Assist feeding woes

[Jay_Bunny]

Ok, so many of you know about my little hatchling that refuses to cooperate with me. He hatched out on 7/7/09 and has not shed or taken a meal. My first attempt at assist feeding was with a f/t fuzzy mouse. He accepted the meal and began eating, got the hips of the rodent in his mouth and then spit it out. I tried again and the same thing. A few days later, I try with a pinky mouse. He accepts the meal, begins eating. He gets the entire rodent into his mouth and proceeds to try and swallow it. His throat is bulging out and you can see the muscles and skin moving around the pinky to try and move it down. He starts blowing bubbles out of his mouth and nose. He then begins to strain and spits it out, but only halfway. He immediately starts to eat it again and the same thing happens but this second time, he spits it completely out. A few days later my breeder mouse drops a litter and I figure, nothing is smaller than a <day old pink. I kill the pinky and attempt to assist feed again, but this time, he spits it out every time I put it in his mouth. He won't even try swallowing it.

So, what should I do? That was yesterday. Should I leave him alone for a few days and try again? Should I put a live pinky in his tub and see if he'll take it himself? I did notice that during this last assist feed, he wasn't all that scared of the pinky like he was all his previous meals. On past attempts I would go near him with it and he'd ball up. This time he was moving around while I had the pinky by the tail with some tweezers and he even moved toward it (but was just trying to go past it). But at least he didn't ball up at the site of it. So should I try feeding him live? assist feed again? Wait a few days and then feed live or assist feed.

I'm watching his body and so far, he seems fine. He's not becoming emaciated and he has no folding skin. He is staying hydrated.

[dr del]

Hi,

Have you thought of trying a pinky pump until he has a little more growth on him?

I would also start considering the possibility that he might not make it if, even after getting larger, he can't eat solid food on his own.

But I would take Muddoc's advice every time so ask him first.


dr del