Tube Feeding?

by **Fooble** » Thu Jun 12, 2008 5:49 pm

I am a bit concerned with my egg eater which does not seem to be eating since i got it, i've offered him two different sets of eggs one which was literally minutes from a nest and still he wont eat it.

I'm just a bit concerned with it now getting colder and he might go into hibernation without having a sufficient meal.

Ive looked into tube feeding can this do more harm then good?

by **phish** » Thu Jun 12, 2008 5:52 pm

Yes, If you have to consider tube feeding rather release it into the area it came from ...

by **Fooble** » Thu Jun 12, 2008 5:54 pm

Problem if it's a captive bred snake?

by **Serpy** » Thu Jun 12, 2008 6:57 pm

Then tube feed it.. I have the same thing with captive bred southern brown egg eater's, i'll just keep tube feeding them till they're big enough to eat decent sized eggs.. I've raised dozens of egg eaters this way, believe me it does become tedious though..

by **Fooble** » Thu Jun 12, 2008 7:01 pm

Okay thanks for that feedback.
Can you give me any do's and dont's to the Tube feeding?
Haven't done it before and dont want to harm the little guy.

by **Serpy** » Thu Jun 12, 2008 7:29 pm

Well, gotta be careful about not putting the tube down its wind pipe for starters.. Be gentle and slow when you feed, or you just blow the animal up.. Start off with little amounts at a time and work your way up, use a rubber tube they use for catheters...

by **Fooble** » Sun Jun 15, 2008 11:48 am

Just an update of sorts,
i tube feed my egg eater today didnt seem too difficult he actually co-operated pretty well but now that it's goign into winter should i feed him again some time or just wait it out till he feeds on his own again?

by **Nasicornis** » Sun Jun 15, 2008 11:56 am

Just some advise on tube feeding things like egg eaters. When drawing up the egg into the sytinge, be sure to draw it up through the tube and do not draw up the egg through the sytinge alone. If you do, you leave the tube full of air that will be injected into the snake before any of the egg gets in. I normally have a syringe filled with egg aswell as the tube, that way you are sure that you are mostly injecting only the egg and limits the amount of air your inject. Might sound like stupid advise but I have seen people not taking this into consideration with dire consequences.

by **Fooble** » Sun Jun 15, 2008 2:15 pm

Oh yeah thanks Nasicornis i did make sure of that :-)

before i started drawing the egg i knowticed the air intake and such.

But as for feeding now with winter any advise on that?
thanks again for the comment :-)

by **Nasicornis** » Mon Jun 16, 2008 10:21 am

Feeding in the winter would depend upon your specific situation. If you are keeping the snake up and active through the winter with help of additional heating then yes, you could continue feeding, I have kept mine off it for a month now and they are still looking good. I have not added additional heating so they tend to be very inactive at the moment.

by **Fooble** » Mon Jun 16, 2008 10:26 am

Okay so i should remove him from the heat?
I just have a normal heating pad for him nothing fancy.

by **jka** » Mon Jun 16, 2008 11:20 am

If you think he is in good condition and will be able to handle the winter you can turn the heat off. I would be careful especially if its a small snake.

by **phish** » Mon Jun 16, 2008 12:50 pm

if you have just tube fed definatly do not turn off the heat until you have allowed time for digestion to take place!

Tube Feeding?

Tube Feeding?

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