Force Feeding vs Assist Feeding

[jitami]

Stephi, somehow I missed why you needed to force or assist feed, but I'm so glad all went well!

[mtolypetsupply]

Stephi, somehow I missed why you needed to force or assist feed, but I'm so glad all went well!

Well, I'll start from the beginning then. I myself have ADD(isn't there a thread with strains of ADD/ADHD through it now? ), so I don't know what I've posted, and don't have the patience to look through all my old posts.

At the Hamburg show, we got 6 non-feeding corn snakes from an exhibitor there. Don't get me wrong, he was totally honest about them being non-feeders, and only sold them to me for $20 for all 6. Well, we got them home, and 3 ate on their own. Yipee!!!

Sadly, 3 didn't. One, that we thought would be fine, passed away yesterday. We did figure he'd last at least a week without force feeding him. Poor little caramel!!!!! So, we decided to go the assist-feed route. After some great feedback from some people I PM'ed, Gary and I tried opening their mouths with a playing card (tip from Steve, guidofatherof5) and putting half a pinky head in their mouth with hemostats, then holding *really* still (tip from Shannnon, who also got non-feeders of the same batch and had success, check her photo thread). Ghostie and Norm both took matters into their own hands, or throats, and finished swallowing without protest.

I have to say, I think it was more traumatic to me than to them. And now that it's worked, I'm much more confident. Thank you all who gave me great encouragement and feedback, and be ready: I don't know if I won't be pestering you all again with more PM questions!!!!!!

I'm so glad this board is full of kind, patient, non-judgemental people. Not that I see myself as the "assist feed queen" now, but it sure isn't rocket science, and I see on other forums how people with no experience doing something get flamed for trying and posting for help. I know without you all, I wouldn't have the resources to have helped these little guys, and I know we're not out of the woods yet, but thank you all for being who you are.

Have a great night, everyone! I know I'm on cloud nine with the way tonight went.

[jitami]

Thanks for the recap Stephi. Sorry to hear about caramel. Sounds like the remaining 5 are in great hands, though! Nice job!!!

[mtolypetsupply]

Thanks! we did another assist feed today. The ghost and the normal did fine. And are snuggled down in their substrate. I was cautioned against doing it too soon, possible regurge, but we held them up to the light, and the poor things, you can really and truly see through them both. Especially the ghost, but even Norm. They were empty, so we figured we'd go for it.

It's pretty weird, as soon as there's food in their mouths, they work it down on their own. But it doesn't dawn on them to take it upon themselves to get the food in their mouths. Then again, some of them have to be shown the water bowl daily, or I think they'd turn to dust. Silly snakes, I hope they grow out of this!

Shannon's garters are so much better than these silly corns. Smart little piggies eat on their own, drink on their own, and are just *gorgeous*!!!!!!

[Scaley.Jade]

only ever force fed corn snakes but to no detrimental effect it is much nicer assisting though i have a 6 month old corn who has been force fed for 4 months and we are now assisting she will occasionally take food on her own if we leave it in with her.

[drache]

just got to this thread
congrats on your success
sorry you lost Caramel

btw
those plastic stays they put into the collars of men's shirts make fantastic little snake mouth openers - and are easily cleaned

[mtolypetsupply]

just got to this thread
congrats on your success
sorry you lost Caramel

btw
those plastic stays they put into the collars of men's shirts make fantastic little snake mouth openers - and are easily cleaned

good idea! Unfortunately, hubby has no shirts like that, not needed in the world of heavy construction! LOL

[infernalis]

Its an under tank heat strip that you can cut to custom sizes for any enclosure.

[aSnakeLovinBabe]

Flexwatt is a material made for all types of heating purposes... actually i beleive it's made not with reptiles in mind... but heating pipes or something like that. It looks like a really thick piece of laminate with thin metal strips and black strips all inside of it.... It comes in different widths also. the nice thing about it is that it comes in rolls but can be cut at every foot mark to be made into any desirable length and that entire length will be fully functional. And if you cut that in half... it would still work! (the end with the wires attatched of course)

[Snake lover 3-25]

my room is 68 at night and 72-74 day