Female laid won't eat

Guys I had my first clutch ever. It was a 2018 Cinny het clown to a Leopard Clown. My female laid 7 large and healthy eggs almost 2 weeks ago. Of course she won't eat and she needs to. She is thin and very lethargic. She was 1600 grams when I started breeding her and she did good. She wasn't eating ferociously as the other females. So while building she didn't put on the fat like the others.

I weighed her and she is 1054 grams now. I say all that to ask, should I consider force feeding her? I feed F/T and tried after a week. I even went with a smaller size but no interest. She looks bad and I hate to lose her. I'll be back home in 2 days from work and I may try a large live retired breeder mouse to entice her. Any thoughts.

After she laid the eggs, did you wash her off with soap and water? Did you completely change her tub out with fresh substrate and a new tub? If you are using a rack system, do you have an open slot you can move her too that can't possibly have any scent from her eggs on it? If she has any of the scent still on her or around her from the eggs, she may act as if she is still on them incubating and they often will not feed then. You may also want to try starting her with a live prey item until she eats one or two, then work her back to FT. Good Luck.

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Originally Posted by trooperjd

Guys I had my first clutch ever. It was a 2018 Cinny het clown to a Leopard Clown. My female laid 7 large and healthy eggs almost 2 weeks ago. Of course she won't eat and she needs to. She is thin and very lethargic. She was 1600 grams when I started breeding her and she did good. She wasn't eating ferociously as the other females. So while building she didn't put on the fat like the others.

I weighed her and she is 1054 grams now. I say all that to ask, should I consider force feeding her? I feed F/T and tried after a week. I even went with a smaller size but no interest. She looks bad and I hate to lose her. I'll be back home in 2 days from work and I may try a large live retired breeder mouse to entice her. Any thoughts.

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I assume you cleaned her tub completely and gave her a bath? You can try a live rat pup to get her started. I wouldn’t force feed, that will just stress her out even more. There’s a new product I’ve been hearing about called Davinci Boa, it’s a supplement that from what I’ve seen helps get them kick started after laying. I’ve never tried it but I’ve seen people use it. It’s worth a shot if she’s not eating soon


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Mine almost always eat very easily 24 hrs after laying, but immediately after pulling eggs I do a thorough cleaning of their enclosure and give them a gentle warm bath with a touch of dawn platinum. On occasion it happens that they refuse and then I'll try again in 10 days and that usually does the trick. I wouldn't freak out and resort to live or anything like that for a few weeks. I know they can look really skinny, but keep in mind that in nature they would be in this condition sitting on eggs for over 2 months.

Yes sir I did everything you mentioned above. She got a completely sterilized tub, water bowl, paper, and she got a dawn soap water bath. I'm going to try small live prey item and see if she takes it.