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LarkaDawg
Hatchling
442 Posts |
 Posted - 01/10/2011 : 23:46:43
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Hi, I've got a yearling male corn who eats sporadically.
He ate two small mice a few days after I got him. Then he refused for three weeks. He then ate one small mouse after refusing two days before with a fantastic agressive response and perfect constrict and refused the next two weeks. I tried him with a small again and he refused but ate a pinkie when I defrosted it.
Encouraged by this, I went out and bought some fuzzies thinking the pet shop got the size of mouse wrong (which they probably did) and he ate a fuzzy the day after the pinkie. Now its the next week and he is refusing again.
When I say refusing, I mean he has no interest at all. I've warmed the head up, waggled it, not waggled it, left it overnight in light and dark, separated him from my female, put him back with her, brained the mice, put holes in the damn thing to make it more 'appealing', gently opened his mouth and put the head inside. And nothing has worked. I know he will eat sooner or later because he always does, but is there anything I can do to get him to eat more regularly? It stresses me out (and him) a lot and I'm wasting an awful lot of mice, not to mention my bigger snake getting fat over the occasional rejected mice I give to her. His temps are fine; 80-90 basking spot at day, 70-80 at night with a blanket over the tank at night and the heat lamp lights it at day.
What I can think of now would be live feeding, but I'd absolutely hate to. I will, of course, if it means I can feed him live and wean him onto frozen but my mom would probably cry if she knew I was feeding a live baby mouse to my snake.
I swear I'm fretting too much, but its so frustrating mouse after mouse when he gets thin and still won't eat. I'm not worried about him dying, because as I said before, he always eats after a few weeks. I mean, is there something wrong? His poop is brown liquid and yellow powder if that helps.
Thanks in advance x
ps I've moved him into a tub thing thats smaller than what he lived in before, with some paper towel, hide, water and heat mat w/stat. |
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LarkaDawg
Hatchling
442 Posts |
Posted - 02/10/2011 : 10:34:34
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Mamma
Fully Grown Corn
United Kingdom
4494 Posts |
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LarkaDawg
Hatchling
442 Posts |
Posted - 02/10/2011 : 15:30:33
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| Yep done those, thanks for the reply though! |
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kdlang
Fully Grown Corn
United Kingdom
3556 Posts |
Posted - 02/10/2011 : 15:55:21
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| How often are you offering feeds? |
4.1.0 corns - Izzy (Carolina) Alice (Amel) Peanut (Butter Motley) Swayze (Ghost) Carmellia (Butter Motley)
0.1.0 cat - Kizzy
1.0.0 Dog - Dobbie
Location - Chesterfield, Derbyshire
www.support-dogs.org.uk |
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LarkaDawg
Hatchling
442 Posts |
Posted - 02/10/2011 : 16:01:24
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| Every 10 days ish, give or take a day |
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kdlang
Fully Grown Corn
United Kingdom
3556 Posts |
Posted - 02/10/2011 : 17:02:57
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Sorry you just seemed to have tried alot of things if you are only attempting to feed every 10 days and since you have only had him for 2 months. And in that time, from reading some of your old threads, he has been moved to a petshop while you went on holiday, moved back home, had a bout of mites and been assist fed. Add to that the fact that he is cohabitting with a much larger snake and I think you have your answer for his poor feeding. He is just one stressed out snakie.
If i were you I would start right back at the beginning again. Put him in his own enclosure, leave him 7 days to settle in with no feeding or handling and then try him with a feed. No fuss just pop it into his tank on some kitchen roll, cover the tank and leave him alone for 24 hours (no peeking). If he hasn't eaten it then just take it out and try him again in another 7 days. |
4.1.0 corns - Izzy (Carolina) Alice (Amel) Peanut (Butter Motley) Swayze (Ghost) Carmellia (Butter Motley)
0.1.0 cat - Kizzy
1.0.0 Dog - Dobbie
Location - Chesterfield, Derbyshire
www.support-dogs.org.uk |
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LarkaDawg
Hatchling
442 Posts |
Posted - 02/10/2011 : 17:07:18
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Right, will do. I've put him in a faun alone in another room thats not used, ill try with the feeding next week. Hope this sorts it out and thanks for the advice
Edit: he did eat at the shop and with the big snake, but yeah ill do the leave alone thing |
Edited by - LarkaDawg on 02/10/2011 17:08:31 |
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kdlang
Fully Grown Corn
United Kingdom
3556 Posts |
Posted - 02/10/2011 : 17:15:57
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Let us know how you get on. These snakes are funny creatures but if we can count out the obvious things and you are still having problems in a few weeks then i'm sure the experts will be able to help more.
One more thing, try and keep a track of his weight. I know thats tricky when you aren't supposed to be handling him but if you do a quick weigh and put back now and then every couple of weeks or so it will help you to decide when more serious interventions are needed. |
4.1.0 corns - Izzy (Carolina) Alice (Amel) Peanut (Butter Motley) Swayze (Ghost) Carmellia (Butter Motley)
0.1.0 cat - Kizzy
1.0.0 Dog - Dobbie
Location - Chesterfield, Derbyshire
www.support-dogs.org.uk |
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LarkaDawg
Hatchling
442 Posts |
Posted - 16/10/2011 : 20:47:11
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Update:
Thanks for the help! Hes getting along fine now, ate one mose last weekend and two this morning. He seems a lot happier, wandering around his faun every so often. Forgot to weigh him :S but looks healthier already.
Heres a short video of his strike today (so enthusiastic you can hear him bite the tongs!).
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JN71GIpNDpE&feature=youtube_gdata_player |
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tordyjo
Fully Grown Corn
United Kingdom
2036 Posts |
Posted - 16/10/2011 : 22:53:43
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good vid
You might want to use kitchen roll instead of toilet roll though, kitchen roll doesn't break up the same when it gets wet, not sure what broken up toilet roll would do to a snakies insides if he accidentally ingested it |
 Lilly Crystal Harry
1.2.0 corns, 1.1.0 cats tropical guppies who continually breed
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ScalySituation
Fully Grown Corn
United Kingdom
5292 Posts |
Posted - 18/10/2011 : 17:56:48
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| how old are they when they start striking and constricting? |
1.0.0 Butter motley corn (Sheldon)
0.1.0 Caramel Corn (Maggie)
0.1.0 Caramel motley corn (Echo)
1.0.0 Cat (Angus)
1 mealworm colony
RIP Skye x
Sleep well Sonny, Mummy loves you xx
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tordyjo
Fully Grown Corn
United Kingdom
2036 Posts |
Posted - 18/10/2011 : 18:05:00
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| not all will strike or constrict scaly, lilly strikes and does an amazing constrict every time, harry never does, he just eats and crystals only constricted once although does strike, but she likes to play with her food first. It depends on the individual snake although just because they don't do it doesn't mean they can't. |
LillyCrystalHarry
1.2.0 corns, 1.1.0 cats tropical guppies who continually breed
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ScalySituation
Fully Grown Corn
United Kingdom
5292 Posts |
Posted - 18/10/2011 : 18:08:19
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| kk :) i was just wondering :) |
1.0.0 Butter motley corn (Sheldon)
0.1.0 Caramel Corn (Maggie)
0.1.0 Caramel motley corn (Echo)
1.0.0 Cat (Angus)
1 mealworm colony
RIP Skye x
Sleep well Sonny, Mummy loves you xx
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good old 'snake wont eat'
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