Little mojo girl being difficult

Second attempt at feeding still no dice, at least so far. Left f/t fuzzy mouse in tank outside her hide and she smelling all over it but so far won't take it. Wouldn't strike but at least wasn't afraid of it like first time. She's been acting pretty normal, hiding but coming out at night some.
First attempt last week she struck defensively over and over but wouldn't hold on and I stopped trying in fear of stressing her too much and just left it in tank. Removed it in morning.

Is it warm enough? It has to be heated up to the point that all the guts are evenly warm, and the head should be quite warm too.
Any time my BP has ignored her food, I've reheated the water and given it another 45 seconds or so to soak, dried it off with a paper towel so that at least it's not sopping wet, and then she immediately gives it her best strike.

If warmth isn't the issue, braining the rodent can help. Just squish its head, very easy to do with a fuzzy mouse. In fact, be gentle as their skulls are still pretty soft at that point. A bit of blood will come out of the nose, which is apparently appetizing...

I've also heard of scenting the rodent with something else, but I don't know much about that so I'll leave it to the more experienced people on here.

Anyway, I hope some of that helped. Good luck!

Edit: I realized I've left something out. I would say you can remove the mouse after like 15 minutes. If she doesn't eat it then, when it's warm and fresh, she probably will not eat it once it's been sitting out and cooling + decomposing. The only time I had to leave a rodent in with mine (the first time I fed her), I checked back in 10 minutes and it was gone. But if it was still there I would have just trashed it, honestly. And I believe that time was because she was still shy/nervous about eating in her new home. I'm sure that the lights off and lid back on her tub are what made her eat. That time she had also smelled it intently from all different angles, but didn't seem to know that it was food. Perhaps she was used to eating in the dark? Who knows. Try many different things.

Yea I hit it with blow dryer all was good there and husbandry is fine. I wonder if maybe a larger mouse like maybe a hopper would be? I have some slightly larger f/t mouse hoppers in freezer for daughters corn snake.
Breeder told me mouse fuzzy' but they look a little small to me. Snake was I think 68grms

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Originally Posted by Smitty33

Yea I hit it with blow dryer all was good there and husbandry is fine. I wonder if maybe a larger mouse like maybe a hopper would be? I have some slightly larger f/t mouse hoppers in freezer for daughters corn snake.
Breeder told me mouse fuzzy' but they look a little small to me. Snake was I think 68grms

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Oh, I hadn't noticed you had said mouse fuzzy, I just assumed they were rats. Absolutely go bigger, mice fuzzies are basically nothing. Idk if that will help with her refusing the food but will be more substantial of a meal for her. And maybe try the hot water method instead of the hairdryer? That way the rodent will not be dried up and will keep its smell better. I imagine blowdrying the animal would whisk away a lot of the scent on it, whereas keeping it in a sealed baggie will make it smell very strongly. That may help, not sure, but it's worth a shot anyway I think.

Well left overnight and no dice. Normally I'd wait till next Saturday but think I'll try a f/t hopper tonight. Not too worried yet, she looks good and is acting normal other than not eating yet.
How long should a hatchling go before assist feeding? I was thinking at least 4 weeks and pretty confident I can do it with no issue.

Well tried the hopper last night and she slammed and coiled it and drug it in her hide. Left her alone and came back about an hour later and she had swallowed it up. Guess she just wanted something bigger, I had stuck with what breeder had told me but the mouse fuzzies sure looked too small too me. Big relief she ate.

:d:d:d

I'm glad she finally ate! :gj:

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Originally Posted by cristacake

I'm glad she finally ate! :gj:

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Yea this is my first experience with a hatchling. My male I got was young but well started guy so it's been a bit different. I wasn't too worried YET but sure a relief she finally smacked one.