How long to assist feed?

[moonlightgdess]

I have a tiny BP I didn't think would hatch out but did, at 35g. Everything is going great, she's friendly, curious, and has shed. But she is uninterested in eating. I've assist fed her twice, and once I get the food in up to the shoulders she finishes it off just fine, but she won't attack it at all. I've tried live and frozen, mice and rat pinkies, nothing. How long should I keep assist feeding her? I mean, I don't *want* to stop assist feeding and just let her die or anything, but I'm curious if anyone's had to assist feed more than once or twice. Thanks!

[StillBP]

Try a mouse hopper. Like candy for a baby ball. And to answer for as long as it takes

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[donnadudette2003]

how long do you leave her with the live mouse ? My little girl Nymphadora wouldn't eat a anything I put in front of her. (Frozen non- moving food wouldn't grab her attention. )
It took me 2 weeks to get her to eat after I got her. I got impatient and left her in with a baby mouse for an hour the first time she ate. Mostly watching her reactions like,
"oh. What is that? It moved. Why did it move? It's scary!" *hide* minutes go by and it finally moves fast enough again for her instincts to kick in "oh! It's the thing again." *sniff* "why does it do that? It smells weird. Oh it's too close!" *hide* it took many times of that mouse coming close, her noticing it and running away, and then eventually it got close enough to her face that her tongue actually flickered on its furr that her body language changed to "wait, not stinky... tasty" after that she had gotten interested and had to lick it again. One instinct to eat it comes from the smell interacting with their brain properly. After getting close a 4th time after that point she finally struck it.
I feel that if the snake gets hungry enough, it will eat.

Another thing i noticed helps with feeding my really timid scaredy snake is taking her out of her home for 15 mins before hand, interacting with her and making her body temperature rise. Some snakes aggression instincts become stronger when they are warm. She's afraid of everything that moves though so the 15 mins are therapy and pep talks. "You got this! You're a big scary snake!" (I know she doesn't speak English... I talk to my snakes. Mostly because scent and vibration training is a thing). Since a big thing for her is major fight or flight response one of the things I do is continue to gently uncoil her to a long stretched out line until she doesn't coil back up.

I've also heard the interesting trick of getting the mouse wet before hand because the musk smell is more apparent from dander being wet etc. Might work.

I wish you luck! Some snakes take months to stop needing to be helped.

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[redshepherd]

I'm just curious how much does she weigh now? Unfortunately, I gotta leave the advice to the pros. :S

Another thing i noticed helps with feeding my really timid scaredy snake is taking her out of her home for 15 mins before hand, interacting with her and making her body temperature rise. Some snakes aggression instincts become stronger when they are warm. She's afraid of everything that moves though so the 15 mins are therapy and pep talks. "You got this! You're a big scary snake!"

Urr...

[moonlightgdess]

She's only 37g now, hatched out about 7 weeks ago.

[RickyNY]

Urr...

[redshepherd]

[Stewart_Reptiles]

Here is what you want to do

First make sure husbandry is optimum, 6 quarts tub, aspen bedding, plastic flower pot saucer as hide, temps no higher than 88.

Second you want to offer a live large fuzzy or small hopper, if uneaten assist the next day, then do the same again the following week.

Once your BP reached 50/60 grams keep doing the same thing however if not eaten do not offer live again before the following week, the following week if uneaten assist the next day.

As the BP grow you want to allow more time in between.

As for how long to assist feed, no one has that answer, I had a female I assisted for 6 months (probably should not have but I did) and finally they day she figured it out she became a monster feeder.

Another thing i noticed helps with feeding my really timid scaredy snake is taking her out of her home for 15 mins before hand, interacting with her and making her body temperature rise.

I obviously do not recommend that quite the contrary.