Eating Again! Part 1 of 3

[st3v3n]

hey Aaron can u post a pic of ur short tail ?????? =-]

[Chu'Wuti]

the pet store said f/t but couldent give me a size

I suggest you go for rats. You can get F rat pups around 25 gms, which is the size of the average adult mouse. If you buy them online in bulk, you'll spend a lot less $$ than you would buying one or two at a time at a pet store.

If you could find out whether the pet store had fed her mice or rats before, it would help. Some snakes don't switch easily from mice to rats. However, it's worth a shot, because your blood will get big enough to warrant larger rats or multiple mice later. Multiple mice will be more expensive than one rat in the long run.

[st3v3n]

ok will try that... um got another question my blood has been like yawning or streaching his mouth wide open any 1 kno y? maby he wants me to drop supper in it lol...

[Smilts]

nevermind sorry

[Chu'Wuti]

Usually snakes gape only occasionally. Most often this occurs after a meal, as it is how they get their jaws back together. (I'm sure there's a more technical way to describe this but it escapes me at the moment!) They have to unhinge their jaws to swallow their prey; they gape (yawn) to rehinge.

Now if your snake is gaping frequently, I would start wondering if there's a piece of substrate caught in its mouth. Someone else may have some more experience with this. Other comments/ideas?

[Aaron_S]

There's too reasons a snake gapes. One is as you said Chu to realign it's jaw or yawn. The other is because it's nostrils are all plugged up with mucus due to a respitory infection and it's trying to breathe. Check for mucus build up, listen to hear the snake "wheeze". It would also be the cause of your snake not wanting to eat. I don't think you've told us the temperatures yet either which would help.

I think I have a picture somewhere... I'll pull it up sometime...

[citysnakes]

St3V3n, so what you are doing to try to get your blood to eat? in some cases snakes wont eat if their needs arent met. so make so your warm and cool end temps are where they should be and make sure your blood has a hide on each side. this will make sure that the snake does not have to choose between thermoregulating and feeling secure. also make sure you are measuring the temps with a digital thermometer so you can be cetain of what they are. after these corrections are made attempt to feed her at least a week later and make sure not to handle her until she is a consistent feeder for you. try feeding her only at night after presecenting the room by defrosting a f/t rat near her enclosure or if youre feeding live presecent the room simply by leaving the live rat near the enclosure until your ready to feed.

if she is gaping due to a respiratory infection that could be another reason why shes not eating so you should get her to a vet to fix that asap.

i know you didnt ask but i hope this will help. good luck.

[st3v3n]

thx guys .. uh i would hear a weez if its a (RPI) right? n the humitiy is 70 to 80 percrnt i gotta get a thermoiter or w.e i got a hot box n a cold box on each side.... water bowle in the middle. heat light / uth n a basking light. ...but thiers seems to b dried shin lije a peice of shed like most of her lower jaw .. tried to get it off soaked her rubed it it started stressun her out tho.. n i lissend very closly i i heard no weez n no mucous thay i can see she looks healthy the only thing i can c is that pice of shead like her whole lower jaw is that bad cuz i cant get it off. wen dhe gaped or yawned.. i dident see nuttin stuck in her mouth. um, could i wait till she sheads 4 that piece of shead 2 come off.. n her eye lide seems 2 have a ripple im it like it anit smooth in the middle..?

[Aaron_S]

First off, please spell check your posts before posting. It's getting difficult to understand.

Now that that is out of the way...if the eye is not smooth then it's either a shed problem or a humidity problem. If the humidity is where you say it is, then it SHOULD be a stuck eye cap.

For the skin underneath the head, if it's actually a stuck shed, then you should be able to rub it off with your fingers after a good soaking.

I hope you can really sort this out. Can you post pictures of the enclosure and of the snake?

[Chu'Wuti]

If there is some shed stuck to her lower jaw, that may be what's causing her to gape--she may be trying to dislodge it. Have you seen her rubbing against rough surfaces? Has she been soaking?

You might try the burlap bag soak method--soak a burlap bag or bag of other rough material in water (80-85 deg), then put your snake in it for about 10 hours. It could help her get whatever is on her lower jaw off.

[Kmef07]

my ball that died had that same problem that yours is having. the not eating the yawning and the skin on the bottom jaw. My ball died before i could figure out the problem but i would just let her be and check the temp. maybe increase it a little and even clean the cage and go back to the basics. paper towels for substrate two hides and a water bowl. mine had some mucas so i think mine had a respitory infection. watever you do don't try and handle it too much because i did that and it seemed to stress my ball out.

[st3v3n]

uuuuhhhhhhh man.. ok the hot hide is 82.6 F the cold one is 77.8F thats the temps. i tried rubbing it off after a soaking but she dont soak her head under. n i will try to have my x girl to post a pic b'cuz i am typing off nintendo wii not a comp. but i might try that burlap bag trick. i had offerd a live mouse last night n she seemed very intersted in it i thought she would eat it. after bout a hour n a half i killed the mouse n put it with her in her hide all night n she dident eat it..... but looked liked she wanted 2. she dosent look skinny at all/ not fat either.. ill try 2 post picks photo bucket right?

[Kmef07]

ya photo bucket. u need to increase the temps to between 88-90 and cold side at about 80. if you have a screen top just cover it with a towl or something i use a towel right over the lamps. they cannot get hot enough to start a fire. wait a week before you try feeding again if you keep trying a lot of stuff all at once you will stress her out and she will get worse. just increase ur temps and then after a couple days if she seems happy and stuff try the sack trick with the shed problem and then a couple days after that try and feed her again. just be patient it takes time

[st3v3n]

ok thx 07.

[Kmef07]

Hope that helps somewhat