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Strike Two...

MerlinsPop

MerlinsPop

New member
Well, Vern failed to eat again last night. I made sure the pinky was a solid 100*F when I offered it up. No interest, so I put the lid on the deli cup and placed it into the viv. Covered the Viv with a dark sheet and (more or less) left him totally alone. He's in my bedroom, so before I turned off the light, I peeked just a bit. Vern was nuzzling the pinky, but he had pushed it from the middle of the cup to the perimeter and it might have been in an awkward location for him to get a good grip on it or stuck to the side. I turned off the light hoping he'd get a better hold of it and eat it, but it was still there this morning. I let Vern out and he made a bee line to his hide, turned around and poked his head back out, lifting it a couple inches up and watched me dress.

I'll try the longitudinally (yeah, I still need to get more coffee) split pinky trick next time, probably Saturday. Using the kitchen scale, it only registered 5 grams, but I'm not sure how sensitive it is to very small increments. The pinky came up as 1 gram and the deli cup (sans lid) as 16. But if he is that small, maybe a cut-in-half-longways pinky will do it. Speaking of frozen pinkies... the ones I have are from Petco. Is it normal for the legs and tails to be snapped off? Also, within minutes after warming up the pinky, it's mid-section was purple/black. could they just not be very good quality pinkies?

Temps on the hot side of the viv are right at 85*F. He was climbing up the thermostat and thermoter probe wires as I left this morning, so I don't think he was overly traumatized by last night. Me on the other hand... :awcrap:

I'll be at the Manassas reptile show tomorrow, and will see if anyone there has advice for me and will look for better quality 'frozen dinners'. If anyone here goes, look for a tall, blonde, confused-looking guy wearing a yellow WV tee shirt, possibly with an excited, blue-haired six year old.

B

B
 
I'd wait till Sunday or even Monday. Also, you could go up three more degrees on the pink, or even thaw it normally, then drop in just-boiled water for a second and then take it right out. You could brain it- it sounds icky, but really it isn't...

Nanci
 
Thanks, Nanci. My situtation with Vern reminds me of the breastfeeding thread on the other forum. My wife had a devil of a time getting Cooper to get a good latch at first, even though she read every text she could get her hands on. In desperation and with lots of tears, she went to one of those consultants (there's a french-sounding term for them, but it escapes me right now). In minutes, the consultant showed her how to get it right and cooper was nursing, and my wife wasn't about to burst, and all was right in the world.

I just feel like I could use the same thing. Is there a french-sounding, corn snake feeding consultant out there? :bang:

B
 
If he's only 5 grams then you need VERY small pinks. Luckily I have an accurate jewelry sccale that goes to 1/10 grams.

My recent 2 Pewters were purchased "out of the shell" and had shed but never fed when I got them, they were about 5.5 grams. and about 2 weeks old.

The smallest newborn pinks I had at the time were 1.6g, they had been pulled as soon after birth as possible, but it was a nice healthy mother mouse and a healthy litter so they were still 1.6g at birth.

Both hatchlings took them fine, but the female regurged hers a day or 2 later so after a 10 day break I tried a head of an even smaller pinky. Luckily by that point another mouse had given birth and she dropped a litter of apparent runts, they were only 1.2-1.3g at birth. The few I let grow out of that litter are still very small for their age.

She took the head, then next feeding the headless pink, then the whole small 1.2-1.4g pinks at subsequent feedings.

I've never had either one refuse a feeding though, so I guess my case is different than yours. I also ALWAYS snip a few V shaped snips in the back on every prey item, even for adults. That might have helped trigger the feeding response.

Anyway, I'd suggest either a pinky head or 1/2 a pinky cut lengthwise when frozen.
 
Stopped into a small petshop that had a ton of unusual fish and reptiles (including a variety of kings, boas, and a young Texas Rat (the blue morph - very pretty, but I can see that it has a mean streak). Oh, and a young corn, just shed. Probably a yearling. Anyway, I digress...

The woman there and I talked about Vern not eating, and she asked a lot of questions about my set up. She suggested that, while the UTH is at a good temperature, that I might want to put up a light, 50 - 75 watts, to make sure the air temp is good and that (to her) some corns find basking beneficial. Also, she suggested soaking him in a warm water tub (no more than 1/4 to 1/2 inch) for 15 - 20 minutes a day to jump start his system and encourage him to eliminate anything left in his gut, which might trigger a feeding response. she also recommended braining, slitting and going with a live just-born pinky, if I can find one.

Thoughts are gratefully welcome!

B
 
Well what *is* your ambient tempature?
There should already be a thermometer on each side of the cage basically the cool side is room temp. So what is it?
 
Corny Noob said:
Well what *is* your ambient tempature?
There should already be a thermometer on each side of the cage basically the cool side is room temp. So what is it?
Click to expand...
I haven't moved the probe around for the one digital thermoter around yet... wanted to make sure the thermostat was set where I wanted. Will move it around (or grab the kitchen one) tonight and report back.
 
Sorry.... room temp us usually mid-upper 70's this time of year, but again, haven't gotten an accurate in-tank measurement on that end (or above the substrate on the hot side for that matter).
 
If the UTH on the glass is 85 and room temp is mid to upper 70s then I don't think there is any need for a lamp. Corns don't need them. Sounds like she wanted to make a sale =)

Find newborn pinks, live or frozen, or try the head of the smallest pink you can find.
 
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