I have a baby corn snake which i bought more then two months ago and he will not eat. what to do?

Question

He has not ate since i bought him i have used live pinky's and thawed frozen pinky's and nothing is working. I am very scared that he will die.. and i have tried my hardest to try and feed him and nothing will work.. Please please help me.

Answer 1

The most common cause is that the temperature in the habitat is too low. Adult corn snakes will do very well at temperatures between 75-85 F (25-30 C). They will tolerate temperatures as low as 70 F (21 F), but at this temperature they probably will not eat very well. Baby corn snakes prefer a temperature slightly warmer in the 80-90 F (26-32 C).



Baby corns will often refuse to eat when they have been removed from one cage and placed in a new one or a larger one. The solution is to provide the corn with a hide box, or more than one hide box. Try feeding dead prey, then live prey. Frozen pinkie should be thawed and brought to room temperature before feeding it to a juvenile.



Try feeding during the day, then at night. Try putting a towel over the cage for feeding. As a last resort, which works 75% of the time for hatchling corns that won't eat, is to cut open the brain of a pinkie, squeeze out some blood, then try feeding this to the corn.

Best of luck!

Answer 2

First, the best place to feed a hatchling corn snake is in a small container, like a deli cup or sandwich-sized Gladware (or whatever brand).  The best time to offer a meal is in the evening as corn snakes are more nocturnal by nature.

Besides what you have already tried, you can also "brain" a F/T pinky (cut a small hole in the top of the head ans squeeze some of the brains out), alter the scent of the pinky (washing it with unscented Ivory bar soap, scenting it with chicken broth, scenting with water from a can of tuna, scenting with a lizard - rub on the skin or use lizard saliva), and you can also try to "tease" the snake.  The best method to tease that I've used is to hold the snake in one hand, grasping the neck just behind the head, and bumping the nose of the pinky into the nose of the snake until the snake opens it's mouth and bites the pinky.  You must immediately let the snake go and freeze, making no movement until the snake has either swallowed the pinky and moved it most of the way to it's stomach, or it has let the pinky go.  If it let go, repeat the procedure until the snake eats or stops opening it's mouth entirely (or your hands start to cramp).  I have had the best luck this year with tease feeding.  You also want to wait about 4-5 days between attempts.  Trying too frequently can put a snake off eating.  When offering in a container, just put the lid on the container and set it with the snake and offered meal someplace dark and quiet and don't bother it until the next morning.  It's hard to not check on the snake, but you don't want to risk startling it when it's half swallowed the pinky, as that will make it spit it out and it may never go back to it.