a hatchling should be offered food every 5-7 days, 5 days being the most popular option on this forum. if the meal is refused, do not offer for another 5-7 days. aim for a meal that is roughly the same circumference as the snake at its widest. I move my snakes up in size when they consistently fully ingest their meals in about 5 minutes. if the new prey size seems challenging, taking more than 15 minutes to ingest, I move them back down. check out the care sheets here at BP.net