Might be time for a pinky pump

Well there has been no luck with the hatchling since he hatched of getting any food into him. I have tried live feeding and assist feeding. The most recent assist feed left him with 24hrs of having a mouse pinky in his throat. While his body had started to digest the pinky (the top half), he spit it out. Now, I'm not a squeamish person and since I have no access to a real pinky pump, would it be possible to take a mouse and blend it really finely (puree is a good word here) and use a syringe to get it into his stomach? That way I can just blend up an entire mouse and freeze and thaw it as needed. If this little baby has any chance at survival, I want to try.

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Originally Posted by Jay_Bunny

Well there has been no luck with the hatchling since he hatched of getting any food into him. I have tried live feeding and assist feeding. The most recent assist feed left him with 24hrs of having a mouse pinky in his throat. While his body had started to digest the pinky (the top half), he spit it out. Now, I'm not a squeamish person and since I have no access to a real pinky pump, would it be possible to take a mouse and blend it really finely (puree is a good word here) and use a syringe to get it into his stomach? That way I can just blend up an entire mouse and freeze and thaw it as needed. If this little baby has any chance at survival, I want to try.

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im sorry u have to go through this man. youl fig somthing out eventually.
i reccomend purred pinky from a sirringe(sp?) make sure its a thawed mouse. no blending lvie...

I'm sorry but that reminded me of joe cartoon with the gerbil.

Don't worry, no live blending. :P I think this is the only way I'm going to get anything down him at this point. If I can just get him large enough to be able to pass a pinky down that one spot in his throat. Its a spot that seems thinner than the rest. I'll go get a picture of his underside so you can see what I'm talking about.

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Originally Posted by Jay_Bunny

I'm sorry but that reminded me of joe cartoon with the gerbil.

Don't worry, no live blending. :P I think this is the only way I'm going to get anything down him at this point. If I can just get him large enough to be able to pass a pinky down that one spot in his throat. Its a spot that seems thinner than the rest. I'll go get a picture of his underside so you can see what I'm talking about.

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k.

and joe cartoon is so funny! my fav is "10 pump bb gun!"

We are going to try something. We have a syringe and some 16g tubing. We are thinking about pre-killing some pinks and pureeing them as best we can, add a little egg yolk (chicken egg) and using the syringe to pass this into his stomach. So I guess my questions are....

1) Is that too small of tubing or should we get a larger size?

2) How will we know when we reach the stomach?

3) How much do we pump into his stomach?

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Jay_Bunny

We are going to try something. We have a syringe and some 16g tubing. We are thinking about pre-killing some pinks and pureeing them as best we can, add a little egg yolk (chicken egg) and using the syringe to pass this into his stomach. So I guess my questions are....

1) Is that too small of tubing or should we get a larger size?

2) How will we know when we reach the stomach?

3) How much do we pump into his stomach?

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well the truth is i dont really know... ask someone who has knolege of snake anatomy lol. sry

I am unable to puree only one or two pinkies at a time. A blender can't do the job and just mincing them up doesn't make it small enough to go through a tube that small.

Would giving him some yolk via tube feeding help him at all?

I found a link to this picture in another thread. Hope it helps...

As for the blender not being feasible, you may have to look at something like one of those Magic Bullet, Slap Chop, or possibly a regular food processor...


Rob

http://www.southernxreptiles.com/Rep...%20anatomy.jpg

Another member on this forum had a problem with a non-eater but this was because of a kink. He has a video on this page showing how he does it. http://ball-pythons.net/forums/showt...t=96598&page=4 He would likely be willing to answer your questions, you might try and PM him.

Thanks for the link. We tried a smaller tube and used egg yolk. We got a little bit down him. He has lost weight and he's looking a little dehydrated. (skin starting to fold) :( We only gave him a little. How often should I feed him?