Hatchling progress the good and the bad so far...

[whispersinmyhead]

Well I hatched out 4 baby ball pythons on August 22. They were all healthy as far as looks shedding etc. Now only one has eaten regularly (4 meals) and one has eaten one meal but turned down a couple since. Now the other two have not touched a rat yet. I have tried some fuzzies and pinkies. I am currently trying a mouse hopper. no luck yet. Getting worried about the two that haven't eaten.

I have them in my rack in small tubs. I only bother them if I have to for water changes and cleaning. I have put in extra paper towels just to give them more of a hiding space but no difference.

[Kibbleswhites]

I have three that are a month old and have not eaten. They will eat when they are ready. I would not worry quite yet. I had one hatchling that weighed 32 grams at hatch and did not eat for a month after hatch, now he is fine and pounds every food item put in front of him. Be patient. You can try to assist feed but do not be disappointed if that fails a few times. I try to wait at least a month before I assist due to the frustration (me and the baby).

[rafacacho]

It's been more than a month already. I will start assist feeding right away. I prefer pinky mice to do it, rat pinky's skin tears apart easily. It is not a lot of nutrition but they get the habit of feeding, then I go with rats only. Good luck.

[fatSNAKEs]

I hatched about 40 babies this season and all but three eventually took food. I just assisted a couple that were dangerously weak and skinny, and it worked. Agree with the others, I would wait but be ready to assist. It does take some practice but I found if you can get the food into their throat, then carefully set the snake down, they'll take it. Good luck.

[bcr229]

I would try live mouse hoppers before assist feeding. I start with those, switch to live rat fuzzies after three successful hopper feedings, and then about a month after that switch them to f/t.

[ARBallMorphs]

there is always the option of trying a live mice/rat

people are to hung up on trying to get the hatchlings started on f/t while i see no problem on getting them started on live you can always switch them over to f/t after 2-3 meals

[Cold_Blooded_Designs]

I can't say I have much experience when it comes to young BP's not feeding but I did see a cool video on you tube. This guy had to assist feed a baby boa or something and he would use the legs of a small rat (few weeks old). It looked like it was a lot easier to assist the snake in getting it to start eating. I'm bust at the moment otherwise I'd find the link to the video but I'm sure if you Google assist feeding a snake with rat legs or something you'll find it. Good luck with your babies. I'm sure they'll be okay. keep us posted on what works or doesn't

[Cold_Blooded_Designs]

... oh and what morph did you produce?

[whispersinmyhead]

I forgot to mention I have only been feeding live. I will try to switch after many successful feelings.

The third just took a live hopper mouse. So only one more to get eating!

I produced a male and a female normal, a male butter, and a male super pastel butter.

The super pastel butter is the one my daughter chose to keep as her pet and it has pounded food from day one. I a keeping the female normal cause I don't have a normal and love the look of normals. It ate pretty quick too. The butter hasn't fed yet. Fingers crossed.




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[whispersinmyhead]

Well all the babies have now officially had a meal! The last one ate two days ago and took a live rat fuzzy. I had the other stubborn one take a live mouse hopper last week and it took a rat this week. What a relief. I was just getting prepared to try an assist feed on the last one if he started loosing weight cause he was looking a little skinny this week.

Thanks for all the help