Baby KSB Feeding

[kiwitwist]

I have two new female Kenyan sand boa babies (they are almost 4 weeks old) I am trying to get to eat f/t. I am wondering if I should feed them live pinkies, since that's what they were started on, at least one more time before I try for brained f/t again? I have offered brained f/t pinks after being thawed in very hot water. They seem to have a tiny bit of interest, one of them even drank the surrounding water, but then they lose interest and just want to crawl around (probably to find somewhere to burrow). I tried holding them upside down with their heads oriented towards the brained bit, and they tongue flick it, but then want to crawl away. My other baby kenyan (he's older by a few months, I got him back in August), I did that with him just to see what the feeding response should look like with a brained pink- and holy cow, the response was immediate and rather enthusiastic. However, he's already taken several f/t pinks from me without having to brain them or hold him upside down oriented towards the pinky, so he's probably already pretty used to it, I just kind of wanted an example of what a hungry kenyan using those techniques might do. Oh, and I usually feed all my snakes in a container that is not their enclosure.

Additional information, one of the babies ate a live pinkie maybe a week and a half ago, the other baby has eaten two live pinks, one being more recent, maybe 4 days ago. (This was with the breeder, before I obtained them, they have not eaten for me yet.) The slightly bigger one is beginning to rub herself like she may shed, and she has less interest in the food. I am less worried about her because she is a little larger. They are being kept on repti-cal sand with a water bowl with an undertank heater (with tile against the glass to diffuse heat). No overhead lighting. Feeding attempts have been at night, as they are nocturnal. (This is the same for my male which is eating just fine.) I'm not sure how long it is okay for a baby to not eat for, so I don't know at what point I should be worried. I mean, I know kenyans usually don't take their first meal until about two weeks after birth after they have shed, and they are almost 4 weeks now, so the one that has eaten twice may even be a bit ahead of the game.

I've heard other techniques such as leaving them in a paper bag overnight in their enclosure with the dead pink. I haven't tried that yet. I don't want to stress them out too much with too many different attempts. But wouldn't the pink in a bag get cold? I have read it is easier to get them to eat f/t if it is really hot/warm? Any thoughts?

Ps- omg brained pinkies smell disgusting.. And then the babies smell so gross after moving their bodies over the dead pinks like a hundred times trying to get out of their feeding container...

The anery girl, she is only a tiny bit smaller than her sister:


Normal girl:


Sisters


And just for fun, my enthusiastic-ly eating albino male:


Hand for size reference: