Has anyone ever had a hatchling starve themselves?

I bought a banana clown female from a well known breeder. She was absolutely healthy when I bought her at 145 grams, feeding on live small mice. When I bought her she has had 5 meals.

Now, I have her for 6 weeks now and she doesn't eat. I feed once a week. I've tried:

- live mice in all sizes (even 1 week olds)
- dead mice in all sizes
- leaving a dead one overnight
- rat pups
- ASF pups
- moving her from one tub to another, big and small.

All of this only once a week to prevent stressing her too much. No luck.

Now, the only upside is that she only lost 10 grams in those weeks and had one normal defecation. She still looks healthy.

My question is: My plan is just to wait and hope she will start feeding eventually, but has anyone ever experienced a hatchling starving herself?

(I payed 1500,- so really want her NOT to die....)

Even changing things up once a week is still too much and too often. Pick an approach and a plan and stick with it. Way too much moving around, prey size changes etc. it’s normal for them to go off feed during a stressed out move. Keep her in the smaller tub make sure parameters are good and feed what she’s used to until she’s eating regularly then you can make some moves once she’s stable.

They can starve themselves if too much stress. I assume (?) you aren't handling her? Does her cage have overall privacy in your home, and suitable
hiding places within it (& heat)? Does she have suitable "hides" that offer "back pressure" (a snug feel)? Best to stick with (only offer) what she fed on
for the breeder, & be patient...

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by frankhermens

I bought a banana clown female from a well known breeder. She was absolutely healthy when I bought her at 145 grams, feeding on live small mice. When I bought her she has had 5 meals.

Now, I have her for 6 weeks now and she doesn't eat. I feed once a week. I've tried:

- live mice in all sizes (even 1 week olds)
- dead mice in all sizes
- leaving a dead one overnight
- rat pups
- ASF pups
- moving her from one tub to another, big and small.

All of this only once a week to prevent stressing her too much. No luck.

Now, the only upside is that she only lost 10 grams in those weeks and had one normal defecation. She still looks healthy.

My question is: My plan is just to wait and hope she will start feeding eventually, but has anyone ever experienced a hatchling starving herself?

(I payed 1500,- so really want her NOT to die....)

---

Way too many thing going on in just 6 weeks and put us actually stressing her, when you try something it might not work the first time around, that does not mean that the following week you do something completely different, you need to give it at least to two 3 weeks to see if it work.

Put her in a 6 quart tub with aspen bedding or coconut chips bedding, hot spot no higher than 88 degrees and hands off after that, once a week has gone by offer what was previously offered by the breeder.

If you are trying too hard and stressing her you will not get her to eat.

Now will they starve themselves? No unless we are talking about an hatchling out of the egg that fails to thrive which she is not, she is just an animal that has been overwhelmed by the inconsistencies over the last 6 weeks.

Are some poor eaters no matter what you do? Yes every now and then you will have an animal that will eat every once in a while.

You bought her from a reputable breeder ask this as your advantage, a reputable breeder will help you troubleshoot the animal your purchase from them, the first thing you MUST do is emulate her previous setup to a T and offer the same type of food (prey type and size) and take it from there.

Ok, I guess I overdid it with trying too hard.

I will take your advice at heart and will leave her alone and get back to offering a medium mouse once a week (as she did at the breeder).... Hope that works!


Thanks!
Frank

I thought it would be nice to give some feeback after all these months:

I followed your advice and kept a very regular schedule of offering the same food every week and just accepted her not eating for a while. She lost some weight, but after a few weeks she suddenly took a small mouse. Since then she's been literally pounding food and gaining 100 grams every month.

She went from 135 grams to 800 now!

Thanks!

That's wonderful news! :D There IS always the risk, of course, that a snake will get sick while their energy (& immune system) is low. Waiting is a gamble, I'm
glad yours paid off & her survival instincts finally kicked in. I'm sure this happens all the time with wild snakes, & while many make it, some don't. Congrats &
thanks for the update. :gj: