Hey guys!

So, I'm hoping someone out there has some advice for me. I've been breeding for four years now and every year I have trouble getting hatchlings started on food. I wind up having to assist feed 9/10 babies for sometimes months before they start eating on their own. I currently have two that are currently on the brink of death because they will not eat and the assist feeding doesn't seem to be keeping them alive. I've also run into hatchlings that will take one meal and then stop eating again permanently which seems bizarre.

I feed all of my hatchlings f/t rat pinks. I know that a lot of people will say "switch to live, or switch to mice" but neither are a good fit for us. We start on rats to help out our customers as we have had issues switching with our own snakes in the past and live is not available readily where we are. I have bred rats in the past and it did not go well when we moved into our current home. Even tried restarting a colony from scratch but they don't seem to do well at all and eventually we shut it down.

I raise our babies in CSerpents V-18 racks and use hides if they get really bad looking or are so terrified of the food that they bolt. I've tried feeding during the day, at night and leaving pinks overnight, but nothing seems to help.

I've got a bigger season coming up, with 9 tubs in the incubator already and this is just an issue I'd like to iron out. Any advice from experienced breeders is appreciated. I really don't want to spend the season assist feeding 100 baby snakes for months on end.

Thanks guys!

Note: We are waiting to assist feed after a month of twice weekly food offerings.