I have a Snow corn that I bought about a month ago I took it home and put it in the tank to let it get used to its surroundings But when it came to feeding time It would never eat tried doing things like putting it in a container and even poking the pinkies to make them bleed alittle. So then I resorted to force feeding it the first time to keep it going so that I could try some new metod of feeding it. The snake looks to be a hatchling since I wouldn't know I bought it from a pet store if anyone would have any info please send it my way.
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Feeding Problem
- Thread starter sargeoif
- Start date
sbourget
New member
A good first step would be to buy Kathy Love's Cornsnake Manual. It gives information on just about every aspect of cornsnake husbandry. In the mean time, tell us detailed information about your setup. Size, temps, heating source, substrate, hides, etc. As well it would be helpful to know dates of when you recieved the snake and when you have tried feeding, as well as any other pertinent information.
Right I have a manual that she nd her husband wrote and I've tried pretty much everything they said in the book along the lines if tease feeding and such. I have several corn snakes in a 30 gal tank with aspen bedding, I do use a undertank heater which the temp on the warm side stays about 80 degrees while the temp on the cool side is around 70. as for hides go I have two one is a half cut log sitting near the wall on the cool side and a rock cave sitting on the warm side for them to get into. As for dates go for when I bought this corn I'd have to say it was around the middle of October and I tried feeding it lets see tried after about three days when I got it and tried every week after that. I have forced feed it once and it stayed down in em.
diamondlil
Mice! They taste so nice!
It could be the co-habitation that is the problem, most people agree that corns do best in individual setups, have you tried seperating out this snake into its own tank to see if that helps?
diamondlil
Mice! They taste so nice!
trying too often can condition a snake to repeatedly refuse. so try every 5 days or so would be my advice, with no handling in between to minimise stress. If the snake loses weight or condition you could force-feed again, good luck
BeckyG
Making it up as I go
sargeoif said:
I'd say that was your biggest problem. Snakes kept together, especially in such crowded conditions, are subject to being severely stressed out, not to mention the potential for disease and parasite transfer and cannibalism. Put each snake it its own tank. Oh, did you put the new one directly into the tank with these other, older snakes? That could definitely put her off her feed.
Secondly, force feeding is very stressful to a snake, and you can actually damage your snake if you don't do it just so. It should only be used as a last resort. A month without food is not that long for a snake. I suggest holding off on the force feeding.
I'd wait at least a week before trying to feed it again. No handling during this time either. If she still doesn't eat after you've tried everything you can think of, switch her substrate to paper towel or newspaper and feed her in her viv until you get her established. Right at dusk, place the pinky in the door of her favorite hide (or whichever one she's in--she does have more than one, doesn't she?) and leave it all night. I have ball pythons that STILL won't eat any other way than this.
Susan
Go Ahead, Make My Day!
You may need to raise your temps a little...80 F is just a bit too cold for a hatchling. Thye do much better if the high is around 86 F. Feeding a hatching in a small container is excellent. Have you tried live, brained, lizard-scented, tuna-scented, in a small brown peper bag, left the hatchling with the food undisturbed over-night, a new souce of pinkies...all these options need to be tried before you stress it out again by force-feeding. Do you know if the hatchling was eating before you got it? If you got the hatchling at a petshop, I wouldn't trust the info they gave you about feeding. Good luck!