see what I can do. Thank you.

Tompro, We live in Aubrey. My husband and son came out a week or so ago and picked up your Black Mexican King Snake from you. We have a common bond! lol He (the king snake) is doing great by the way! Eating like a champ and coming out exploring around just about every evening. Hubby named him "Shiner Black".
I totally understand about finding a good exotic vet. I feel very lucky to have found the one we use and even more lucky that he owns snakes himself. He has a beautiful corn snake named Peaches. lol
Good lucky with your baby corn. Keep us updated. We are really enjoying Shiner.