A Very Special Spotnose

This little girl finally shed, but has not eaten yet. I received her in addition to a snake I had won in an auction. She has an amazing pattern, but also a very underdeveloped lower jaw. I am 90% certain it must have been an incubation issue, but the breeder does not know. I am hoping she eats without issues, and any advice would be appreciated since I have never started a hatchling before. :oops: Anyway, here she is.

http://i748.photobucket.com/albums/x.../spotnose1.jpg

http://i748.photobucket.com/albums/x.../spotnose2.jpg

The problem with feeding this snake is that use their jaws to move the food father into their mouths. You may have to assist feed, use a PK or FT rodent and use the nose of the rodent to separate the bottom and tope jaw and gently put the mouse head down the throat. Be mindful not to force it or place it in the tiny hole on the bottom of the mouth as thats their jacob's organ. I wish you luck and I am a PM away if I can ever help.

Thank you
Tim

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Originally Posted by Royal Morphz

The problem with feeding this snake is that use their jaws to move the food father into their mouths. You may have to assist feed, use a PK or FT rodent and use the nose of the rodent to separate the bottom and tope jaw and gently put the mouse head down the throat. Be mindful not to force it or place it in the tiny hole on the bottom of the mouth as thats their jacob's organ. I wish you luck and I am a PM away if I can ever help.

Thank you
Tim

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Good advice.

Hope she is able to eat for you. Keep us updated...

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Royal Morphz

The problem with feeding this snake is that use their jaws to move the food father into their mouths. You may have to assist feed, use a PK or FT rodent and use the nose of the rodent to separate the bottom and tope jaw and gently put the mouse head down the throat. Be mindful not to force it or place it in the tiny hole on the bottom of the mouth as thats their jacob's organ. I wish you luck and I am a PM away if I can ever help.

Thank you
Tim

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Do you think she will have to be fed that way for the rest of her life?

I have another concern about her that I forgot to mention. I'm not sure if she has a tongue or not. I haven't seen any tongue flicking, but it's possible that her tongue is just not visible past her upper jaw. I haven't wanted to mess with her too much until she is eating regularly though...

I had an incubation problem with my last clutch this summer. Two of the hatchlings have underdeveloped lower jaws. I had to assist feed one of the hatchlings 4 times until it took a live meal on its own. It was consistently taking live so I tried a F/T meal yesterday and I'm happy to say it striked, coiled and swallowed like any other healthy snake!

The other hatchling, a beautiful Black Pastel Pied, still needs to be assist fed, but I'm hoping it will make the transition to live soon. There is a sticky on this forum that has all you need to know about assist feeding, so I'm not going to reinvent the wheel in this post. Good luck and be patient!

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Originally Posted by jball1125

Good advice.

Hope she is able to eat for you. Keep us updated...

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I would hope just a few assist feedings should do it. Good luck please keep us updated.

^^^What?

Judging by the sig im guessing spammer.

interesting, keep us updated

Will do. I've been offering her live ASF pinks/fuzzies and leaving them overnight, but no joy so far. I will wait a week or two before assist feeding.