Good luck! And yeah, some of them just do not recognize mice as food, no matter how you present it. A change in scents seems to click in their brain.
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So the only egg of the second clutch started to look like it was going bad about a week ago. I went ahead and opened it up today and it definitely was not going to make it full term. If you’re not too squeamish, here’s a picture of the little underdeveloped embryo. Its organs are outside of its body. I don’t have enough snake development knowledge to know if that’s normal for this stage of growth or if it was the reason it didn’t make it full term.
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I’m sorry that last baby wasn’t viable. I’ve got two last eggs, I think. One looks fine, the others iffy.
The photo is interesting. Now I want to drag out my developmental anatomy textbooks and see if I can find any info. Remind me how far along this was?
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I opened up the egg on day 77, so definitely at the point that it could have been hatching. Obviously it stopped developing way before that.
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This little girl is finally getting on track! She refused food, prepared in a variety of manners, for about the first month of life. I finally resorted to lizard scent, which she eagerly accepted. Ever since then, I always offer her an unscented pinkie first, which she refuses, and then eventually I scent it for her and she eats it. Last feeding, she seemed quite interested in the unscented pinkie and she’s also quite feisty, so I thought I’d try a tease feeding. One boop on the snoot with the pinkie and she grabbed it angrily and ate it. Today, her next feeding, didn’t even require teasing. I was able to tong feed her. So relieved that she’s (hopefully!) done with lizard scent! It took her 7 feedings of lizard scented pinkies before she was ready to switch over (certainly not my worst snake!). I’ll probably give her at least 5 or 6 unscented meals before I start looking for a home for her. I really want to make sure she isn’t going to sporadically change her mind about eating unscented pinkies!
Marzipan:
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And bonus picture of her perfect-eater sister, Chalupa, who’s a holdback for now. Neat to see the difference in coloration between these two.
(Both pics have a yellowish cast due to the nighttime lighting in that room.)
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Hooray Marzipan! Glad to hear she’s gotten the memo. I’ve still got two here that have yet to realize pinkies are not terrifying monsters.
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Hooray for Marzipan, and hooray for Olivia!! 
The coloration variance is interesting. I always enjoy looking and wondering over such things What’s the plan/hope for Chalupa down the road?
I have said it before, but it’s such a great feeling when the challenging ones make such good progress. I’ve got a few here who are still being a challenge. I’ll be so thankful when mine do like Marzipan.
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No real plans for her, I just get sentimental about getting rid of babies I produce! I probably won’t keep her long term, but I’ll keep her for a least a little while to see how her colors develop.
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Boy oh boy, do I understand that! It’s part of why I have so many right now. 
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“Look Ma! No tongs!”
Marzipan has been eating well for the last several feedings, but has thus far been insisting on being tong fed with a little wiggling. But tonight she took a drop fed peach fuzzy for the first time. A few more like that and she’ll be ready to get out of my hair!
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Yay!! Way to go, Marzipan (and Olivia, too!)! I know that’s a great feeling. I still have a couple of stubborn babies here, too. They’re improving but not solid enough to be where I like them before they move on.
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We had the same issue with two of our females produced this season, one of which is a gold dust het cinder which we plan to use for Peppermints, Buttermints and Gold Dust Cinders in the future. So we were pretty invested in getting her going. After several months of trying pinkies prepared in every way possible, including a couple different scents, we finally got her going on chick. She’s now on scented pinkies but hopefully will be coming off of them soon! It is extremely frustrating but when they do get going, it’s an amazing feeling.
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