Hatchlings not eating?

I have 4 baby spider ball pythons that hatched almost 6 weeks ago. I have not been able to get them to eat on their own no matter what I try. I have tried pinkies, fuzzies, and rat pups. I have tried putting them in a small bag for a few hours and putting them in their tubs at night an leaving them till morning no luck. For six weeks with no food two of the look great and healthy but the other two look smaller and skinnier but yet are still very active and normal. Can anyone give me some much needed advice on this subject I really hate to have to force feed four snakes.:( Thank you everyone!

Have you tried mice..? sometimes for what ever reason they will start on mice or ASF hoppers and after a meal or 3 they can be switched to rat pups at that point.

Yes I meant to say pinkie and fuzzy mice and rat pinkies not pups.

Are you offering them a hide, are they housed seperately, what size tub are they in?

Yes all separated in 6qt tubs with two hides.

Can you shoot a pic of one of your baby tubs I may be missing something.. What are their temps like??

Can't do a pic at the moment cause I'm at work but temps are 78-80 at night and 86-88 day

Doing live or f/t?

I have heard it's harder to get babies on f/t, much to my chagrin. I hope they start eating for you!

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by metalmomma23

Can't do a pic at the moment cause I'm at work but temps are 78-80 at night and 86-88 day

---

That's not terribly cool, Cooler than I keep my babies but still.. why the temp drop at night is that something you are doing or is it something that happens normally in the room. Babies neither need or benefit from a drop in temps at night. So try and get them to 90-92 all the time for a week and see how it goes..

I tried having them at a steady 88-90 when for the first 4 weeks but then added them to my snake room which is why the temp diff. Well thank you everyone for the help.

P.S. Offering live but have tried f/t twice just to see if any different reaction.

Do not move them out of their enclosure to feed them. Keep them at at least 90 on the warm side and give them live mouse hoppers at night and leave them undisturbed for hours if not overnight. A mouse hopper cannot hurt them so dont worry. Dont try to feed day after day as this will cause alot of stress. If they refuse overnight then give them at least 5-7 days undisturbed before you try again.

The main reasons they wont eat are temps and security. I could see one of them refusing but if all of them are it is definately a husbandry issue.

Try live hopper mice? I'm not speaking from experience with hatchlings, but I have gotten a number of fasting snakes to eat hopper mice--a breeder told me that the hopping around is nearly irresistible, and apparently it is.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by West Coast Jungle

Do not move them out of their enclosure to feed them. Keep them at at least 90 on the warm side and give them live mouse hoppers at night and leave them undisturbed for hours if not overnight. A mouse hopper cannot hurt them so dont worry. Dont try to feed day after day as this will cause alot of stress. If they refuse overnight then give them at least 5-7 days undisturbed before you try again.

The main reasons they wont eat are temps and security. I could see one of them refusing but if all of them are it is definately a husbandry issue.

---

Really a hopper cannot bite?? I did not know that! I knew fuzzies couldn't but I always thougt hopper could. Learn something new all the time!!;)

Definitely try live hopper mice. If that does not work it is time for assist feeding IMO. They are not going to make it too much longer without a meal.

From what I saw on these forums and from my own spider, the spiders are very good eaters. I got my spider when he was only a couple months old. When he was young, he will eat every 3 days if I let him.

Considering how long it's been, I would try filling their bins with crumpled paper, and then the next day, put in a live hopper mouse--a very young one, in between crawler and hopper--for each of them.

Those that don't eat it, I would assist-feed a pinky rat to. It's strange that the entire group is failing to eat. It points to some larger issue, either with the clutch, or the environment.

Do they have appropriate hides? Are you offering food at night, and avoiding handling them completely for a day beforehand?

I rarely have hatchlings that fail to eat within 2 weeks of first shed.