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Baby feeding problems

C

chirpie chic

New member
We have had twelve babies out of twelve eggs and they are now 5 weeks old.All are feeding great except one which hasn't fed yet and is looking rather thin.We have followed the advice in the corn snake manual ,but don't want to start force feeding unless we have to . If anyone has some advice we would appreciate it
 
Can you describe what steps you have taken so far? How ofter are you offering food?
 
we have offered very small pinkies about every 4 days, we have tried the tease feeding and he / she just turns away and has shown no interest. We have put him /her into a smaller container with just a pinkie to concentrate on, like the kathy love manual suggests. he/she is very active just like all the other ones. We have read about trying with a mouse tail, but how would you encourage a baby to open their mouth to start with, without being too rough and putting them off completely
 
Scenting...

There are a couple more things you could try... Braining: When you cut up the head to make the smell of the pinkie better for the snake. Anoles: Maybe it will feed on an anole, a small lizard that they usually eat in the wild. I wish you well, and hope everything goes ok!
Scott
 
Five weeks isn't enough time to panic yet. I've had a few hatchlings go 10 weeks before consuming their first meal. :)

I definitely wouldn't recommend force feeding hatchlings unless it is the last option. Have you tried both frozen/thawed and live??
 
Thanks for your advice, I have contacted an expert who also told me not to panic too much yet. He suggested that I scent the pinkie with a chick, which I will try tonight, apparently that rarely fails. I feel very lucky to get 12 out of 12 eggs and 11 of them are feeding really well, but I want this little guy to do well too. I will keep you updated with any progress made. Thanks again.
 
If you have a little hatchling, quite often a pinky head will do the trick if they won't go after the whole pinky. Just break the head off a frozen pinky, warm it up in a cup of warm water, dry it off, and then put it and the hatchling together in a small container.

Mark
 
Best would be to warm it up inside a plastic bag. Otherwise the warm water will rub off most the scent.
 
hey everyone. i'm an avid snake lover nad i just purchased a baby cornsnake about 1 week ago. i've feed him once but i don't know how often i should feed him. any suggestions are welcome. if you'd like to send tips directly to me, do so at [email protected]
 
Hi "14"! Feed your newcomer one pinkie every 3-5 days. And buy yourself "The Corn Snake Manual" by Bill and Kathy Love - that'll tell you all you need to know about the basics. Quite a lot of us here seem to have started out with this book.
 
I am very pleased to be able to inform you that my poor little hatchling ate yesterday evening after 5 weeks of worrying. It worked by the tease feeding method in kathy love's book, we tried scenting with a chick but it was not interested, so we just persevered with teasing. It looked like quite hard work for him but he managed a whole pinkie. I feel very relieved that we didn't have to resort to more drastic measures. Thanks to all that gave me their suggestions.

Paula
 
Great news :)

I never heard of scenting with a chick though :/ I mean, there both not the normal hatchling diet right? Anoles are. I can imagine that works.

How exactly does the tease feeding go in Cathy Loves book? Mine *finally* shipped from amazone.uk but it might still be a week or 2 before i get it.
 
Hi Jicin,
Kathy Love suggests that you hold the hatchling in one hand with about 1 1/2 " of body and head free. hold the pinkie in other hand and gently bump the baby with it against the baby's body ( not its head ). We tried this several times on a few other babies and it worked straight away. If it is successful you need to remain still untill it has consumed the pinkie other wise putting it down it may drop the pinkie, its great having them feed out of your hand.
We finally got our non feeder to feed by a similar way but put the baby into a smaller container and held the pinkie right infront of his nose and bumping behind its head, following its nose wherever he went untill he got quite stroppy and then snapped at the pinkie. I can't tell you how relieved i was when he ate it, we were getting so worried. I hope this is a help to you for future reference. good luck. Paula
 
hey chirpie chic i'm in the same predicament as you with five out of fourteen and had this problem before just keep trying and it will eat when its ready goodluck. i've never lost any yet.
 
hey 14!

Hey 14...There is deffinitly no reason to feed your baby corn every 3 to 5 days, thats is to much. Feeding your baby corn pinkies once every two weeks, or if you want to power feed it, try feeding it once every week. If he/she doesnt like the power feeding, no worries, once every two weeks is good!
 
Bigpops, since baby corns are still growing, it is okay to feed them more often than every 2 weeks. Adults can get by on being fed that seldom. Some people recommend 3-5 days, and some recommend 5-7 for babies.
 
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