How to feed stubborn corn snake's  and hatchlings is the question  I get asked most frequently.
 This page will go through many different options and procedures,  I hope you can find a solution here!

These are some of the reasons  why your baby corn snake may be refusing his/her food.


 1. Shedding.
 2.  Not hungry.
3. Over handling.
 4. Food may be too cold.
5. Your snake may be to cold .
6. Food may have lost it's odour.
7. Changes in the room he/she is kept in, Eg.
 Loud noises that might be upsetting your snake via vibrations.
 A bigger or more aggressive snake in the vivarium.
 Another snake added to the vivarium.
Older Corn Snakes may not be eating for these additional reasons.

1. It's during the snakes mating season.
2. Your snake could be carrying her eggs.

If none of the above, please seek advice from your reptile vet.

Here are a few tips that may help you to get a non-feeding
 baby Corn snake to start eating.

 Try warming up the food before feeding to make it seem like a recently dead carcass.

 Try a different food - if you're feeding baby mice, try baby rats. Also try different sizes and colours
 (I have known people whose snake would eat only white mice but not black or brown colour ones).

Try tapping the snakes body with the food, this will torment him and may lead to him striking at the food.

Try different light intensities. Snakes are usually happier to feed in subdued lighting or indeed total darkness.

 Try adding one of the new liquids available which give off a strong smell of mouse to help tempt your snake to feed.

Try putting the food somewhere more private - such as in a plastic tub with a hole cut in the lid for your snake to get through. This extra "privacy" may be just what your snake wants.

Try puncturing the pinkie's chest with a cocktail stick and gently squeeze out a drop of blood. The stronger scent of blood can also help stimulate a non feeding snake.

Try what is known as 'braining', puncture or slightly crack the skull of a pre killed prey item. Although it seems a little gross, the scent of brain matter is particularly effective at stimulating the feeding response.

Try leaving your 'brained' pinkie on a piece of paper towel, inside a (small upside down pot or small plastic tub) with a hole in the top, sat on a  pre-warmed heat mat. Leave it there for 2 minutes, then hold your snake with his head hovering over the hole, your snake should feel the urge to enter the hide, now smelling of warm rodent, and tuck in! If he does, cover the hole with a damp flannel or hand towel and SWITCH OFF the power to the heat mat. Now leave your snake inside for a while, hopefully he will decide to consume his meal... My husband & I have great success with this :)

Try disguising the scent of the pinkie, this can be done a number of ways, but we use this method.
1. Defrost a frozen chick in hot water & dry it out with kitchen towel.
2. Wash one or more FROZEN pinkies thoroughly with cold water & soap, then rinse them with hot water.
3. Dry the pinkies with clean kitchen towel, then place them tight against the chicks belly, or under the wings.
4. Wrap the chick & pinkies up tightly in another clean piece of kitchen towel & leave on a heat mat for an hour.
 5. Unwrap & remove the pinkies with tweezers, be careful not to handle them & leave your own scent on them.
6. Hover the warm pinkie in front of the snake & allow time for the snake to become keen.
If the snake is still not interested, try placing both snake & food in a small tub with air holes for a while.

If you have an older corn snake not willing to eat mice, then this procedure can be used for them too...
Do the same as above, but with a small - large mouse. (Remember to leave enough time for a larger mouse to defrost.)
When done, you can also try making a small cut in the chicks belly and rubbing the mouse's nose in the chick's blood...
Now tempt your non eating adult corn by hovering the mouse above their head...

IF YOUR SNAKE IS OVER FOUR FEET LONG, YOU COULD OFFER THEM THE WHOLE CHICK !!
Be careful not to offer a chick to a snake which doesn't look big enough to consume it....

Desperate Measures!!
PLEASE NOTE : THIS PROCEDURE CAN BE STRESSFUL TO BOTH YOU & YOUR SNAKE,
AND SHOULD ONLY BE ATTEMPTED WHEN ALL ELSE HAS FAILED...

Try holding your snake by his neck close to his head with the rest of his body wrapped around your fingers, then gently tapping your snakes nose repeatedly with a pinkie in a left to right motion, this will torment your snake and his response is usually to snap at the food, if he does grab the food, KEEP giggling the food until you notice the snakes jaws appear to dislocate and he starts to move his head slowly in a left to right motion, this generally means he is going to eat
his meal, you should then carefully place him down and cover him with some kitchen towel to conceal him.

If you do manage to get your snake eating, please ensure he has
somewhere warm in his viv to rest for a couple of days, snakes
must be warm to digest their meal properly. After successfully
getting your pet to feed, it is heart breaking to find the food
has been regurgitated because he/she is not warm enough.

GOOD LUCK !