What to do with stubborn feeders?

While most of my babies are eating now, I still have 3 babies from my July 28-31 hatch that still have not started feeding. No interest in pinky rats or mice. Assist feeding is a no go because they fight me so hard I would injure them if I were to try any harder. They pull back, twist, corkscrew, and push the rat back out of their throat. Basically work themselves into such a panic that there's no chance they're gonna swallow.

They are pushing six weeks now with no food yet, and one of them is starting to look bad; the other two seem fairly healthy still. But I am running out of ideas.

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Assist feeding is a no go because they fight me so hard I would injure them if I were to try any harder. They pull back, twist, corkscrew, and push the rat back out of their throat.

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That's normal, a snake is just not gonna let you assist him without a fight, if you can't assist alone then you need another set of hands.

Get someone to help you and hold the body while you hold the head and assist.

You can do it :gj:

Yeah I expect a fight. They're just so small I'm afraid I'm going to injure them. :(

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Originally Posted by Ball Clan

Yeah I expect a fight. They're just so small I'm afraid I'm going to injure them. :(

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We all have the first time we had to do it for the first time, which is why getting someone to help might be the best thing for you until you get a hang on how to do it when alone.

On those super stingy ones that resist the assist I just bump down the prey size - way down. The smaller you go, the harder it is for them to spit it out. Usually after a week or two of these mouthful meals they start to get the hang of it and will take something larger.

Assist feeding isn't fun :( Going down in prey size could work. I never used anything larger than a small mouse fuzzy soaked in barely warm water. Another trick is to try to hook the snake's teeth into the prey by very, very gently pressing the jaws closed around it. I can't over-emphasize use of the word 'gentle.' But it totally worked for me.

It is scary, but they need to eat, you can do it!! Have you tried a hopper mouse? The fur helps IMO.

Good luck
Josh

I'm currently assist-feeding two BRB neonates that didn't absorb all of their yolk sacks. You think a ball python is bad, these two are tiny, they couldn't take anything larger than the smallest pinky mice, and a f/t pinky isn't going to be pushed anywhere because they squish, fall apart, and make a mess.

The first time took an hour and a lot of futile attempts for each because 1) I'd never assist-fed before, and 2) BRB babies are nippy so when I wasn't pushing food down their throats they were busy trying to make me bleed.

I was finally told to try cutting a hind leg off of a f/t adult mouse and feeding that instead. It worked - due to the long leg bones I could push it far enough back into their throats that they couldn't spit it back out. I've also gotten a halfway decent technique worked out at holding them, knowing just how much pressure to apply, and where, and when.

Even though these guys are bigger now, I'm still assist-feeding but start with the mouse hind leg and then chain-feed a mouse pinky, like people do when power-feeding. Unlike power feeders, in their case the leg+pinky is an appropriate sized meal, it's equivalent to a mouse fuzzy.

I dont hold the babies with two fingers only. I hold them with the side of my thumb and the index finger in the articulation of the middle phalanx and with all the other fingers holding the neck (body). By doing this I have more control over the babie and you are making less pressure to the neck. It also keeps the babie in a better position IMO. I hope i made myself clear.... I use pinky mice because the pinky rats skin is softer and starts to tear and bleed.

First time I did it i actually got Queezy... IDC about blood or snake eating, just everything mixed + being in 82deg snake room made me feel funny! Best of luck one or 2 assist and he should be on his own.

I have had to assist feed a few animals from a couple of different clutches. It is very challenging but be patient. Even once you have the prey item in its mouth, hold the animal as still as you can for as long as you can and wait them out. Slowly, and I mean very slowly, release some of your grip but not enough for them to throw the item, just enough for them to feel less pressure. Then wait some more. I have sat with a baby on the floor on a newspaper for 20 minutes before it finally started moving it's mouth in an eating motion. Once they do that just slowly release them all the way and see what happens. If the do throw it then do it again. Also, don't think because you assist feed them once they will start eating for you. I have had to assist some snakes upwards of eight to ten times before the finally started eating on their own. BTW, I used mouse hoppers dunked in warm water. That way there is a scent and yet they were pretty slick. Like others said, the smaller the item, the easier it is to get it a little farther in and more difficult for them to throw. I wish you the best of luck and don't give up.

Two of them ate for me last night on their own. I still have the little fire bee that is being stubborn. Will probably try an assist feed tonight. Wish me luck.

First of all, you should be patient. Don`t even expect your stubborn feeder should eat every week as a regular scheduled basis. This is what I`ve learned from my stubborn feeder female champagne. I feed her weaned white rat every three week at night without light. Now, I know the timing when she wants me to feed her and 100% she eats the pre-killed rat. You need to learn the timing and what kind of prey your snake likes to eat. You must understand your snake`s nature.

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Originally Posted by dek593

First of all, you should be patient. Don`t even expect your stubborn feeder should eat every week as a regular scheduled basis. This is what I`ve learned from my stubborn feeder female champagne. I feed her weaned white rat every three week at night without light. Now, I know the timing when she wants me to feed her and 100% she eats the pre-killed rat. You need to learn the timing and what kind of prey your snake likes to eat. You must understand your snake`s nature.

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These three snakes hatched between July 27 and 31 and had yet to take her first meal. That's why I was concerned. I learned the art of patience with these little guys a couple of years ago, but there does come a point where you need to start wondering if it is healthy to go 7 weeks without ever having eaten anything at all.

Now, as of this morning, all three of them have eaten one baby mouse on their own. Assist feeding thankfully has not been necessary yet. Hopefully they will start to get an appetite now. I had 2 babies from back in June go 46 days before their first meal, but once they started, they are now eating machines. So with any luck the trend will continue. They still look kind of puny, but this looks promising.

On that note, maybe it would be interesting to ask everyone what was the longest they've had a hatchling go before its first meal? This latest one has been my longest. July 27 to September 14 is 49 days. Has anyone ever had a hatchling go more than 49 days before eating for the first time?

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Originally Posted by Ball Clan

I had 2 babies from back in June go 46 days before their first meal, but once they started, they are now eating machines.

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I had the same. One of the babies born on July 23 refused to eat for weeks. Sept 7th came. 46 days. He had lost about 10% of his weight along the way (born at 61 down to 55), and he looked haggard. I decided I would try one last normal feeding then do an assist feeding the following week.

Sept 7th evening I put a mouse hopper in his enclosure and he took it. I was very surprised (but happy). He then followed up with a mouse on Wed 10th and Sat 13th.

Now that he's finally done it, he seems to like eating so I'm hoping it continues.

Now we're getting the hang of it. This is the second fuzzy mouse in as many days, and she actually took one more after this one.
A couple more feedings like this and we can start to up the prey sze just a little and get this one eating like normal. It's been a long wait with this one but I think we're getting it now. :)

http://i46.photobucket.com/albums/f1...tymeal9-19.jpg