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View Full Version : Burm clutch not eatting- why?


jncoclub
08-06-02, 10:21 PM
First off, this is my first time posting a question, please be gentle. I have been reading these forums for awhile and I think you all are very helpful to one another while keeping a great sense of humor. I'm glad I have found this site and I hope someone can help me out.

6/22/02 my boyfriend and I bought the first baby burm out of a group of roughly 12 from a respectable reptile shop where we have gotten 3 other wonderful snakes. We were told that she had eatten before, but she should eat that day- so they sent us home with a pinky and a fuzzy. She did not eat, so we tried again the following week. No luck. After the 3rd week attempt of her not eatting we took her back to the shop and asked them what to do. They informed us that the entire clutch was not eatting except for one. They were stumped as to why. The person who sold them to the shop was apparently the only one to say that they ate, and now he was unreachable. The shop had pulled the entire clutch and kept them separate to keep an eye on them. They all were tested for mites, bugs, etc. They were all clean. They tried all different forms of foods prepared different ways, but no luck. That day they administered some sort of medicine (I do not recall what kind, can find out if needed be) that was to treat a large variety of internal things as well as provide protein. We took her home and was told to try feeding her in another week (which she still would not eat) and to bring her back in 2 weeks for another administering of medicine. When we brought her back they gave more medicine and force fed her 2 dead newborn mice. They said that she had not lost any weight, so that was good. The 11 other burms in the shop still had not eatten also. They were absolutly stumped. Now I am on the week after her force feeding and medicine and she has still not eatten. We've tried pinkies, fuzzies, dead alive, split brained, rat pups, all of it, but no luck. I do not know if any other of the shop burms have eatten this week, I will call tomorrow. The people at the shop are trying all that they can, but they can't offer an explanation. We are getting very attached to our little lady (Clyde) but don't know why noone is eatting. Has anyone ever hear of this? Or know how to cure it? She has a great personality and is very friendly, we think she is very small for her age (21"long, 2" girth at largest part) and we can just tell she is weak. I will probably take her back to the shop for another force feeding this week, but I would still like to know why this is happeneing. Can anyone please shed some positive light on our situation?

-Jennifer

Jeff_Favelle
08-06-02, 11:31 PM
A Burm that doesn't eat? Is that possible?

reverendsterlin
08-07-02, 07:35 AM
I agree with Corey, offer them something larger and live to stimulate them. I had a clutch of rattlesnakes that refused until something large was offered and decided that the brain system is possibly hardwired to a size stimulus in some species that may not grow quickly enough otherwise to survive their first year.

jncoclub
08-07-02, 10:20 AM
I called the shop and they said to bring the burm back to the shop tomorrow where they are going to try a hopper to see if the movement stimulates it (or pisses it off enough) to get her to eat it. (Good suggestion Corey.) They said that if she doesn't eat by Saturday- to bring her back and they will force feed it again. If that doesn't work, they are out of suggestions- their entire clutch except for one who ate from the begining, has not eatten on their own either.

Corey- I'm assuming your babies from last year that didn't eat are no longer alive Should it come down to that, how do you let her go peacefully and not let her starve to death?

Jennifer

Grant vg
08-07-02, 11:44 AM
personally, if she has been force fed within the last few weeks, i would not bring her to the pet shop (again) to get her to feed....

Its not helping that ur snake is constantly being transported back and forth for feedings,.....

i mean, if ur bringing her to the shop for them to try feeding a live hopper, why wouldn't u just try it urself at ur home...instead of stressing it out....

the only reason u should be bringing it to the pet shop is either for a force feeding, or to get your money back....

In the mean time, i would talk to the pet shop about what is going to happen if ur little Clyde doesn't make it...refund, etc....due to this feeding problem....

Goodluck....:)

girraffasaurus
08-07-02, 02:31 PM
Okay, my turn to interject. First of all, Jennifer is my roomate. One good reason to transport Clyde to the store to feed is because I think it is very inhuman to let feeder animals die because of starvation, or because they don't have a mommy to take care of them. We've already had one mouse and one rat die because we couldn't get Clyde to eat them. If she's at the store and won't eat, then at least we'll know that the mouse or rat will be eaten by another animal (this may seem silly, but I'd rather the rodent be eaten than die needlessly and inhumanely). Second, I think that Jennifer and her boyfriend have done all they know how to do so it is smart of them to let people who know more about this try their hand at feeding her. And yes, the store will give them money back, or store credits, or another snake, but this is their pet and they would like to do everything in their power to keep her alive. They're not really thinking about the money at this point.

Grant vg
08-08-02, 12:36 PM
I can understand why u would feel bad about letting the rodents die, but in these type of situations u will have to pic sides if u want the burm to live and eat on her own....IMO

As Corey said, leave it alone in a small enclosure and offer it live food once a week....she most likely will come around...

if it hasn't eaten and u feel that it must be force fed....then bring it back to the store when neccessary.

GOodluck and i hope everything goes well with clyde....

Jeff_Favelle
08-08-02, 06:43 PM
Why not FREEZE the rodents and then when your Burm is eating, THEN you can use the frozen ones as FOOD? Hmmm...

jncoclub
08-09-02, 10:11 AM
Yesterday I took Clyde back to the reptile shop and pretty much they put a buffet of food options in front of her. We had a hit! A decent sized rat scented mouse. We quickly hid her in a dark area so she could eat without stagefreight- and so she did. After our little dance they explained to me that she also ate a rat pup that was left in the container. They explained that eatting both was not the greatest thing to do (you don't let a found castaway eat 2 Thanksgiving dinners at once) and that I am to watch and see if she regurgitates. As of today she still appears to be doing quite well. She looks lumpy, but satisfied. I'm really glad that she finally ate; in about 2 weeks we're moving from Florida up to Connecticut and we were not going to take her with us if she didn't figure out the eatting process within the next week. (They weighed her and she lost 2 grams.) I guess the forcefeeding threats finally worked!

So yey!:) :sun: :thumbsup:
Jennifer