Reptile Forum, Reptile Classifieds - CaptiveBred

Lynne · Posted: Thu Oct 04, 2007 10:55 am Post subject: tube feeding

has anyone ever had to tube feed a royal....and what was the outcome?

Scott W · Posted: Thu Oct 04, 2007 12:20 pm Post subject:

Never tube fed, very stressful and only really a last resort.

Most royals can be assist fed quite easy using a dead small weaner mouse and a pair of small blunt tongs. So long as you wetthe mouse and make sure it goes back far enough they normally carry on swallowing.
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Lynne · Posted: Thu Oct 04, 2007 12:27 pm Post subject:

i was told by vet to do this. the wee soul is really afraid off the food items and i, and i know you will think im mad for saying it, but she is much more relaxed being tube fed. i have been slowly intrducing food items and now she quite happily sleeps with her head on them. i have to insert the tube for medicine anyway, so vet told me to put some paste down as well. last week she put on 4grams. she was and still is underweight, and would ave been dead very soon if this wasnt being done. hopefully by end off next week i can get her taking small fuzzies.

Lynne · Posted: Thu Oct 04, 2007 12:27 pm Post subject:

Scott W · Posted: Thu Oct 04, 2007 12:47 pm Post subject:

Sounds like you have the hang of tube feeding...well done.

Like I said tube feeding is OK but only when all else fails.
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Please DO NOT pm orders for reptiles, send email instead scott@captivebred.co.uk

Lynne · Posted: Thu Oct 04, 2007 12:53 pm Post subject:

well i dont like it, and as you said its a last resort thing. this wee girl is truly afraid off the food items, i do not know what happened before i got her to make her like this. and i did try assisting but the panic was terrible. if i can get some weight on her using this method then start trying assist again i will be very happy, but this is not long term feeding method. its really not nice to do.

Central Scotland Reptiles · Posted: Thu Oct 04, 2007 1:56 pm Post subject:

I have had to tube feed a female Blood Python before. My circumstances were quite different though.

Prior to being put with the male she was in first class condition. A stunning example of a healthy Blood Python. She mated with the male and i could see she had eggs inside her. For some reason she re-absorbed some of the eggs, the others were at risk of going bad inside her!! The vet had to open her up to remove these bad eggs.

Having gone through such a traumatic ordeal i didn't want to push her too much so i kept her hydrated and waited for about a month after her surgery before i tried offering food.

Well 6 months later ( total of 9 months approx of no food ) she still had not fed. She was loosing condition and after consultation with my vet, i began tube feeding. Not a simple task with a 6ft angry Blood Python!!!! ( very smelly and painful ) Twisted Evil

I purchased a £10.00 kitchen blender from Argos and used this to puree some rat pups. Not the most pleasing of sights!!! I spooned the blended rats into a syringe and added some vitamins. I attached a tube to the end of the syringe and proceeded to try and insert this into my females stomach. ( as previously mentioned, not an easy task!! )

After several tube feedings i tried her with a freshly thawed young rat. WHAM.........what a fright i got when she hit it harder than i have ever seen her hit any meal before. After this event I began feeding her regularly every 5 days on increasingly larger prey.

1 year on and she is 90% back to normal. I doubt she will ever breed again and to be honest, i don't think i will even try. I don't think either she or i couldn't go through that again.

Hope this helps!!
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Fraser Gilchrist
Central Scotland Reptiles - "Finding Beauty in the Beasts"

Central Scotland Reptiles · Posted: Thu Oct 04, 2007 3:19 pm Post subject:

Eggman - I have never been a fan of tube feeding either. As far as i am concerned though. The proof is in the pudding. Further more, it is not really in your opinion that tube feeding is not required, more so in your experience!!

I have full confidence in my vet and if he advises me that tube feeding is the best course of action then that is what i shall do. Each to their own though.

( I had previously tried assist feeding with no success, this really was a last resort )
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Fraser Gilchrist
Central Scotland Reptiles - "Finding Beauty in the Beasts"

Lynne · Posted: Thu Oct 04, 2007 3:30 pm Post subject:

this wee one would not assist. i had someone out here to try when i could not do it, and he has bred them for twenty years, and even he said he would not assist her. she was down to 62 grams when i took her to vet last monday. after week of tube feeding she is now 66grams. and the tube had to go in for medication anyway. she doesnt struggle with the tube, and they actually use these tubes for prem babies, so they are soft and pliable. when i offered her mice before she totally freaked. at one point nearly drowning herself to get away from said mouse. i have been working on this too, and hopefully she will assist fine when she has enough weight on to give it a go. she was hatched in june, and i picked her up when i was collecting others. the guy said she was a picky feeder but first night i had her she ate a fuzzy. that was last she took normally. so in certain cicumstances tube feeding is the way to go.

Lynne · Posted: Thu Oct 04, 2007 5:09 pm Post subject:

well your welcome to come and assist this wee one, cause you wont manage. and i would never hurt or stress any off mine, but she is less stressed being tube fed than she is being assisted.