At what point do you assist feed?

Well 2 of the 3 spider babies that hatched are doing great:) Both have eaten a couple of times, and are gaining weight. The third one has refused to take its first meal, and of course it would be the one I like the most, lol. I have tried both mice fuzzies and rat pinks. At what point do you assist a little, by gently putting the fuzzy in its mouth? I'm NOT talking about force feeding where you make the snake eat the fuzzy all the way and swallow it. I have seen the snake go up to the fuzzy and stare/smell it and than either continue to crawl around the tub or go back into a ball. Any thoughts would be apprecaited. :)

Add: he shed on the Nov. 21. my only reason for worrying is that he has lost a couple of grams in weight.

I give them 2 months after hatching to start eating, and then I start assist feeding.

Are you feeding live or frozen? I picked up a baby spider ball in September and he wouldn't eat frozen fuzzies for me. I had to get live medium mice to stimulate the feeding response. After 2 live meals he has taken frozen mice like a champ for a while now. Hope this helps.

Try a live mouse hopper.
I wait a month after the first shed before attempting an assist feed.

And there are a few assist feeding vids on youtube you can look at for reference. When I assist feed, I use p/k rat pinks.
I hold the snake gently and grip my thumb and index finger behind its jaws. I maneuver the rat in front of the snake and use its nose to wedge open the snake's mouth. I push the rat until its nose is in the back of the snakes throat and push his mouth close. The snake's natural feeding response usually kicks in around here. Some may fight you and spit the feeder out.

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Thanks, everything I have tried is live. One of the fuzzy's I tried was just starting to open its eyes and was very active. So I will keep trying:) I'll give him a couple more weeks and than I will help him.

I also give them 4 weeks post shed

So how long between offering food? 2 or 3 days?

If I assist feed, I don't offer again for a week. If they are eating normally, I feed every three days up until around 300 grams, then go to five days up til 1000 grams. If they are assist fed, I wait a week then try a regular feeding, if that doesn't take, keep an eye on the weight and try again in three days. If there is a weight drop, I assist feed again. If it is a very small baby, I may assist feed quicker. It really depends upon the size and appearance of the baby. I have a few that I've raised that had to be assist fed more than ten times. The good news is once they got over their slow start, they became great eaters.

He is down to 68 grams right now and I think he looks a bit thin, I guess is the way to put it. I am a little worried about him, the other 2 are on a 3 day feeding schedule, and doing great on it.

We just had a clutch where 2 out of 6 wouldn't eat. We kept offering live mouse hoppers and rat fuzzies for about three weeks after they shed, but they would have none of it. By that time they had lost a little over 10% of their original weight, they were small to start at 50 to 55 grams, so we decided it was time to assist feed. Started with a mouse hopper that we Pk'd so it was fresh. Dipped it in warm water to make it slick and then pushed it to the back of the throat. At that point you just hold it there and wait for the snake to relax and start to eat it. After they took the first meal and since it was small, we tried live rat fuzzies about 5 days later. They refused again so we Pk'd them and did the same. We had to assist feed 8 times each before they took one on their own. Both have eaten 3 times on their own now and are switched to FT. They never ate anything alive so there was no sense in continuing with live. Be patient and good luck.

68 grams isn't too bad. I bought a pastel a few years ago that weighed 42 grams when I got her home. Now she's a big breeder female.

Two of my prima donnas went 6 or 7 weeks without eating, and then suddenly start taking live right before I was about to start stuffing mice down their throats. I've also got one that I assist fed at 9 weeks, who started taking f/t on his own when I offered two weeks later. (But he still won't even look at live).

So what happens if you attempt to assist feed and they keep spitting it out? I tried to assist him today and he kept spitting the rat pink out, it was fresh killed. I know I am worrying pretty early with him, but he is my favorite and I really want him to start eating. I would get the pink into his mouth and he would just sit there until with it in his mouth until i put him down and than he would spit it out. I tried 3 times and decided to stop and am going to give him a couple days and off and offer a live mouse hopper/fuzzy again. Plus I figure that is is a good time to learn this stuff. Thank you everyone for all the information:)

The snake just shed 5 days ago, IMO you shouldn't attempt to assist feed that size of a hatchling until 4 weeks after first shed.
68 grams is not horrible thin and assisting too early isn't your best option.

Thanks SnakeRkewl. I realize that was a mistake, so I am going to leave him alone for a couple of days and than go back to offering live every couple of days. This is all still a learning process for me and I trying to figure everything out. But thank you for the information:) I will listen to it:D

I think I weight till about a month after they shed, but only if they are looking thin. If they start looking thin it may be time to assist feed. They can still die being assist fed, but it's worth trying if it gets that bad.