Substrate done, gave him more enrichment too, and he weighs 10.9-11.0g
he actually weighs the most of his siblings, which is nice to see
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his weight dropped dramatically.
hes now the smallest, at 9.3g compared to 11g last week
still wont eat, not sure what my next move is
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The drop may seem dramatic, but body condition is still good, so I wouldn’t worry. Two weeks isn’t a ton of time. How often are you offering food? Too often can stress them out and make them not want to feed. Have you tried scenting the pinky at all?
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we offer food once a week, when we’re feeding the others
we havent tried scenting but im gonna look at how here soon
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Scenting is pretty easy, you just take the thawed & warmed pinky and cover it in the scent of choice. Good options are canned tuna juice, I have recently found raw quail egg to be a big hit with my picky kiddos, you could even try dusting the pinky in a bit of critical care.
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The little one still looks to be in good condition, as noted. Two weeks really isn’t a big deal for them. In nature they go that long when they’re tucked away in shed; they don’t hunt during that time.
In addition to trying scented a pinky, you have other options, too. You can also try “braining,” which is piercing the head of the ft prey item with a pin and squeezing a bit. I had several stubborn ones this season who went for that right away.
There’s also what’s known as a “boiled” pinky. It’s not actually boiled, but refers to dropping the pinky in very hot or boiling water for a few moments. Usually about 15-30 seconds is plenty of time. You’ll see a color change in the pinky. Let it cool for minute or two before offering it to the snake.
When you do offer food, try it with the snake and its intended meal in a deli cup. Leave it completely alone for at least an hour, two is better. Stay completely away and out of sight or cover the deli with a towel or something so as not to be a distraction.
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10.6 grams last week, 10.5 this week. holding steady, still not eating
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I had one a while back that all the tricks wouldn’t work on. Someone in the old iansvivarium forum told me about the paper bag method. It’s strange and don’t ask me why it works but maybe try it after you try every one else’s tricks.
For backstory the corn of mine that wasn’t eating was a tiny old school classic bloodred hatchling. She was beginning to starve and we had syringe fed her a big meal before trying this method. I might be able to find the link to that old post actually that might be easiest.
The paper bag method requires a frozen thawed pinky warmed then towel dried like normal, a paper bag like the kind you put food in at the store (I would suggest the smaller paper bag if possible), and then the problem hatchling in question. Put both pinky and snake into the bag, close up the top either by rolling it, holding, however you want so it doesn’t climb out. Then walk and move around with said baby in the bag with it’s food. Do this for five to ten minutes walking around doing squats whatever, then stop. Leave the bag still without opening it for a good forty minutes then check in to see if the pinky has mysteriously disappeared.
I honestly couldn’t believe that it would work if I hadn’t had the experience myself. You can repeat this process with a boiled pinky, a live pinky, or scented pinky to the same effect.
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That’s okay. Hang in there, stay patient. As long as it’s holding condition, don’t do anything invasive.
I’ve heard of putting one in a paper bag with its intended meal, though not of moving around with it for a while belt putting it down. Interesting.
Fwiw, some have also reported success when a nonfeeder is shipped, as well as by bouncing it around a bit by putting the snake’s container on the washing machine while it’s running out taking it for a drive. Not sure about the mechanism there and I haven’t had luck with it myself, but apparently it works sometimes.
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10.3 this week.
i did want to ask, i tried braining, but im not sure if i did it correctly? how do you know?
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If you saw liquid, you did it right. I don’t really think there’s a way to do it wrong. The goal is to get some of scent from the ft prey item’s brain out where the snake can smell it. Poke a clean pin or needle into the top of the prey item’s head and wiggle it a bit. Apply a little pressure until you see some pale liquid. That’s it. I usually smear it around with the pin. It doesn’t take much. The only other thing is that I’ve found it sometimes help encourage the snake if the pinky is hot when you do this.
You can do the same thing with the pinky’s abdomen. Some have found that this works.
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I for one have tried this and it never worked for me. But of course that doesn’t mean not to try it! 
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Lol they’ve all got their own opinions about what smells like food. I hadn’t previously had great luck with braining, but in 2024 it was THE thing for several holdouts.
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yeah i could definitely smell it myself so he mustve haha
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I don’t know if anyone has mentioned this, but if I have a stubborn baby, I’ll try making a small slice the the pinkie’s head and expose a little brain juice (I know, icky). It gets mine interested and a lot of times they’ll gulp it down.
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This is what the last five posts in this thread have been discussing, the process is known as braining.
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Today, it finally happened!!! he ate!!! no tricks or anything, just my dad pissing him off
Im so excited to share the happy news!
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Just a heads up, I had to remove your second photo as feeding pics are against the community guidelines. That said…
Congrats!!! Hopefully it’s nothing but smooth sailing from now on. Sometimes you just have to annoy them until they break. Generally referred to as “tease feeding”, you just keep bugging them with the mouse until they decide to strike. Looks like your little one took the bait, and decided that didn’t taste too bad.
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Excellent!! 
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Yay! That’s so exciting! Whenever I’m dealing a non-feeder (especially one who’s been stubborn for quite a while), once they take that first voluntary meal, I always try to replicate the feeding method exactly, for the next 2 or 3 feedings. And then you can slowly transition them to whatever your normal feeding method is.
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