Feeding Worries

[Nae]

I acquired a female pastel hatchling around the 25th. The breeder informed me she'd been feeding well on live hopper mice. I feed my other snakes f/t and was expecting a little difficulty in switching her over. Every time I've attempted to feed her she shies away from the mouse and focuses solely on trying to escape her enclosure. I've also tried leaving the mouse and walking away with no luck.

Tonight I purchased a couple of live mice in the hopes that she just wasn't recognizing the f/t as food. Again, she shied away from the prey and roamed around the enclosure. At one point she crawled right over the darn mouse as if it was a decoration. She noticed it a handful of times and after 30 min I just removed the mouse from the enclosure and figured I'd try again.

My concern is how likely is it the breeder never got her to feed at all? Can I be confident this girl has ever eaten? I plan to try live again next feeding and if there's no success move on to p/k. As for husbandry she's in a tub with 92 basking temp & 78-80 ambient in a closed off area with a homemade bowl hide. I did try the balled up newspaper trick as well Any suggestions are appreciated

[Kaorte]

Maybe try moving her to a smaller tub or give her two hides. Sometimes they are picky

If you got the snake from a reputable breeder who you trust, I don't think that they would sell you an unstarted hatchling.

[tsdsbd]

sometimes ive noticed they just don't feel like eating, my pastel wont eat unless its 5 days, its a youngun so i will throw the hopper in the night before so on 4 days and then hell just go over and basically sniff it and lose interest, then on day 5 BAM

just take the mouse back out of the cage and wait another day, keep tryin every day

and of course make sure husbandry is proper, 78-82 on one side, 88-94 on the hot side, try to provide two EQUAL sized hides so they dnt have to chose between security and temp. because they will..bleh. and he should eat

also check humidity 40-50 percent.

thats my 2 cents on basic ball behavior, ive also noticed that pastels act REALLY weird compared to normals, the one that i have and others i have handles do anyways. so dnt give up on the little feller! plz lemme know how it goes!

[seeya205]

Don't try everyday!!! Leave it alone and don't bother it for 5 days then try again and keep repeating until it eats. Mice hoppers should do the trick. It took mine 3 weeks to start. Sounds like it is just settling in! Mine would just wonder around all night long, they are just checking out its new surroundings. Just be patience, it will eat!

[Nae]

Don't try everyday!!! Leave it alone and don't bother it for 5 days then try again and keep repeating until it eats.

That's what I've been doing, every 5 days attempting f/t until last attempt which was live. I conversed with the breeder who says he doesn't keep feeding records but she was without food for at least 2 weeks before she was shipped. This is 4 weeks without any food, no feeding response and seeing the lil girl's spine sticking out is definitely causing me to worry.

I'm considering having her assist fed at a really great pet store in town on Monday.

[seeya205]

4 weeks is okay! She will eat in a week or two! She needs to be left alone to settle in. Stay with the live hopper mouse. I know how stressful and scary it is but he will eat! I was so worried with mine too but after just over 3 weeks, he ate and never stopped since! Give it one more week! Assist feeding should only be a last option!

[lps2]

I conversed with the breeder who says he doesn't keep feeding records but she was without food for at least 2 weeks before she was shipped.

Thats odd, especially for a breeder not to keep feeding records. I don't know anything about assisted feeding but two to three weeks without eating after being shipped isn't unheard of... but I'm sure others on here can give much better advise on when to resort to assisted feeding.

[Valhalarising]

(This is the original posters bf btw) So we did assist fed her today, which was successful. Only thing being that in our eyes her feeding response, which was verrrrrrrry slow and hesitant if you will, seemed to us as if she had never eaten before. Is this a usual response to assist feeding in a baby, or is this indicative of a first time feed? Regardless she's happily digesting the mouse now which is reassuring.