Corn baby ate have a few more questions

[ChristinaP]

My corn baby is obviously not established yet, so I'm more than upset at the pet store for selling it. I am just thankful I have you guys to help me get him eating.

He did eat, but I had to take a book out of my ball's eating habits to get him to eat. I used the tongs and lowered the pinkie in, but he hid his head, ducked down and hid his head under his body. Not a normal response for a corn I take it. So, I put the pinkie in his hide on top of his heating pad, and then covered the top so the scent would stay in. We woke up this morning and he had ate.

So, questions: I don't feed my other 2 snakes in their house. Our corn goes directly into a tub, eats, 5 minutes later he's back in his viv. Our ball goes in to a viv with complete mini-set-up (heat lamp on top, uth, 2 hides, warm side, cold side, etc) he eats in there and goes back in his viv after he eats. This one, how do we move if he's finicky?

How long should we leave him before handling? (I know the 24-48 hour rule) Is there a don't handle for 2-3-4 etc feeds rule?

And lastly, we have aspen bedding for him (the other 2 in their feeding tubs have paper towels or newspaper, depending on what's right there to grab) so can he eat laying on aspen bedding?

Thanks,

CP

[wilomn]

I put baby corns, kings, milks, balls, most any baby, in a small brown paper bag with the food item, put the bag back in the cage in a warm spot, and leave it overnight unless they eat sooner in which case they are taken out and left in the cage for a couple of days before handling again.

Ducking his head under his body when bopped in the nose with a dead mouse hanging from tongs is not really out of the norm.

So long as you're feeding pinks or fuzzies that have not opened their eyes yet, live is fine. You can switch to dead as soon as you start getting a good feeding response.

[Maize411]

One trick you could try is putting him in a small see through deli cup (with punched holes..lol) with the pinkie..put the cup in his enclosure and leave him and the pinkie there with the lights out..Since he is in his enclosure it should give him a bit more comfort..and being in the dark will help all the more..This is just something I have found to work with my snakes..but the paper bag option also sounds good..I never even thought of using that..lol..