Do or die?

My hatchling is still not growing out of assist feeding. He was hatched at 45 grams on 7/31 and is still under 60 grams now.

We have assist fed her 6 times after force feeding once - always a struggle everytime because he is wanting to spit it out. Last night was the 7th feeding and we did the deli-cup overnighter this time and still no-go.

So we have two choices... assist feed him again tonight or say, okay, we gave you multiple chances to live... DO OR DIE!

What would you do?

I would double and triple check the husbandry.
Then there is always the question as to whether something is physically preventing the snake from feeding. Have you seen anything that would make you think that?

I know force feeding/assist feeding can be a struggle but if there isnt anything physically wrong with her I would persist feeding. She may just be crazy stubborn.

Have you tried different prey types, sizes, and live as well as frozen?

Are you sure this particular animal doesn't need a more picky husbandry? Out of curiosity, what IS the husbandry of this particular hatchling?

Yea every aspect of husbandry needs to be evaluated.

My normal hatchling was the same way, I put it in a small round 10oz size container (dollar tree) with holes in lid, put a 8g asf in with him, placed them back in tub overnight. asf gone by morning :).Did this 3 or 4 times. My lil guy hatched out at 34g on 8/14 and dropped to 29g, he's up to 74g now.

He is on a 4L Really Useful Box (inside dimensions 12.5" x 8.5" x 3") with 2 small hides and a small water bowl on aspen bedding. Hot side is heated by a 3" flexwatt running constant temps at 90F measured with an acu-rite digital probe under the aspen, ambient temps at 80 (my house thermostat is set at 80 as well). Humidity at steady 60%. He has not been handled except when we clean his tub out or when we feed (every 5 days). He has only shed once since he was born.

His siblings are on identical set-ups and one is at 145g now and the other is at 149 grams. They have shed multiple times already. The problem feeder is exactly 52 grams 5 minutes ago which is only 7 grams more than when he hatched.

We have tried everything except braining method and f/t method. We have tried pre-kill, smaller size, different color, rat, mice, ASF, in the tub, out of the tub, in a deli cup in his tub, in a pillow case, overnight, etc.

We have taken him to the vet and the vet checked him out and said there's nothing physically wrong with him or anything blocking food intake.

Few years back I had one very stubborn hatchling, did not want to eat on it's own.

6 weeks after her first shed I attempted to assist her, this was a failure and had to force feed.

The following week she was assisted at least this time she made the effort to swallow the prey on her own which was a good sign compare to the previous feeding.

I than thought a few weeks of that regimen and she would get the idea and start eating on her own sadly it was not the case with her I had to assist her for 6 months before she finally got the idea.

While the majority of hatchlings I assisted were only assisted for 3 to 4 times before starting eating on their own she was a special case.

The question here is how long should one persevere and when should one give up (I actually was close to give up on her when she decided to eat on her own.

Now how long should you assist or when should you give up? That sadly no one can really answer for you it will be your decision (never an easy one, but at some point one that might need to be made)

In my case this animal in question has made amazing progress, she is now 2 years old has caught up with her sibling and amazingly has one of the most aggressive feeding response out of the rest of my animals.

I know this does not really help but it give you an idea of what sometimes you can expect.

I have a pastel female that had to be assist fed I believe for 3 months before taking live hoppers and then eventually even switched to f/t rats. She's been on a fast for a while now but she's over 1,000 grams at the 2-year old mark so do not give up.

My cure is ASFs. I start my hatchlings on baby ASFs. They have fur and move a lot at birth. They help trigger the feeding response. That and small shoebox hatchling tubs. Too big of a tub, naked prey that doesn't move, low temp, low humidity, too bright in the room, etc.. All reasons for refusal. Hopefully your little guy will get the hang of it soon.

if it's do or die give this a try.

I just got one of my female fireflies to feed on her own. she hatched 7/22/2010. she just took her 4 th meal by herself. she showed to interest in anything. what I did, feed your hatchling every 2 to 3 days until you get about 6 feedings in the hatchling. then stop feeding for 2 weeks. then offer live that you been feeding the hatchling. a little smaller than what she should take. leave it alone, no movements no sounds, if you keep assist feeding on a time period that the snake should eat. you are not giving it time to feel hunger. and the 6 quick feedings helps with the 2 week fast. this will usually snap the hatchling out of it. my fireflly will hit the rodent as soon as it hits her tub now. so don't think that it's going to turn out to be a picky eater. hope this helps, don

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Originally Posted by anatess

He is on a 4L Really Useful Box (inside dimensions 12.5" x 8.5" x 3") with 2 small hides and a small water bowl on aspen bedding. Hot side is heated by a 3" flexwatt running constant temps at 90F measured with an acu-rite digital probe under the aspen, ambient temps at 80 (my house thermostat is set at 80 as well). Humidity at steady 60%. He has not been handled except when we clean his tub out or when we feed (every 5 days). He has only shed once since he was born.

His siblings are on identical set-ups and one is at 145g now and the other is at 149 grams. They have shed multiple times already. The problem feeder is exactly 52 grams 5 minutes ago which is only 7 grams more than when he hatched.

We have tried everything except braining method and f/t method. We have tried pre-kill, smaller size, different color, rat, mice, ASF, in the tub, out of the tub, in a deli cup in his tub, in a pillow case, overnight, etc.

We have taken him to the vet and the vet checked him out and said there's nothing physically wrong with him or anything blocking food intake.

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Hey hun....my Egg is doing the I don't wanna eat on my own either as well as one I had bout from a pet store
however the one thing that worked with the pet store buy who's now eating on her own was a rat fuzzy presented with gerbil bedding hit right away second feeding was a mouse hopper her choice (unscented) and this last one a rat fuzzy (unscented) as far as es.gg well still working on his butt lol but coming along don't give up though

We assist fed again last night and you should have heard my husband. Yesterday was one of the difficult ones - there were once or twice where he would swallow not too long after the rodent is stuck in his mouth. But yesterday was not one of those lucky days. We thought we got it stuck there really good and 30 minutes later he manages to spit it out. He finally swallowed after the 3rd try. My husband is so frustrated cursing the darned snake, I was afraid he'd choke the guy from frustration!

Yeah, we've been feeding him every 5-7 days. Sometimes my husband dreads doing the assist feeding again, so he waits 7 days before trying. So, I think we're going to do the 2 week fast deal plus the eau de gerbil option (offer asf in gerbil bedding in 7 days and if he doesn't eat it, try again in another 7 days and if he still doesn't eat it, we will do the assist then). My husband should feel relieved that he doesn't have to do the assist for a while.

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Originally Posted by anatess

We assist fed again last night and you should have heard my husband. Yesterday was one of the difficult ones - there were once or twice where he would swallow not too long after the rodent is stuck in his mouth. But yesterday was not one of those lucky days. We thought we got it stuck there really good and 30 minutes later he manages to spit it out. He finally swallowed after the 3rd try. My husband is so frustrated cursing the darned snake, I was afraid he'd choke the guy from frustration!

Yeah, we've been feeding him every 5-7 days. Sometimes my husband dreads doing the assist feeding again, so he waits 7 days before trying. So, I think we're going to do the 2 week fast deal plus the eau de gerbil option (offer asf in gerbil bedding in 7 days and if he doesn't eat it, try again in another 7 days and if he still doesn't eat it, we will do the assist then). My husband should feel relieved that he doesn't have to do the assist for a while.

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sounds like your hubby could use some happy tabbacy lol my guy was ready to do that with my pet shop girl but I refused to taker her back shes picky but she will eat...heck Egg still hasn't taken one on his own try a rat pink/fuzzy presented or smaller live food like large mouse fuzzy much easier to get teeth hooked