DragonBoy said:
The doc gave me some stuff to force feed this girl with, because she is down now after all these weeks to a rack of bones. The stuff he gave me is called jump start. Comes with a handy feeding tube attachment. I got it into her and gave her the amount doc said...put her back in her shoe box and she has not moved since. When force fed do they just pass out? I swear her eyes are still responding but she has not moved in over an hour. Help...
First question: how much did you give her? If this is a hatchling, it should have been no more than 2cc. When administering, did you feel the tube pass through the throat prior to plunging it to avoid flooding her lung?
Force feeding is stressful, and it is not uncommon for a snake to lie quite still for a period of time, but an hour is excessive. Does she move when touched? If lifted, is there any curl response? If the dose left a visible bulge, has the bulge progressed further down her body? Each of those would indicate that she is merely stressed and recovering quietly. A complete lack of response may indicate that either the feeding went awry or she was too week to to combat the stress.
Your snake, if she recovers from the treatment, might be better served by force feeding a small pinkie rather than medication. Gather together a couple of wooden toothpicks (tips blunted so as not to injure her) and a blunt rod with a tip small enough to pass through the snake's jaws. I use either a six gauge piercing taper (which you might not have handy :grin01: ) or a stylus from my PDA. Find the smallest small pinkie you can and warm it until it is very toasty to the touch, about 100 degrees or so. Hold the snake between your thumb and forefinger, directly behind the jaws and firm enough to control head movement. Use a toothpick to gently open her mouth, then lay the toothpick across her jaws to hold her mouth open. Put the pinkie, snout first, into her mouth from the front while sliding the toothpick out the side. You will probably want to hold the pinkie rather firmly on its sides so that your pressure will force it into her throat rather than just bulging the pinkie's torso out. Use the fingers that are controlling her head to prevent her from pushing the pinkie back out while you are repositioning the push rod to force more of the pinkie in. You will be able to feel the pinkie as it passes by your fingers, enough to relax pressure while it passes and then reapply to hold it. The pinkie may split open. Yes, that's messy and a pain to try to force in, a gelatinous mass that wants to go anywhere but the direction you are pushing. Do your best to get it into her throat; it does get easier with practice. Once you have the entire pinkie inside her throat and mouth HOLD HER MOUTH SHUT. Do not let her open it, because her first instinct will be to regurge it right back into your hand. Gently stroke her throat, assisting the pinkie further down. I usually try to get it at least two or three pinkie body lengths down the throat before I let the snake go.
Practice on your feeding hatchlings. Get a feel for how much pressure is needed to control head movement, how to open their tiny mouths by sliding the toothpick in from the side. The practice you put in with them will reduce the amount of time it takes with her, keeping her stress to a minimum. Much of force feeding is learning how much or how little pressure to use: on the snake's head, on the pinkie, on the push rod, etc. Gentle but firm.
I hope this helps.
