Hey there, I got my hands on another problem child, only this time, it's not a ball python, it's a corn snake. I didn't think to weigh her/him, but s/he appears to be approx 14" long, and about the thickness of your typical chopstick. She was adopted out to me because she wouldn't eat, she's been force/assist fed 3x, the most recent of which was tonight.

A list of the ways she's been offered food:
F/t
Brained F/t
Cut in half F/t
Live
Brained live

I'm not sure there's another way to offer food to her/him. Small pinkies (2-5g) are what have been being offered, and in the assist/force feeding/s, the pinky is placed in the mouth, lightly pushed and once in about half way, the snake'll start working it down. It does show "Some" interest in the live food, but once it goes near it, and the pinky moves, it acts scared of it.

I'm ok with assist/force feeding, but I'd REALLY like to get her/him eating on their own so as to reduce stress and get the weight gain and growth going. It was delivered to the store on 2/22 and has constantly been offered food every 3-4 days, only being forced after 2 refusals. Personally, I don't think the breeder/distributor is feeding them before shipping them to the store, but that's my opinion.

All that said. Given the small size of the corn, I've got it in a large critter keeper on aspen with a x-small wood hide and a water dish, as well as a small amount of moss for a touch of humidity. (It can easily fit in the hide, 4 more could easily fit with the 1 under the hide in all honesty.) Temp in my room is kept at a steady 78-81 for my other reptiles. All have lights, even the keeper, but it is hanging above the keeper so as not to get too hot or melt anything .Stiletto, (It's what I named it) is very active, all over the place, moving around, drinking, and friendly.

I'm not planning on handling it "At All" until it is eating on it's own, aside from when it's time to eat. What I'm loking for is some tips, tricks, ideas on how to get Stiletto to eat. Any suggestions would be much appreciated. I've heard that corns are pretty simple eaters, unlike my BP's, but this one... S/He's proving to be, yet another, problem child.

Thanks in advance!