• Hello!

    Either you have not registered on this site yet, or you are registered but have not logged in. In either case, you will not be able to use the full functionality of this site until you have registered, and then logged in after your registration has been approved.

    Registration is FREE, so please register so you can participate instead of remaining a lurker....

    Please be certain that the location field is correctly filled out when you register. All registrations that appear to be bogus will be rejected. Which means that if your location field does NOT match the actual location of your registration IP address, then your registration will be rejected.

    Sorry about the strictness of this requirement, but it is necessary to block spammers and scammers at the door as much as possible.

BABY corn snake hasn't eaten one meal yet and is 3 months old - GREEN poo

disgurlchar

disgurlchar

New member
Hi Guys - I'm new here so please be patient.

Our female adult corn laid 11 eggs unexpectantly back in October 2012. 9 out of 11 eggs went full term but only 4 hatched. We learnt that we was apparently meant to slit them all open as soon as the first one hatched, so 5 of them drowned as they couldn't get out :(

Anyways, now we have 2 healthy baby corns and did have 2 non-eating corns until Coco died the other night after only eating 1 meal since birth. (all were born around 1st and 2nd January 2013)

Rosie, our baby snow corn will be 3 months old in a weeks time and has NEVER eaten anything since coming out from the egg. We have tried most things except from scenting the pinkie. we try to feed her every week or so but sometimes leaving longer periods for her to not get distressed. She has a water bowl and a toilet tube for a hide plus kitchen roll for bedding which is changed every day as she soaks it with the water from her bowl!

I'm getting really worried about her as her poo started to turn greeny a few weeks ago and this morning there was a mark on her bedding (no picture) which looked very green, a horrible bright dark green colour. Im guessing she has nothing else to poo out now so instead shes passing acids or some sort of bile.

My boyfriend wants to euthanise her by putting her in the freezer, I read here before about your mixed views on this. Our other snake Coco was practically dead and so we put him in the freezer just to put him out his misery although we couldnt see any heartbeat or movement so might have already died before this point but Rosie seemed quite lively this morning but not as active as usual. Also when I picked her up last night her body seems "squishy" and was almost making a "spongy" sound. I know she wont make it because she isnt eating but at 3 months old I dont think she is going to eat at all now. She appears to have black spots inside her body which at first I thought were just organs as also appeared in one of our healthy snakes (who is now bigger so you cant see it)

I know I've blabbed on quite a lot but this was our first clutch and as it stands we will probably not breed again as we feel like we have brought these snakes into the world and them dying on us just isn't a nice feeling.

I would appreciate any advice or thoughts on what we should do next?
 
Firstly, it's not normal to slit Corn eggs. The fact that many died in the egg means that they were never destined to make it. As a result, you've "rescued" some which might have some developmental problems and I'm not surprised that some are non-eaters. I think you just had either a problem clutch or maybe the incubation conditions were slightly wrong. I'm so sorry you've had such a rocky experience. It's really heartbreaking when hatchlings seem so determined to die.

Freezing is viewed as inhumane by the British Vetrinary Association, as a study concluded that the snake remains conscious during the process. If you need to go that way then a vet can help. If you can't afford a vet, then a strong blow to the head which immediately destroys the brain, will cause instant death. I'm afraid it sounds very like your little one is reaching the end of its fight.
 
Could you maybe explain in a bit more detail what you have tried feeding wise so we can maybe suggest a few other things?
 
Thanks for both of your replies. Maybe the incubation temps were a bit high. We was using a lucky reptile viv with temps of 26, 28 and 30 degrees. We had it on 30 for the whole time which I guess was too high but after realising we didn't want to lower it in case it caused further issues. Coco - the one who died the other day had a spinal defect (two lumps on his back which grew further apart in time) but all the others "looked" fine but I understand they could have problems which are naked to the eye.

I dont think we could bring ourselves to destroying the snake's brain with a hammer or something - the thought makes me very upset. I too, think she is on her last legs. I shall call a vet and get a quote to have her put down as I feel really mean letting her die on her own.

We have tried feeding half a pinky (exposing brain and guts etc), leaving it for a few hours but no more as worried it would go off very quickly. Inside her hide allowing privacy and inside the tub on its own with nothing else inside. Hot and cold (and warm) also tried feeding tails of pinkys and tails of fluffs (which we feed our adult corn snakes). She doesnt even sniff any of them, its almost like she cant open her mouth. I have never seen her open her mouth -or drink anything. she just runs away from it and shuns it off. I have heard about force feeding but scared we would break her neck. The nearest herp vet is over 20 miles away so not like we can pop down the road with her either.
 
All i can suggest further is tease feeding, i have never had to scent before... Wait a few days will the snake has calmed down then I usually find the smallest pinky (we prekill ours by gassing them) brain it by squishing the head till juices come out of the nose and then hold it in front of the snake, usually a few tongue flicks and i get a strike, if not i move the pinky back and forth from the snake till i get a strike... I have also never had to force feed so cant advise on that... good luck though hope you come right!

You say you have never seen it drink etc I usually look out for a tongue flick... In this case I take it out of its box and walk around to different rooms this would usually entice them to give a flick or two as they "smell" the air.
 
Thanks Gekosin - I will try giving her a walk around later on, cant say I have ever seen a tongue flick but maybe I wasn't looking for that all this time as its so normal of a snake to do it. She has never struck at anything before. Even when accidentally I dropped the mouse on her back, she just slithered away. We buy our mice from the pet store and the smallest pinkys are even a little too big for our other baby corns so we slice them in half which i would assume gives out enough juices anyway. Everytime we feed her I always sit there for 5 or 10 mins waving it around and I just get nothing. Thanks for your advice - I will try again tonight but unfortunately I think shes come too far to attempt feeding now :(
 
have you tried putting the snake in a tub with air holes put the snake & pinkie in the tub with a heat mat over the pinkie as one of mine only eats with the pinkie over the heat :)
 
Thanks diamond for your input. I havnt tried that no. The tub I have him/her in at the moment isnt that big so im sure she can easily smell the pinkie (as we half it down the middle so insides show) but its another idea I can try. I have some small tubs I can turn upside and put some holes it and I will put pinkie on hot side like you recommended but after 3 months of not even being interested I am very doubtful :(
 
It's not about the tub being small enough for her to smell it. It's about being small enough that she feels safe. I've read on this cite that it is best that the baby be able to feel the sides of the container.
 
gsdbecca said:
It's not about the tub being small enough for her to smell it. It's about being small enough that she feels safe. I've read on this cite that it is best that the baby be able to feel the sides of the container.
Click to expand...

Ahhh yeah I have read that somewhere too, now you mention it it does seem logical. Thanks for your advice :)
 
This is for Diamondlil who asked to see a picture of our Rosie.

Rosie 1.jpg

Rosie2.jpg

As you can see in one of the pics - her tail is very withered.
 
She looks to still have more muscle mass than Skooge (the non-feeder I rehabbed before). Skooge was so thin and weak she literally fell over to the sides rather than stay upright. I'll let you know when I can come up to collect her once I've spoken to Mick tonight and we'll take it from there. :)
 
Thanks Janine - If you think she has hope then that's amazing! I'd love to see her grow up and become daddy's little angel (Snowy her dad is a snow corn as well and the only snow to come out of eggs). Some breeders probably don't think of their hatchlings as children of their adult snakes but we do lol! Yes if you could let me know that would be awesome! Did you say you were off work tomorrow? Hope you enjoyed your shift by the way :) x
 
disgurlchar said:
Thanks Janine - If you think she has hope then that's amazing! I'd love to see her grow up and become daddy's little angel (Snowy her dad is a snow corn as well and the only snow to come out of eggs). Some breeders probably don't think of their hatchlings as children of their adult snakes but we do lol! Yes if you could let me know that would be awesome! Did you say you were off work tomorrow? Hope you enjoyed your shift by the way :) x
Click to expand...
As I said in the PM, no guarantees, but I'll try to rehab her and keep you up to date every step of the way. Trust me, you'll get photos of everything, including her poops! We'll give her a chance with slow and careful syringe feeding and keep our fingers crossed.
(Edited to add, yep, I'm off work tomorrow so will be rampaging around the countryside with the dogs. And yep, work was satisfying but non-stop so my bed's calling me!)
 
Yeah but shes got of a chance with you than she has with us. If she does end up going to snake heaven then at least I know that somebody tried to give her life :) haha cant wait to see normal poops if they happen :) Ahh ok lets hope the weather stays nice aye! So if you are busy tomorrow is it looking more like the Sat or Sun. Obviously I know you probably dont know yet and thats not a problem just curious :) Have a nice sleepies! x
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top