Santa Isabel Ground Boa Baby - New Owner, Questions, Discussion, Pictures

[Bogertophis]

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Though I don't do this anymore with the species I work with except to administer medication, tube feeding is IMO preferential to force feeding. I've kept snakes alive, growing and in apparent good health for more than a year (at which point I gave up and euthanized) with a mix of chicken baby food, egg yolk and Repashy Calcium Plus (eyeballed amounts; no idea how much is the right amount) fed via stomach tube about 2x week. Very easy and relatively stress free for snake and keeper. It takes some research to figure out tube feeding -- find the glottis (really easy, and virtually impossible to miss and hit the glottis), measure down to stomach, get a practiced technique to avoid any coming back up -- and some equipment (I use a dosing needle set from Reptile Basics for small animals, and vet stomach tubes for larger ones).

There's a device called a pinky pump that macerates whole rodent prey and then runs it through a tube, though I've never used one and have read that they're a challenge to get to work well.

I'm glad to know I'm not the only one that finds "tube-feeding" to be much gentler than "force feeding", & I've had success with it on various snakes too. There's many 'opinions' shared to the contrary, but I have to assume it was mostly not from their own personal experience, or from doing it the wrong way (especially- not using the proper equipment- oh does that matter!).

Pinkie pumps- I have NEVER used one. I have heard of reptiles being killed or injured when the pump clogs, then suddenly & forcefully releases into the animal. So no thanks... but I'll happily share my tube-feeding method (write-up) with anyone who requests it.