Force Feeding

[CrazyHedgehog]

eeeeeeewwwww
we need a vomiting smily....

[mikm]

I have done it, but not a big fan. Not sure if I would again. It was more comfortable with Corns for obvious size reasons. Only did one young E.BlackNeck two times afterwhich I came to the conclusion that it was just too much. After a month of not feeding he just began feeding on his own. I gave that one away as part of a group purchase as a 'problem feeder'. Late last year I inquired about them & all are still doing great.

my .2 ...
marian

[drache]

do the pinkies get squished in that thing?

[KITKAT]

pinkie mush.

The tip you are forcing the pinkie through is MUCH smaller than the pinkie.

[adamanteus]

Yes, there is a stainless steel plate inside, pierced with holes. The pinks are forced through these holes and so become a mess of masserated mouse. I have used these pumps in the past, but personally don't think they're very good.

[drache]

I guess my vet doesn't use one
he used a large regular syringe with a small rubber tube instead of the needle - and he used dogfood
seemed a lot less gory than that description of the pinkie pump process

[adamanteus]

I don't know if I like the idea of using processed meat as a snake food, but I guess in an emergency something is better than nothing.

One reason I don't like the pinky pump is that when you press the plunger there is initial resistance and then a sudden "shot" of food, which I find difficult to control and which must be a shock for the recipient! Also it is an awkward and messy process, far simpler, in my view, to use whole pinkies or pinky parts of appropriate size.

[drache]

that's what I though the pump did - just stuff the whole pinkie down the snake's gullet

[Thamnophis]

We have to forcefeed a lot of captive bred Candoia carinata paulsoni.
Most of the newborns do not eat the first year or so. Doesn´t matter what you try.
We start with mousetail-parts. Than whole mousetails, tham mouselegs or so. And later with pinkies.

Sometimes it is neccesary to forcefeed. Forcefeeding is normally meant to give them a quickstart or to save a life. After one or two forcefeedings the snake must start eating himself.
But we also have to accept that some snakes just do not want to eat.

[sschind]

I am reading Marlin Perkins' autobiography and he states that at the St. Louis zoo (I think thats where it was) they had a 19 or 20 foot python (species escapes me at the moment but I think it was an African rock) that they force fed for 20 some years. It never took a meal on it's own. A slightly larger snake of the same species that they kept in the same enclosure ate regualrly and with a passion. They even had a picture. A dozen men sitting on a stretched out snake while two guys used a giant pinkie pump to stuff chicken down its throat.

If I remember I'll grab the book from home and get the details.