Injured Petsmart BP

[Bogertophis]

Never really tube fed, if i can get the materials, pointers are hugely appreciated.

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Snakes are pretty easy to tube-feed- use a human urethral catheter* (10-12 Fr size usually) & a syringe. Use Gerber's chicken baby food, thinned enough so it goes thru tube easily. (online the Bean Farm supplies them, it's under "health care") Gerbers chicken is the best baby food I know of for this purpose, it's easily digested with no sugar or corn syrup etc. like in other brands. It's only chicken, water & cornstarch. I usually use a drop of vegetable oil on the catheter, to make it more slippery. First get the snake to drink water to lubricate their throat- if you hold their head under a trickle from faucet they usually drink, or tip their face to water bowl. (If you forget or cannot do this, the other way to lubricate their throat is just to push the plunger very slightly so a little of the mixture comes out at the top of their throat, right after you begin the insertion)

Make sure to expel the air in the catheter...you want the "snake-shake" to drip out the end of the catheter just before you put it into the snake's mouth/throat. Gently use the catheter tip to open the snake's mouth & gently slide the tubing in until you feel resistance: stop! the catheter should be in far enough. IF you depress the plunger on the syringe and see the liquid in the snake's mouth, you aren't in far enough, so try again to go further...just be gentle. (you might estimate ahead of time about how far the catheter will go in, based on the length of the snake you're trying to feed- roughly the distance from mouth to top of stomach- about 1/4 to 1/3 of the total body length)

Remember that a tube-feeding is for quick energy....like the I.V. we cannot give them...DO NOT try to feed the same amount as the solid food you wish they were eating...this will be less but very effective anyway. And for snakes needing hydration too, this will be far more digestible than solid food would be.

Tips: Do this where you can have the snake lying flat on a towel. If you're gentle & persistent but not overly-forceful, you'll have less of a battle with the snake. Obviously you have to restrain them, but be flexible...it's a give & take. When you're done, slide the tubing out -it may catch just a bit on their teeth, and also trigger a bit of a gag reflex as you pull it out- I massage their throat if they act as if trying to upchuck, & they usually keep it down. BTW, I've always done this single-handedly...so if you don't have someone to restrain the snake, don't worry...if I can do it, you can too.

Important: Keep the snake's head above their body when you carefully put them back in their cage -for obvious reason, what slides in can slide back out... then let them rest.

Afterthoughts:
Add water to some chicken baby food so it's thin enough to go thru the tubing...test first, not on the snake...nothing worse than getting the tube into the snake & then having trouble pushing the plunger on the syringe...you want this to go as smoothly for the snake as possible, obviously. You can also add vitamins, minerals (for reptiles) or meds (those meant to be taken with food) to the "snake-shake" too.

You sure won't need a whole jar of Gerbers for a little snake, btw...you can freeze the rest of the open jar by dropping spoonfuls of the Gerbers onto a piece of foil or on a plate in the freezer...once frozen, store the frozen lumps in a plastic baggie or other container in freezer for future use. It will keep better & much longer this way than in fridge...

Any questions? Just ask...I've successfully tube-fed various snakes over the years...honestly it's the most useful thing I've ever learned to do for saving snakes. A snake that is too weak or ill to eat on their own will be in a downward spiral towards death, just as we'd be in the hospital without an I.V. to regain our strength & normal appetite.