Reptile Forum, Reptile Classifieds - CaptiveBred

[Lumo]

Helloooo I bought a young corn snake on thursday from the reptile shop I help out in, and it won't eat. The last time it was fed was last friday (to my knowledge) so I attempted feeding him/her as soon as I got it. After it didn't eat the pinkie I thought I'd let him settle down into his new home so I left it, then I tried again yesterday and today with no avail. I really don't know what to do, except take it back and have my boss force feed it, but I really don't want to have to do that yet. Is there anything anyone can think of to help? I'm getting quite worried

[Snowy]

Well the usual advice is to leave it a week to settle in as you have effectively turned its' world upside down, inside out and arse end backwards. Leaveing it means leaving it entirely alone, no handling etc, only going in to change the water, if possible somewhere quiet too.

A week without food is not long for a snake.

How are you trying to feed it? (do you wiggle the food about, just dunp and run etc)
Was it a good eater before you got it?
How old is it roughly?
What have you tried to get it to eat? (methods mentioned in first question not food type)

[serpent]

Goog advice ... leave it alone for a MINIMUM of a week.

Read this http://www.applegatereptiles.com/articles/bookfeeding.htm

The site is about milksnakes but the princible is the same, read from about halfway down the page.
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[Lumo]

How are you trying to feed it? (do you wiggle the food about, just dunp and run etc) -
Well I started off by dangling it in front of its face, keeping it still, but after 5 minutes the snake would just go and seek refuge in its hide again, so I then tried just leaving it in its hide but it was still there the morning after
Was it a good eater before you got it? -
Yes I made sure it was a good eater
How old is it roughly?
Roughly a month, it's still very small
What have you tried to get it to eat? (methods mentioned in first question not food type) -
Very small pinkies, about the same width as the snake

I'm just a little worried because I know hatchlings are supposed to be fed at least one every 5 days (well that's what I've been told, and what I found when I researched) and it hasn't had anything for about 9 days now. If I leave it alone for a week, like you said not handling or anything, it will have been over 2 weeks before it gets to eat anything; will this be ok?

Thanks a lot for the link serpent, if I do proceed to leave him alone for a week and there are still problems then I will definitely try some of the pointers on that website.

[Snowy]

Do not put the food in its' hide, it can "scare" the snake, as how would food suddenly appear there. Try not dangling it in front of its' face this can also scare the snake. Anything coming from above could be a predator to such a small snake.

With pinkies my method is to place it in close to the hide enterance, then using a blunt chop stick nudge the food gentle to get a small amount of movement as would be comparable with a pinky itself.

Okay I did say not the actual foodstuffs for what you have tried feeding, but that's okay. Here are a few methods I have tried and have worked when one of mine went on "hniger strike":

1. Braining.
This is opening up the skull of a pinky, the tip of a sharp knife will do it, to get some of the cerebral fluid to leak. This can help.

2.Decapitation.
Chop off the the pinkys' head and then place it in the enclosure, the head too.

3. "Gutting"
Basically opening a slit in the pinys stomach, leaving the guts in there.

These can elicit quite a strong as it is amazing what the smell/taste of these fluids can do to snakes. I do nudge them and if nothing leave them alone and come back the next morning to usually find that it has been eaten.

Before trying any other method leave the snake alone in the quietest part of the house for a week. You should only go near it to change the water and that is all, no handling nothing.

Also make sure the temperatures are correct as this can interfere with feeding.

That is how we keep them, in the wild they may not have the luxury of eating every 5 days, one of mine when it was new went without eating for 4 weeks, though it was older than a hatchling.

[garysumpter]

For gods sake leave the poor thing alone and read some caresheets!

The more you are fussing, the less likely it will eat!
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[aidan]

yeah just leave it alone then try that
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[Lumo]

Thankyou so much for your help snowy, I suppose it's not something I should worry about too much but I'm fairly new to snakes (as I mostly keep lizards) and I haven't been able to find much info on feeding them. You've all been really helpful

[Snowy]

What is your set up like by the way? How big is the enclosure, etc. Have you read up on corns at all? If not I can recommend a very good book for you called "Corns Snakes The Comprehensive Owners Guide" by Kathy and Bill Love. It is well worth the money, and corns are quite addictive, you can't have just one a bit like pringles realy

Let us know if it eats in a week or so.

[Lumo]

Yes I will let you know what happens. I have read through care sheets on the internet and flicked through some books but most of my information has come from my boss (he's very experienced with snakes so I trust what he says), but he's the one that suggested the force feeding thing and I didn't want to resort to that.

It's in a exo terra faunarium at the minute that measures 18" x 12" x 6 1/2". I would have posted some pictures but they're all more than 256KB. It has 3 hides, plastic foliage and a waterbowl, so there's plenty of places for it to hide.

And yeah I completely agree that they're addictive, I will probably get a buttercorn later on!