Day 61 still not out of the egg? When to worry

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Felidae

Yes, you need to assist/force feed her, if it's possible with 1-2 mouse pinkies. If she didn't absorbed any of her sac, she don't have enough energy to keep up until her first shed. Tie the umbilical cord with dental floss close to the snake, and cut off the yolk sac. I remember there is a thread somewhere about that process, I hope someone can link to here.

---

Thank you I'll assist feed her one today after school . I will keep you all updated. What should I put her in for the time being?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

If her yolk is still attached that deli cup will be best for now. Since it's wrapped around her, it needs to to be tied off and the cord cut immediately (if it has not already been removed). The danger of a wrapped cord is very serious and should be attended to straight away.

Once that is taken care of, I would feed, assisting if need be. The a 6qt shoe box tub with damp paper towels, like you would for any hatchling, will be fine for her.

Should I just do one mouse pinky? Or 2


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Edd_138

Should I just do one mouse pinky? Or 2


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

---

Might as well do two if you're going to force feed. Want to make it worth it since it's really stressful for the snake.

http://ball-pythons.net/forums/showt...y-Graphic-Pics

The animal should be left alone for at least 24 it will either make or not, if it does this will allow the animal to re-gain some strength.

Remember assisting is stressful and if done when the animal is already weaken state it could be fatal.

Also forget pinkie mice

Depending on the size of this BP you can assist with a large fuzy if the BP is very small, however if it is within normal hatching weight range just assist using a small hopper.

Pinkie mice are colubrid food not BP food and you want to assist one prey not two, so you limit the stress.

Do not force feed simply assist, force feeding should only be done if assisting fails.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Deborah

http://ball-pythons.net/forums/showt...y-Graphic-Pics

The animal should be left alone for at least 24 it will either make or not, if it does this will allow the animal to re-gain some strength.

Remember assisting is stressful and if done when the animal is already weaken state it could be fatal.

Also forget pinkie mice

Depending on the size of this BP you can assist with a large fuzy if the BP is very small, however if it is within normal hatching weight range just assist using a small hopper.

Pinkie mice are colubrid food not BP food and you want to assist one prey not two, so you limit the stress.

Do not force feed simply assist, force feeding should only be done if assisting fails.

---

Thank you I will buy the small mouse hopper tonight and give it to her in the morning haven't been home all day. So it will be 24 hours in the morning. Will let u all know what ends up happening.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

It may be helpful to dip the hopper in warm water so it slicks the fur back a bit. If you've never assist fed before, just be patient. It is not the easiest thing to do and the snake is not used to having something shoved into it's mouth. Once you get the hopper well in their mouth, they may try to throw it so just hold it in there until the snake starts mouthing the prey item and pulling it in. You may have to try a few times before it takes it down so get someplace where you are comfortable.

Generally I'm not that type who go against Deborah, but now I feel that. That snake is probably underdeveloped and too week to handle a 12-14g hopper. The umbilica not closed and the bigger pray can make damages. Before the first shed even possible that the assist feed will fail and need to push gently the pray in the throat to get the swallowing reflex. I don't say that a hopper will kill her, but it's more risky. Few times I ran through this with carpets, but never with balls, so maybe I can be wrong. Every other cases I would say the same, for a hatchling give a hopper mouse.

I'm also going to advise against assist feeding just pinky mice. BTDT and frankly, they're so delicate that if your snake puts up any kind of a fight or spits it out, you end up with squished pinky goop all over your fingers and nothing in the snake's belly. Even small fuzzies have this problem.

I have found a very easy way to assist feed is to get two frozen/thaw feeders. One will be something like the mouse pinky/fuzzy/hopper you want the snake to eat whole, depending on the size of the snake. The other feeder should be larger, such as an adult jumbo mouse or rat weanling, again depending on the size of the snake. For a small ball python I would probably get a jumbo mouse.

Thaw both feeders in warm water and cut one of the hind legs off of the larger f/t feeder at the hip where it meets the body. Assist feed the hind leg first by bending it at the hock joint, and use the fur-covered joint (not the toes or cut end) to gently pry open the snake's mouth - using even a fuzzy to do that can make the fuzzy nasty as well. Push the hind leg hock-joint-first into the back of the snake's mouth, which is pretty easy since it doesn't squish like a fuzzy or hopper can. You can even use your pinky finger to push it down past the point of no return, if you don't mind potentially getting nipped in the process.

Once the snake starts swallowing the hind leg it's easy enough to chain-feed the whole prey behind it by sneaking the feeder's head in the snake's mouth, but you do have to be quick about it.

If the hind leg and whole feeder are damp they seem to go down the hatch more easily too.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Deborah

http://ball-pythons.net/forums/showt...y-Graphic-Pics

The animal should be left alone for at least 24 it will either make or not, if it does this will allow the animal to re-gain some strength.

Remember assisting is stressful and if done when the animal is already weaken state it could be fatal.

Also forget pinkie mice

Depending on the size of this BP you can assist with a large fuzy if the BP is very small, however if it is within normal hatching weight range just assist using a small hopper.

Pinkie mice are colubrid food not BP food and you want to assist one prey not two, so you limit the stress.

Do not force feed simply assist, force feeding should only be done if assisting fails.

---

Well I assist fed it a mouse hopper this morning. Well he wasn't having it after about 30 mins. So I decided to force feed it. He took it and did not regurgitate it. I will see when I get home. Also he was not tongue flicking at all. She I worry about this?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk