To assist feed or not?

[HerpIsAhobby]

Two babies I recently picked up are giving me a bit of a headache with feedings. The smaller of the two hasn't eaten for me yet at all but comes from a reputable breeder who assured me she had been eating mouse hoppers. Its been almost 3 weeks and I've been attempting every 5 days with no success as of yet. The other is slightly larger I would say 100+ grams and has only taken 2 meals for me and went off food the same week as the other girl. At what point should I step in and assist feed or should I just ride this out and chalk it up to them adjusting to their surroundings? Thanks for the help.

[Rickys_Reptiles]

Mouse hoppers? I don't know any reputable breeders that feed mouse hoppers My hatchings eat 15g rats out of the egg, and after 2 meals they are already eating larger prey.

I give my snakes 4 weeks. If they don't eat after 4 weeks I 'assist feed', then give them 4 more weeks.

[Annarose15]

Plenty of breeders start their BP hatchlings on hoppers.

To the OP - How do you have them set up (tub size, bedding, temps, hides, etc.)? Have either of them lost any weight? How much? Are these the same snakes you just posted a video of? I wouldn't even consider assisting the one that has eaten for you, since she obviously understands what to do on her own.

[RaltsXIV]

Have you left anything in with them overnight? Live rat fuzzy overnight usually works for me, I've had to assist feed once though.

[HerpIsAhobby]

These aren't the babies I just put the video up with. I have them set up in 6qt tubs with small hides and the hot spot ranges between 88-90. I have the room sit at around 78. The one thing I did do was try and give them aspen bedding which I thought might make them feel more secure. I had them on paper towels for roughly 2 weeks and all the other babies in the room don't mind them but maybe these girls are a bit shy. I try and feed them with all the other babies which comes out to be roughly every 4-5 days. As of right now I've tried fuzzy rats but never left them over night I did leave a F/T hopper in there with them one night and it was still there in the morning.

[Stewart_Reptiles]

Mouse hoppers? I don't know any reputable breeders that feed mouse hoppers

Really? Doubt I would use that as a criteria to judge ones reputation.

I can name tons of breeders starting their snakes on mice hoppers and continuing feeding mice....that includes big names in this industry. Keep in mind that you can breed a whole lot of more mice than rats with the same real estate therefore breeding for a large collection makes a lot of sense.

Now to the OP

There are a lot of things that could be going on and before jumping to conclusion and assist fed here are the things I would do if not attempted already.

1# Provide a 6 quarts tub (no larger) with aspen bedding and a small plastic flower pot saucer as an hide with a hot spot of 86/88.
2# No more handling
3# Feeding in the tub a week after the last changed were made and offer a LIVE prey no more than every 7 days.
4# If it fails I would try the brown paper bag trick.
5# If it fails again I would offer a rat crawler just in case.

Before assist feeding all options must be exhausted, there is no time frame to assist feed it's a matter of monitoring your animal not only it's weight but overall look as well.

[Rickys_Reptiles]

Really? Doubt I would use that as a criteria to judge ones reputation.

I can name tons of breeders starting their snakes on mice hoppers and continuing feeding mice....that includes big names in this industry. Keep in mind that you can breed a whole lot of more mice than rats with the same real estate therefore breeding for a large collection makes a lot of sense.

I just said I don't know any, didn't say I would use that as criteria for judging ones reputation.

Nonetheless, to the OP, good luck with the feeding!

[HerpIsAhobby]

Thank you guys. I've been monitoring them pretty closely because they haven't eaten for me yet so maybe I'll just take a quick peek on them every other day for a few seconds. Quick question on the rat crawler would it be OK at that age to leave them in with the snake overnight? I have never had experience with leaving a live rat even a crawler in overnight.

[Annarose15]

Thank you guys. I've been monitoring them pretty closely because they haven't eaten for me yet so maybe I'll just take a quick peek on them every other day for a few seconds. Quick question on the rat crawler would it be OK at that age to leave them in with the snake overnight? I have never had experience with leaving a live rat even a crawler in overnight.

Yes, a live rat crawler overnight will be fine.

[Don]

You can also leave a pinky in there over night. Sometimes going down in prey size for a shy eater helps. Good luck!