Need advice, when to force feed.

OK, here's the story, Our little spider hatched on 7/30/12. Two days later she weighed 53 grams, on 8/11/12 she had not shed and she weighed in at 54 grams. On 8/18/12 she still had not shed, I offered her food (hopper mouse) because all of her clutch mates did shed by then. She refused to feed. I weighed her again today and she is now at 49 grams. She has lost 10% of her body weight now. Should I try to force feed her? Thanks for any inputs with this. She is the only one of this clutch that I really wanted to keep.

Maybe try assist feeding before force feeding?

First make sure it has plenty of water. I would try giving it a hide box or at least something it can crawl under to make it feel safe. Then maybe try leaving a fuzzy mouse in with it over night. If that still doesn't work maybe try a brained pinkie. If it still hasn't eaten in a few days, then try assist feeding it. I have rarely had to force feed any snakes, assist feeding usually does the trick most of the time.

I agree with the above posters. I used to get problem eaters around 50grams when I worked with the small animals and reptiles in petsmart. They would be shipped to us having either only eaten once, if at all, so it was very rare to get one I DIDNT have to assist feed at first. I generally waited a week for them to settle and if they refused feed for 3 weeks after that, then I would try assist feeding. I personally have not ever had to force feed. Eventually while assist feeding they always take, and more often then not they'll strike on their own after that.

I did have one girl who would only take assist feed for two months @_@ but eventully she got more comfortable.

If you dont know how to assist feed, 1)I hold the snake in my left hand, trying to keep it curled up, not allowing it to coil around my fingers or wrist.
2)I usually use a F/T mouse fuzzy,(I havent had to assist feed since I started breeding rats, so ive never tried live mice or rats before) and once it is up to an appropriate temperature, I hold it by the body and behind the shoulders, so that the nose pointed toward the snakes mouth, and the snake has plenty of mouse to strike at but I am able to maintain a firm grip.
3) If the snakes head is out of its coils slowly bring the mouse to the snakes mouth and press the mouses nose agaisnt it gently. Sometimes that will be enough, sometimes it wont. If the snake mkves away, reposition and try again, but slightly more firmly.
4) I have never had a snake strike at me while using this method, but if it gets notably upset, I would stop and try again in a few days. If they are still okay with you putting the mouse in their face, keep going. After they realize that it isnt going away, they usually go for it, and take it down. I have been tagged by accident while they were striking the mouse, but I dont know of any way to really avoid it if that happens. I hope this was useful, and let us know how it goes!

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Originally Posted by Reesy

OK, here's the story, Our little spider hatched on 7/30/12. Two days later she weighed 53 grams, on 8/11/12 she had not shed and she weighed in at 54 grams. On 8/18/12 she still had not shed, I offered her food (hopper mouse) because all of her clutch mates did shed by then. She refused to feed. I weighed her again today and she is now at 49 grams. She has lost 10% of her body weight now. Should I try to force feed her? Thanks for any inputs with this. She is the only one of this clutch that I really wanted to keep.

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I too had a wee one hatch this year that didn't shed with the rest of his siblings. He showed no interest in food and I finally gave in to assist feeding after exhausting all other methods. Assist feeding should be a near last resort thing while force feeding should absolutely be the last resort for getting food in a baby.

What I do is gently grasp the snake by the base of the head(on the sides) with my thumb and index finger. I then use the nose of a dead rodent to jimmy the mouth open and push the prey far enough in that the teeth hook and the snake can't easily drop it(with the prey size I use this translates to just the head of the rodent actually being in the snake's throat, thus out of sight). If the snake is an especially squirmy/resistant one I'll hold this position for a few moments giving them time to settle down a bit. I then I place the snake back in its tub/enclosure/etc and walk away. More often than not this is all that is required to trigger a swallowing response. If they continue being stubborn I'll use a smaller prey item. Most catch on quick enough once the rodent is in their mouth and very few require further assistance.

force feeding is stress full enough (on both snake and owner)currently dealing with 2 ghost babies ( will not longer trade for snakes in the just hatch range. ) but it does take time and patienc. I found a small tweezers will help push the food item to the back of the throat as you wrok it down ) also helps prevent you from breaknig off teeth and getting pin pricks to fingers.