Force Feeding Freckle

[Wrasse]

Well, today I gave up trying the nice way and got serious.

I have had Freckle (a spotted python) a couple of months now.

She was a year old when I got her and smaller than a month old hatchling. Very undersized. I was scheduled to pick her up on a certain date and had to put it off a month, due to one of her litter (clutch?) mates dying. As I was unsure of the reason, I wanted her to have a quarantine period before going into my quarantine.

The other three clutch mates, collected by a friend the same day are all going well.

On the day I picked her up she ate a skink. I saw her eat it and she had no problems with it. I thought, "great, she is feeding, that's a start."

However, since moving in here she hasn't fed. I have tried everything, thawed pinkies, cutting the pinky, scenting the pinky, skink tail in the pinky mouth, even going so far as to offer her a skink and then to leave a live skink in the tank with her. (The only thing she has shown an interest in was a live feeder fish and when it flapped, she backed off and showed no more interest. I would like to try her on a live newborn pinky, but none of my mice are producing at the moment. Don't know what their problem is, but they have gone right off the breeding thing.)

She did, once, take a thawed pinky, but although she shouldn't have had any probs with it's size, she was unable to swallow it and gave in after about 30 mins attempt.

I have watched her slowly deteriorate, gradually seeing less and less of her moving around the cage. She was once so active and sparky and now she just lies there and when handled, barely moves.

As today was a fine day and the other snakes all came out to the kiddie pool for a swim in the sun (and loved it) I thought she could do with some fresh air and sun too. When she sank to the bottom (3 inches) and lay there on her back, I realised I had to do something drastic.

So tonight I made her a brew. Using an egg, two pinkie rats, a teaspoon of reptile vitamin mix and a blender, I mulched the lot up and slowly, in three stages, force fed her 1.5ml with the use of a needleless syringe. This was just enough liquid to make a small bulge in her belly, equal to roughly the size of a small pinky mouse.

She accepted this without a fight and didn't appear stressed by it. I held her a little longer and was surprised to see a little more action out of her within about a half hour. I put her back into her tank and she immediately moved off to her hide spot. This surprised me, as for the last two weeks, when placed back in her tank, she would just lie in the same spot for hours before slowly moving off.

I have been monitoring her and so far we have had no regurgitation.

My questions are these:

Does anyone have a proven recipe for force feeding?
How long do I have to/can I do this for?
With what regularity should I do this?
How soon after a force feed should I wait to offer a pinky again?
Can anyone offer advice and suggestions about the best way to force feed?
Have I done the right thing or should I have perservered with the pinkies, even though she was becoming weak and inactive?
Can someone offer a hug because I am just so depressed about the whole thing.

[JuliusSqueezer]

Is she well hydrated? A lot of feeding problems with neonates stems from dehydration....unfortunatly there is not always a cure for this. Many young snakes are born premature without full kidney function and they just end up dying a slow wasting away death. Tube feeding is stressful but sometimes the only thing we can do. Because of the nature of how some just won't eat and some just can't process it anyway...I have had mixed results as I am sure many others have as well. Not all snakes are meant to survive...not all seemingly dying snakes are meant to die either though so unless the snake seems to be in agony...by all means keep trying. Generally a liquid diet such as what you made will pass a bit quicker than solid food. BUT...since stress is a factor you want to keep at a minimum...it's still best to only tube feed once a week. I would tube this snake for 3 weeks, then try offering solid food again. I don't know what all is available in Australia so I don't know if you can use what I use..but what you are feeding should be fine. A tiny bit of vitamin B12 would be good though as it is an energy booster and it is a great appetite stimulant for reptiles. A small dab of plain yogurt is good for building gut flora...The part that I am not sure about availability in Australia is ensure...Ensure is a suppliment drink sold here in the US...It is packed full of vitamins. A little Pedyalite is good to add too. Pedyalite is an electralite replentisher marketed for infants here (not sure if it's sold in Oz either)...not really much different than a good sports drink like gatorade except it seems to work a bit better for dehydration...anyway...

My recipe=

1/4 cup ensure
1/10 cc of injectable B12 squirted into the mixture
1 tsp plain yogurt
1 egg yolk
1-2 tsp of puree chicken (gerbers babyfood)
(may or may not thin with pedyalite)

Usually I just mix this up for a snake that's off feed due to recovering some illness or injury and for some reason can't or won't eat for a time that I think is causing health to dwindle....I have fed it to babies too...and it usually works...but like I said...sometimes underdeveloped kidneys keep anything from working...usually though with nonfeeding babies...and trust me...I give them every chance and try everything before resorting to this...I just pinky press a pinky or two down them.

Also...if you can get a catheter syringe and a catheter tube...you can get it down them much easier with less mess ....just gently run the tube (lubricate it with some of the mixture) down into the stomach and pump it in...avoid air bubbles though and don't force the tube if you feel any resistance at all.

[JuliusSqueezer]

Oh...I guess I better add that depending on the size of the snake...I may mix more and feed more...By no means do I mean that all of this mixture is meant to be fed to a baby snake. I just draw out what looks about right and toss the rest unless I have others needing it too but that's only ever happened a couple of times...it won't keep a week so don't bother trying to save leftovers.

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[telefrag]

another thing you can try that has worked very well for me with young reluctant feeders is, gently force feeding a mouse tail.

The hairs on the mouse tail ,once push a little ways down is not able to come back up easily due to the grain of the fur.
this will give him/her Some protein, and also work the muscles snakes use to swallow.

Another benefit is the scent of mouse will become more familiar for them as well.

I had to feed mouse tails to some baby spotted pythons once, and after 4 times, each started eating a f/t pink on their own.

	Frozen/Thawed A rodent or other prey item that is frozen and then thawed to be fed to a reptile or other animal.

[JuliusSqueezer]

Yah! great idea...I've used mouse tails...skinned mouse legs with egg yolk...I totally forgot to mention anything about assist feeding. I don't think I or anyone can stress enough to anyone else reading this though...any force/tube/assist feeding is a very last resort when all else has failed and it's a life or death situation for the snake.

[Wrasse]

Is she well hydrated ....

I wouldn't have known the answer to that question, or how to tell with a snake. (How do you tell?)

However, watching her this morning and I would say not. She seems to be suffering from constipation, which could be an on symptom of dehydration. I did see her do this last night before the feed, but only slightly, she appeared to lift her tail and give a squeeze as if she wanted to go to the toilet, although she had no visible signs that she had anything she wished to be rid of, and she gave up pretty quickly and didn't try again.

This morning though, in the space of about 15 mins, she has seriously tried, without success, to go to the toilet about 3 times, she also now (no doubt due to last nights feed) has a visible 'load' there she is trying to be rid of. The classic tail up, body squeezing, "I am trying to poo here" look.

How on earth do I deal with/treat/help a constipated snake?

[LdyDrgn]

You could try soaking her in Pedialyte (that is the name for it here) for dehydration. It is what parents give their children for diarrhea, usually found in the baby food aisle at the store. The clear formula is best unless you want your snake a different color, LOL

You can also try a tepid/luke warm soak to get things "moving". You can try to gently massage the area a little bit and see if it helps her eliminate.

GOod luck with her.

[Wrasse]

Thanks

I am in the process of running her a tepid bath now.