corn won't eat..

Hey, I'm fairly new to corns, my little sister and I each picked one up from the NARBC October show. Mine's doing very well (from Rich at SerpenCo) and hers (unknown...she went off by herself and came back with it..) is not doing so well.

Hers had hesitated the first two times we fed it, had to leave the live pinkie in over nite for her to take it. The next two times we tried to feed her, she simply would not touch it. Tried freezing and then thawing the pinkie out a few days later, still nothing. It's been two weeks since she's eaten.

She's no longer than a foot, and temps are bout 85-87 on the hot side. My sister does handle it about 3-4 times a week, but since the first time it did not take food, she stopped handling, and hasn't touched her since. She's kept on Aspen bedding in a 10 gal.

If this snake doesn't decide to eat by Wednesday (4 days from now) we're gonna slit the pinkies head open or something to try to attract the corn...

But does anyone have any ideas on what could be wrong?? Corns are usually very voracious little eaters, and I'm not quite sure what could be wrong.

Thanx in advance,
Karin

Is it getting ready to shed? some of mine won't eat a couple weeks before and a week after a shed. I also had one that didn't eat until I supplied it with a hide to eat in. You aren't feeding it in the aspen bedding and it has water I assume. Light is getting cycled I also assume, I left the light on mine for 4 days accidentally and they didn't eat for almost 2 weeks. When I get babies in I feed them and wait until they evacuate before feeding them again, sometimes it takes them a couple weeks after a sizable meal. I have found that once they are eating on their own they may go off feed occasionally but they will go back to eating when they are hungry enough.
Just my personal experience .... good luck

I hae had alot of problem feeders this year and they have all wanted (And still do) brained pinkies! UGH! what I have found best is to take a sharp knife and slit a 1/4" slice a 1/4" deep and make sure to pop the brain sack (I know its gross) but thats all they will take and its better tahn having to scent the pinkie which I have never had to do for a problem feeder and never want to by doing it this way. Best of luck!

Thanx for the responses, talked to my little sister on the phone earlier, seems like she left the pinkie in her tank (on the aspen) over nite, and she caught her eating this morning.

How long can a very young corn go without eating before it's a problem?? 2 weeks doesn't seem too bad, but if in case she decides to go on a stubborn hunger strike again, i want to be prepared.

-Karin

I had a hatchling go for 6 weeks on one meal and never lost any weight and is now eating and normal infact shes getting bigger now so I would worry only if it goes 6+ weeks and that is what I have learned from more experienced breeders too.

I would highly recommend feeding the problem snake in a seperate, smaller container, preferably lined with something that couldn't be accidentaly swallowed with the pinky (newspaper or paper towel vs. aspen). I've fallen in love with the various sizes of inexpensive plastic containers made by Glad and Ziplock, as well as the generics. For juvenile corn snakes that have outgrown their deli cups, these containers are perfect for feeding when the snake's home is still a bit large for it.

I normally do feed all my snakes out of their usual enclosures, but in the case of my sister's corn, where she will not eat readily, is it a better choice to leave the corn in a seperate container with the pinkie until it decides to eat it??

We had thought that because it was a picky eater, she would be more inclined to eat if she was in her enclosure, where things were familiar, and she had her usual hides and heat.

Suggestions on this??

-Karin

You could try a variety of experiments to see which ones work best. If it were my snake, and the large, familiar enclosure isn't working well, I would try the smaller container placed in a warm, non-trafficed area, preferably dark. Leave the pinky with the snake for 24 hours UNDISTURBED. I mean, don't even check periodically to see if the snake ate. If you get no response, you could try placing the smaller container (with snake & pinky in it) inside the larger, familiar tank. Again, I would probably cover the tank with a towel or something to shield it from outside distractions. Most of the small containers I use are a clear plastic so the snake can look out of it and see a familiar home, but would be in closer contact with the pinky and more apt to eat it. Again, give it 24 hours of undisturbed time to eat. If still no response, I would try the paper bag trick. This can be used on larger snakes besides hatchlings. Just get a paper bag that is big enough for the snake, but small enough that the snake will have to contact the pinky.

The next steps would be to try live and/or F/T brained pinkies under the same conditions already tried. On some occasions, I've had hatchlings only respond to live AND brained pinkies in a paper bag. I know it sounds cruel to brain a live pinky, but if done with minimal "smooshing of the brains out of the skull" the pinky doesn't die but the combo of movement and scent can make the pinky almost irresistable to the hatchling.
Some snakes can be really picky as to when, where and what they'll eat. If your sister's snake did eat after being left alone with the pinky over-night, as you mentioned earlier, that may be all it needs...just enough time to get around to eating. I have a few that are like that, even adults. They prefer the wee hours of the morning to eat. That is why I always give all my snakes that 24 hours plus before removing uneaten mice.

And if a snake is offered live prey (always too young to be able to bite/attack the snake), I leave the pinky/rat pup with the snake for as long as possible...i.e. until the pinky/rat pup dies naturally. I have one male that goes off his food for the entire breeding season and must be coaxed back into eating this way. His first few meals must be live, but not too active, and he's also a "wee hours" feeder. Thunking rat pups enough to stun them either kills them before he's ready, or stuns them for too short a time and they recover before he's ready. It's when the pup becomes less active due to lack of food that he decides to eat it. Luckily, after 2-3 meals like this, the snake goes back to eating his usual F/T. This guy is my "fall-back" male...he always has sex on his mind during breeding season and if a female refuses every other male, guaranteed, he'll be able to mate with her. That's the only reason I put up with his peculiarities.

LoL, very peculiar indeed...

well, we will have to see what happens this saturday when we try to feed her snake again...hopefully it will just stop being so picky and stubborn and just eat like a good little corn should.

if there are any other problems, i will try the other tricks and hopefully it will work...

Thanx much,
Karin

I went to NC and bought two okeetee hatchlings from a breeder there. When I got them back to Texas they both ate live/FT pinks just fine. One kept eating great. The other stopped eating for 3 weeks. I called a friend who breeds only corns and he told me to pack the snake in a deli cup, box the cup like I was going to ship him then drive around town (take him shopping). I thought this was a very dumb suggestion but I did it and it worked. The little guy nailed a pink that night. The movement uses up extra calories and makes the snake hungry. Handling and crawling around the cage are not enough. I put my baby colubrids in a deli cup to feed because i keep them all on aspen substrate. It also keeps them in close contact with the pinky and they just can't refuse. If you do not have a deli cup use a paper bag. Be patient. The snake will eat when it is ready. I have recently read an article that suggests some snakes with physical or genetic defects will display self destructive behavior like laying out in the open insted of hiding or even starvation. Maybe a way of ensuring the imperfect genes are not passed on. Hope this helps.