Feeding your Bp baby food....

Has anyone ever heard this? Ive never done this but saw a post on another forum that a reptile rescue is feeding a snake organic chicken babyfood with vitamins mixed in through a tube. The snake has been on this diet his entire life (18 months) and has NEVER taken a rodent. The snake is only 17 inches long and underweight. He has also only shed twice in 18 months.

I told her to seek help of a vet and force feed a fuzzy or brain the mice. Was just wondering have you ever heard baby food is ok?? It can't be healthy.

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I've heard of alternate food sources being used like that...not sure why they wouldn't just use a pinky and pinky pump though...other than cost and incovenience??? And an 18 month old bp that's never fed on it's own? If I had tried everything to get it to feed on it's own, I'd probably put it down well before 18 months...something is seriously wrong there...

That's what I thought. My first reaction was 'you can't be serious'. Now, I was thinking well, why not force it? But your right, somethings seriously wrong.

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Sounds like this poor snake didn't get "rescued"...

It's a 'small reptile rescue' in CA. I feel bad for snake.

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Yes I have heard of it as a temporary measure for an animal near death however no way should it be done on an animal for 18 months.

The more this is done the more the animal is being stressed the less likely he is to eat on his own.

There are different case scenario here.

#1/ The animal was never properly started and than subjected to additional stress cause by husbandry issues leading to long term refusal.

#2/ Failure to thrive

In either cases the animal should have been assisted or force-fed until he naturally started eating on it's own it can take time but it usually works, in the rare cases it doesn't and the animal fails to thrive the best decision is to have the animal put down.

The tube feeding is not accomplishing anything with that animal it's just merely maintaining it alive but a real poor quality of life in my opinion.

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Originally Posted by sho220

I've heard of alternate food sources being used like that...not sure why they wouldn't just use a pinky and pinky pump though...other than cost and incovenience??? And an 18 month old bp that's never fed on it's own? If I had tried everything to get it to feed on it's own, I'd probably put it down well before 18 months...something is seriously wrong there...

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You are SO right! Force feeding can harm the snake but not only that, they may regurgitate the food and further harm themselves. Assist feeding on the other hand-placing the nose of a frozen rodent in the snakes mouse to encourage it to eat-is safe on the other hand. They need to put down the snake. Chances are, they tease fed the snake but didn't leave the mouse in the cage over night.

What's the name of the rescue?

Also QofK, you have NO idea what's going on with that snake. Making statements like you did above really makes you look foolish.

I have not heard of baby food but in extreme cases where tube feeding is necessary I have heard of carnivore critical care being used. It is very rich in water and is easily digested. 18 months seems like a very long time but I have no idea of the animals status. I have seen critical care fed for 3-6 weeks for severely dehydrated very ill animals. The case I am thinking of was a rescue where a young BP was found in a house abandoned for a long period of time. Extremely emaciated, dehydrated, and fighting RI and mouth rot. The critical care allowed the animal to put some weight on and gave it a fighting chance, while the antibiotics kicked in.

No matter if this mush-food stuff is done, BABY IS NOT SAFE FOR A SNAKE. First of all the meat has to be cooked to prevent the babies from getting sick; snakes eat raw meat. Second, baby food contains about 50-75% fruits/vegetables/grains. I would encourage your friend to look into other food sources if he/she is not willing to force feed or euthanize the snake.