FaunaClassifieds - View Single Post - Vitamin supplements and forcefeeding snakes
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Old 11-06-2018, 09:32 PM   #7
Socratic Monologue
This is a very useful thread! Thank you for starting it, Helen!

I've tube fed hatchling mountain kingsnakes for upwards of a year, and they grew well during that time. (I've since shifted to other tricks for getting them started on a rodent diet.) I used a ball-tipped dosing needle -- made for inserting into a reptile's esophagus, but rigid, unlike the soft catheter tubes. I have seen larger/longer needles for tube feeding other animals, but I don't know if they are made in large enough gauges to feed a 2500g snake. The rigid needle made for very easy insertion, especially when coated with some of the liquid food mix.

I fed plain chicken baby food with added egg yolk and some Repashy Calcium Plus. I fed up to 1ml of that mix to a 10g hatchling, and they kept it down well as long as I had the tip of the needle all the way into the stomach.