My snake Shermy tries to eat but.....

[snoopysnake]

lately he has a habit of smelling the pinky and sometimes rolling it over with his snout, but the only times he eats it successfully lately are right after he sheds.

He tends to try picking up the pinky from the middle instead of the "correct way" (by the head, or even by the rear as he occaisionally did in the past.) He picks it up a little this way and then drops it.

I have tried cutting up the pinkies but he just smells them and moves along.

Note - Shermy is about 2-1/2- 3 years old and was happily eating 1 to 2 fuzzies when I got him. After about a year he started refusing any fuzzies a good part of the time, and I tried bigger and smaller mice. He ate the pinkies so I kept him on those, but eventually he lost interest in eating those too. He is about 3 feet long and slender but not emaciated-looking, and he seems happy and friendly, just disinterested in food.

I had him to the herp vet in early fall and he gave Shermy some vitamin shots and antibiotics, and then force fed him twice in the span of a month. The vet said try him on pinkies as opposed to fuzzies, and that Shermy would probably eat eventually. Not long after that, Shermy shed and ate 2 pinkies with great enthusiam, but not again after that. Just the weird dining behavior again.

I have a new July 03 corn snake (hopefully future wife for Shermy!) that I got 6 weeks ago, so at least now the pinkies that Shermy rejects aren't going to waste because Shirley wolfs them right down!

I plan to take Shermy back to the herp vet later this week, but I am wondering if any of you have experienced the behavior of a snake picking up the mouse in the middle and dropping it, and what to do about it.

Thanks
Janet
"snoopysnake"
()"o >-:)))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))

[Neumann]

Janet,
you might try letting a food item sit out for a day in the room with the snake so it gets good and stinky before he tries it, perhaps that would encourage him to eat.

***

Sorry but this is a question rather than a proper reply...

Because snakes are so dependent on their sense of smell, is it possible that a snake could develop a physiological problem with their tongue or jacobson's organ and would then refuse food? If so, maybe increasing the smell by lizard scenting the the food would increase an appetite?

Any comments from all you experienced senior Herpers?


Cheers,
Jason

[Ice9]

For a while , the only way I could get my ghost to eat was to make sure the container he was in was nice and warm and the lights in the room very dim. Even then he`d have a sniff and leave it a few times before he eventually ate it , anything up to 2 hours after the pinky was put in with him.

Might be worth leaving the pinky at the entrance of his hide for a good while and see if hell eventually have it.

Also what seemed to make a difference sometimes was just slightly snipping the top of the pinkies head to let a bit of juice out.

you might try letting a food item sit out for a day in the room with the snake so it gets good and stinky before he tries it, perhaps that would encourage him to eat

Ive also heard of this working , you could try maybe laying the pinkies on the edge of the heat mat under your snakes cage for a couple of hours before feeding and see if you can get him going :)

[pinatamonkey]

Have you tried something live, like a small hopper or large fuzzie?

[palmerdoom]

If your snake is 2 1/2 to 3 years old then give it an f/t adult mouse. It will gulp it down in no time. If he don't, he might not be warm enough.

[snoopysnake]

I have in the past tried bigger mice for Shermy, with no change in the disinterest.

I took back him to Dr. Greg Mertz ("The Odd Pet Vet" - very knowledgeable about snakes) last night and Dr. Mertz force fed him and in the process determined that Shermy has a slight mouth infection, which is blocking the information from getting to the Jacobsen's organ. In other words, Shermy is curious about the food smell but not convinced that it is food! (I guess he was so ravenous after his lastshedding that he ate then anyway.) Dr. Mertz gave me an antibiotic specific to that and thinks it will do the trick. If not, he'll do cultures to get to the bottom of the problem.

Thanks for all your ideas - I'll keep you all posted.

[Neumann]

Janet,

That's great news in the sense that you now know what the problem is so you can solve it and have a healthy snake again! What is the prescribed treatment for your Shermy? Daily treatment with a medicated swab or... ?

Thanks for getting back to the group. It also answers my question about potential problems with the jacobson's organ.

Cheers,
Jason

[palmerdoom]

You did what you had to do and hopefully it will pay off. Keep us updated.