Babies haven't eaten yet

[Jay_Bunny]

My first clutch as already had their first shed (they hatched June 3rd-5th) and the two males have had two meals (both live). I happened to have some frozen thawed fuzzy mice on hand that I need to get rid of so I figured I'd try it on them, but all four declined. The female spider and female normal have not had a meal yet. I've tried live twice and frozen thawed once. They still look great (no weight loss) but when should I start to worry? I'm going to try live again in a week.

[Stewart_Reptiles]

There are really a lot of factor involved rather than giving you a specific time frame

Depends on the weight out of the eggs, whether or not the yolk was entirely absorb, generally health and look.

I assume they had their shed around the 15-18 of june and today is only the 27 so it's still very early on.

I can't give you precise advice because those animal are not animals in my possession but I will give you an idea of what I do.

With an average hatchling hatchling out at 65/75 grams I offer food withing 48 hours of their first shed - That's about 12 to 14 days after they hatch give or take.

I start most of my animals on rats if they refuse the first week I offer again a week after that, if it is refused again a try again the following week.

If by the third offering it is still a no go I offer a live mouse if they refuse I do it again the following week and the week after.

Usually 6 to 8 weeks have passed since hatching before I consider assisting of course this is given the weight I originally mentioned, the fact that the animal completely absorb it's yolk, that the animal appear healthy and well hydrated.

It's really about being able to tell for yourself depending on your animal when it is time or not to intervene.

Good luck.

[Jay_Bunny]

Thank you for the reply. They all hatched over 60g, the lightest being 63 I believe. All absorbed their yolk and all appear healthy and well hydrated. I will try live rat pinks next week and see if either of the girls take them. These are just the first successful clutch of ball pythons I've had. Not sure if you remember but my first season breeding ball pythons, the entire clutch was a disaster. The only baby to hatch never ate (even with assist and tube feeding) and died within a few months. I'm not worrying too much over these little ones but I do want to have some kind of idea of when to start worrying. Now I know I have several weeks to go before I have to start worrying.