I need big time help... assist feeding failure. twice.

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Originally Posted by Deborah

Tim wrote an excellent how to http://ball-pythons.net/forums/showt...g-Instructions

Before you attempt this what do you have this baby house in and what substrate do you use?

And I agree rats could be the issue, some hatchling will not take rats at first.

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He is in a 4L RUB with 2 hides and aspen substrate. We tried mouse. No dice. Yeah, we've watched all the videos we could get our hands on. Some were better than others. Chewy made it look so easy. There's also a thread here (can't find it now) that has step-by-step instructions on assist feeding. No dice. What really got me so frustrated is we did the "give the rat a tug to get it stuck in his teeth" trick so he wouldn't spit it out. He stayed like that for about 30 minutes and finally managed to get his tail wrapped around the rat and he pulled it out!

Just an update on this wee one. He survived the force feeding. Then we were able to get him to assist feed 5 days later. Still on smaller prey size than what we normally fed to his "clutchmates".

He is back to 47grams today and is back to his nippy self. He'll strike, he just won't grab and coil. It's all defense striking. We left another rat overnight last night and he didn't take it, so we're doing another assist-feeding thing today. Man, this guy is a slow learner!

His brother and sister are 104 grams and 95 grams now!

Have you tried feeding a live mouse yet?

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Originally Posted by J.Vandegrift

Have you tried feeding a live mouse yet?

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Yep!

We tried white mouse, cream-colored ASF rat and black-colored ASF rat of different sizes hopper and smaller, and a rat pup, in the RUB, in a deli cup, in a completely dark cardboard shoebox. No dice.

No, we didn't try braining. None of us were willing to do it.

He assist-fed again today. At least it is easier now - he doesn't try to spit the rat out anymore.

I have heard that scenting the feeder with tuna (juice/oil from the can) can help...? I've never tried it so I don't know, but it's another thing to try on a stubborn starter. Hope he figures it out soon!

done assist and force feeds this year I always useda little smaller prey item and wet it. then work it down. I also useda pair of medical forceceps. to hold and push the prey back. I have to resort to it agai nthis week I afraid cause the little one ( 3 of them ) don't want ot take ft which is all I got access too right now as every rodent supply place does not have any live just frozen in the size I need.

Grats Anatess. It sounds like things are looking up for your little guy. I am glad he is making a turn around. Keep up the persistence, and you guys will win. In about 4 months, you'll never be able to tell he was a problem child.

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Originally Posted by muddoc

Grats Anatess. It sounds like things are looking up for your little guy. I am glad he is making a turn around. Keep up the persistence, and you guys will win. In about 4 months, you'll never be able to tell he was a problem child.

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THANK YOU SO MUCH for this post! I know right now it's hard to imagine him right now finally eating normally. I have to be optimistic!

Any updates on the little guy? I think it's just fantastic that you're doing all this to help him!! Keep up the good work, and I'm sure things will work out for him. :) You can do it (and so can he!)