Starting New Hatchlings: What's Going Wrong?

[zina10]

If live is not at all a possibility, make sure that husbandry is SPOT ON.

For little ones the most important thing is that they feel safe. Make sure they are in a VERY small container. Perhaps some dark substrate and even though its a small container, put some newspaper on top of the snakes so they can burrow under it. They need to have a very private TIGHT place to sqush themselves into. Make sure they are warm enough. Small containers are harder to control temp wise, but you want to have a good ambient temp.

If all that checks out, give them a few days to settle (if they aren't already in a tight small dark place). When you offer the food, is it REALLY warm? Such small items (rat pinks) cool rapidly. You have to also warm them up slow and safe, so that they don't get overheated and spoiled, but they DO have to be quite warm when offered.

Can you get your hand on some "live rodent shavings" ? No, not mutilated little rodents, but rather their soiled bedding If you could rub the rat pink on the dirty bedding of a rodent it might entice the little ones to eat. They probably simply don't recognize the ft pinks as "food". They don't "move", they have no strong scent left on them, and they are probably cooling quickly, so no heat signature.

Feeding ft to hatchlings can certainly be done, but it requires a bit more work to get it "just right".

Live food would be better, esp. for the stubborn ones. But you already know that and you say thats not an option. If you have hatchlings near death because of this situation, perhaps you could offer them for free to someone that can provide live food and has the time and patience to try to get them to survive.

Good luck with the little ones