No tongues???

[junglemad]

I bought a coastal carpet python. It was nearly the first time i had seen a hatchling...i have a few large pythons but have only really started to get into it...so i was blown away by the smallness and cuteness of the little guy and parted with my dollars.
I have been unable to get it to eat. It was one of those sales by a mate of the breeder etc etc yes it's shed...yes yes it's eating...you won't be disappointed...you have probably heard similar spiels.
Well..from what i can see it seems to have a bad eye or at least a retained scale over the eye. I cannot get it to eat. I have never seen it stick out its tongue...I am wondering if it even has one..it has stuck its face in the water but im unsure if it drank.
A helpful guy today demonstrated how to open a hatchling's mouth to me so i did this when i got home looking for signs of mouth canker..it was nice and purple...but no sign of a tongue. I have tried it on a number of food items both alive and dead to no avail.
The guy also showed me how to assist/force feed a hatchie which i am going to try as soon as i get a pinkie..i have been trying the last two days on rat pinkies with no success and i have a mouse ready to drop any minute.
Has anyone heard of pythons born with no tongue? The guy today had some hatchies and their tongues were out every few seconds...I am worried that the little fellow will die and even the serpent-phobic Mrs. had a nurse of little 'tangles' tonight and shares the worries...
cheers

 

[dpeica]

How long have you had it?

 

[Duke_jensen]

I was always told to look for the tongue poking out in a healthy snake, when chosing.

 

[RevDaniel]

I had the same problem with some old snake of mine. I steted to panic and took my the hatchlings to the vet to be force fed. He gave me a hand out {after i paid for the consultation}
It basically said that sometimes snakes wont eat pinkys straight away and that they will usually start garden skinks instead.
try feeding skinks unbtil the snake grows big enough and then try a small mouse pinky.
Force feeding the snake could be doingmore halm than good as some snakes never recover from the ordeal of being force fed.
Best of luck and keep us updated with what you ended up doing

 

[junglemad]

6 long weeks....still strong around my finger but uniterested in feeding...live pinky, thawed, fresh killed, skink accidentally hit by whipper snipper, pinkie left in a jar with pinkies...
Force feeding looks like the answer. I just have never seen its little tongue

 

[Craig2]

does it have a tongue or what might be half the prob how happy would you be to have something fed to u if you couldent smell it or see...
especially if you cane out of an egg 2 months ago

 

[RevDaniel]

Out of curiosity what temperature is your snake cage. Do you think your snake has gone into hybernation?
That may be the reason why i is refusing its feeds.

 

[junglemad]

It is at 30 degrees celcius
mate

 

[buck]

Past Threads

Try having a look through these..

http://www.aussiepythons.com/index.php?name=PNphpBB2&file=viewtopic&t=9919&highlight=braining

http://www.aussiepythons.com/index....0&postdays=0&postorder=asc&highlight=braining


http://www.aussiepythons.com/index....0&postdays=0&postorder=asc&highlight=braining

http://www.aussiepythons.com/index.php?name=PNphpBB2&file=viewtopic&t=8980&highlight=braining

http://www.aussiepythons.com/index.php?name=PNphpBB2&file=viewtopic&t=8502&highlight=braining

http://www.aussiepythons.com/index.php?name=PNphpBB2&file=viewtopic&t=8743&highlight=braining


If you try searching for "braining" you will get 20 results all relating to your problem.

Best of luck!!!

 

[BROWNS]

Hatchies don't hibernate,keep them warm and they should feed all through winter....if it definiely has no tongue then that's obviously the answer to the feeding problem.Never heard of it before but all you can do is try getting it to feed.Does it strike at anything at all?

 

[junglemad]

RE: Past Threads

Well if i thought feeding live items to my snakes was a little cruel and i hid these practices from my kids then 'braining' is just a step further down the track for me...thanks for those past threads...very informative...he is cramped in a little hide box and in a click clack with a little water, paper towelling substrate and a little branch, no traffic office hours and on the floor of an enclosure with a heat lamp and thermo set at 30 degrees

 

[junglemad]

RE: Past Threads

It has struck at my 11 yr old once who will never touch another snake again, and it made moves towards the rat pup but only coz it was cramping him a little, but it will not strike at a pinky..i was hassling him with it but he wouldn't click it.

 

[Guest]

RE: Past Threads

We have a snake with no tongue at work (given to use by another pet shop not knwoing what to do with it , we believe they tried to feed it live food and the live food bit its tongue off) We just have to force feed it every week , nd the snake seems healthy and fine and is getting quite big. One thing with force feed is be careful not to peirce the snake and use a smaller prey item then normal (lot easier to push down the snakes throat) and if its only a small snake (which it sounds like) try using a pinkie pump.

 

[BROWNS]

RE: Past Threads

Don't quote me on this but i believe if it has no tongue and cannot scent you will most likely have to force feed it to keep it alive.Getting hatchlings to take rodents isn't that hard and scenting with a skink should be something you try after trying with just rodents and no success for a while.But.if it can't scent it can't relay info back to the jacobsons organ and in the wild would die for sure....

 

[junglemad]

RE: Past Threads

Poor little guy...i hope it isn't lacking a tongue...and i hope there aren't breeders out there that would do this on purpose to someone...i used to breed fish and anything that wasn't right was fed off immediately not sold to someone under false pretence.
The family really like the little snake/especially when i told them it will be 9 feet long in the aviary one day
I will open its mouth a few times to see if it had a tongue but i can't imagine a snake not testing the air non-stop with its tongue

 

[indicus]

RE: Past Threads

Had a rehab juv waterpython brought to us once,...you guessed it no tounge..still would eat, but for obvious reasons had a little trouble finding it's food.....I dont know what ended up happening to it as it went to another carer.....Try changing it's set-up, giving it the upmost privacy....resist the temptation to handle it, until it maintains a somewhat normal feeding routine....I'd try changing it's set-up, low traffic/noise area..... perch and hidebox....Heat prior to dark, turn out lights, drop in a pinky, and get out quickly without freaking it out.......You could also try spraying a small amount of warm water in it's enclosure/plastic container, to build up humidty, may help with a feeding response......try this procedure several times....it should eat sooner or later.....force feed at last resort, may have a hassel due to it's tounge.......hope it goes alright.

 

[salebrosus]

if your really that worried about it why dont you try the vet Terri Bellamy at Austral or Canley Heights Veterinary Clinic
She's brilliant.

Simone.

 

[junglemad]

i will give them a try after another week i think thanks Simone...against all advice so far i am going to try the force feeding..the guys that did it today did it very effectively indeed and at least i would know it had something inside it...i would much rather have my money back and buy one from a reputable breeder instead keeping this one bought from a mate of a mate
cheers

 

[longtom]

RE: Past Threads

id give it a rat tail asist feed it keeps them from losing weight wet it they slide doun there throats easy if you push it about three inches doun normally you can let the hatchling go and they thrash round a bit then just eat it them selves but some time they spit it out so you need to do it again but ive non this with dozens of hatchlings over the years to stopp them losing weight normally they feed oun there oun but can take a while you need to use the right sized tail in pation to the hatchling but it does work ive done it to four sorts of hatchlings over the years none every died from it an old herper told me i was scepticle till i tryed it but now if i get a hatchling from a cluth that does feed normally thats what i do untill it feeds i still keep offering live or dead food just takes a while somtimes but like i said the tails give them a little bit of nutitmit to keep them from wasting away

 

[Guest]

RE: Past Threads

But.if it can't scent it can't relay info back to the jacobsons organ and in the wild would die for sure....

Yeah ur right


U will see a blue tongue on the bottom or its mouth if it has a tongue Junglemad