No luck with the fuzzy mouse. Will try again with a hopper next weekend.
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One other thing you might try. I didn’t see a hide in any of the pictures. If you aren’t using a hide, you might try that. BPs are ambush predators and baby BPs are pretty vulnerable and feel more secure with a hide. I usually use a little hatchling hide on all my babies until they outgrow it for size.
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I have several as I breed leopard geckos as well and use these. I’ll add one and see if that helps! Great idea!
I am going to be a little controversial with some views.
I would respectfully challenge assist feeding being too stressful.
Force feeding yes I agree, very stressful.
But assist feeding, to me is putting the food in its mouth and putting it gently down and is not that stressful.
If it was too stressful they wouldn’t change their mind and spit it out.
If they go strait into constriction and eating mode the stress is less and mood chemistry changes.
I submit that continually offering food when not taken can also be stress full.
SO can a live in the enclosure when the snake wont eat.
This is just my opinion.
Assist feeding never seemed to harm any of my snakes in the few times I had to do it. They all thrived.
With the caveat of with hatchings that have reached a point of not eating for so long they would not make it otherwise and and other methods have failed.
.
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Yes point well taken! I suppose if a baby will not accept food it is either already stressed for whatever reason. Or it doesn’t recognize food as what it is - food.
Either way the baby has to eat so a little assisting is necessary in lieu of the baby going without food period.
Yep! Point well taken! 
Edit to add: And yes there is a big difference between assist feeding and force feeding.
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I agree and some people go earlier or later than I would have and I think they are not bad for going with their own judgement as long as the snake doesn’t starve to death. Stress has a lot to do with technique too and you’ll get better at minimizing stress as you go.
Also why I go with the steps of assisting. If they’ll take it with just the taste of the rat in their mouth it will be less than the next step and so on.
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I like your point. I have added a hide to her tub and am giving her till Saturday before trying to feed again. If she refuses I will assist feed. Although her body condition doesn’t look bad I prefer not to wait until it is. She seems to become more active when I put a hopper in with her. Likes she’s either hungry but doesn’t know what to do or it’s freaking her out. She’s not trying to hide from it though. I believe that she is most likely just confused and is going to need a little help.
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Couple questions,
Is the picture what it is kept in? (a hide is definitely needed if so)
Do you move it out to feed in a different tub? (If so, leave it in the same bin it lives in)
Is the bin sitting out with all sided open? (if so, cover it before feeding and leave it covered so there are no distractions. Even hide yourself when feeding it.)
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That is the tub it’s kept in. I had added a hide a few days ago. All other hatchlings are in the same tubs and are eating well without hides. The tubs are in a rack so they only open on one end. I do not move to feed. I am hoping that adding the hide will solve the problem. We’ll see Saturday.
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Another good tactic is to change the substrate. Looks like you’re using paper. I’d suggest a move to coconut husk (reptichip, etc). Sometimes the change in environment (hides, substrate, tub size, etc) can be enough to spark them into feeding.
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So I tried feeding this evening and she didn’t eat. It seems to me like she gets excited and active when the mouse is in her tub but she doesn’t know what to do. She is starting to look too thin so I did assist feed - successfully. The first few attempts she did spit the rat fuzzy out so I did have to go a little deeper - up to the shoulders. After placing her in her tub it took her about 10 minutes but she finally figured it out and swallowed it. Hoping she will eat on her own in 5 days but I can do this again if necessary. Thanks to everyone for their help and recommendations.
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Woo hoo! Hopefully next time she will know what she is supposed to do on her own. If not you can always help out! Good deal!
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Glad to hear she ate something. Sounds like the worst worry is over.
It might take a few times before she takes it on her own, but worth trying.
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I did have to assist again yesterday evening. I will give her a little longer before trying to feed again next time though. She seems interested just unsure of what to do. Keeping my fingers crossed that it doesn’t take her too long to figure it out. I hate putting her through all of the stress but it’s better than watching her whither away and die.
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I would try to give it a lizard. Many newborn snakes are quite confused when it comes to what we consider to be “normal” reptile food. In the wild these animals are much likely to come across a lizard or large insect before they learn to infiltrate a rodent’s den to find possible newborns that will be the proper size for them. I know that it can seem cruel, especially because it is like I said outside of the “norm” but if your number 1 goal is to establish this animal &keep it from dying, you need to take a more naturalistic approach.
I breed arboreal snakes, which are notorious for being difficult animals to get to start eating. I have tried everything under the sun, from braining mice, taking off their noses, scenting them with birds or lizards, offering them dofferent types of rodents… all of it. &the animals i am trying to establish are also usually a more expensive animal than say a ball python so losing that animal hurts even a little bit more &in my mind, cannot & WILL NOT happen. I will do everything in my power, spend all of my energy &all of my time to make sure my animals are thriving. &that brings me back to my original statement. The one thing I have had EVERY problem eater take, whether it was a shy animal that would hide, an animal that would try to run away or an animal that would take &spit out or would just straight up try to kill you so it didnt have to eat they 100% of the time will take a baby leopard or crested gecko. One Hundred Percent. Not 99, not 95, ONE HUNDRED. I have never had an animal refuse a live gecko.
Once again, i know that this topic can be hard for the squeemish to hear or to even comprehend but like i said before think about what a newborn royal python would be coming across in the wilds of africa. There are no humans leaving out newborn pinkie mice for them, they have never eaten before &barely even know what is food &what isn’t &they DEFINITELY don’t have the knowledge to find an adult mouse (that could easily kill THEM) &follow it all throughout its day until it goes back to its den at night where HOPEFULLY that mouse has been procreating &there happens to be a female there with a fresh batch of babies. HIGHLY unlikely. So talk to some gecko breeders, you would be very surprised at how many of them probably have freezers FULL of babies that didnt make it or have some stillborns from a clutch or maybe just runts that arent going to make it. As a breeder of over 20 years I can tell you, this is the difference between saving the life of your snake or losing it. &as far as switching them over to rodents afterwards, it is a piece of cake. All you are really trying to do in this instance is to wake up its metabolic state &get it’s digestive system going, every time I have had to do this it’s usually the only time, they switch right over to rodents once they realize that food is food &eating feels nourishing &gives me energy. In 20 years I have only had to repeat the process once or twice maybe five or six times.
I really hope that this information is well recieved ¬ seen as some sick or deranged post, this is a matter of life or death in a lot of cases &many are unaware that it can be this easy to get an animal to start feeding. I for one have lost countless hairs &nights of sleep worrying about how I am going to get an animal in my collection established &it is not a good feeling. I value all life &am in no way trying to promote the killing of reptiles but in some cases, it is the circle of life &that is something we need to accept. I really hope this gets your animal thriving &will be praying for it every step of the way.
Skòl,
MP3
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As you suggest, after a few assist feeds and she gets stronger, then leave it a bit longer than 5 days before trying to get her to take it on her own.
Once stronger and used to the taste/smell, I find letting them to get a bit hungry helps incentivise them. Maybe waite 10 days. Always works for me for ball pythons.
Like I said before, once they get the idea, they can be insane feeders.
I had to do this with some of my king snakes and a few other types before, but instead of a lizard, I just put a sleeve of the lizards skin (or snake skin) on a washed pinky to scent it. I have never needed it for Ball pythons though, but interesting idea.
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What you say makes perfect sense. I believe I have seen different types of frozen feeder lizards on various sites actually.
This is a very interesting concept. I too believe in sustaining life and I for one don’t believe this feeding method is neither sick nor deranged. Imho, if an animal is bred on purpose it is the breeder’s responsibility to give that animal the best start in life possible and if that means going to the nth degree to get an unwilling baby to eat then so he it!
I like your style!
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So after several assist feeds this little snake is finally eating on her own. She ate a live fizzy mouse last weekend and 3 last night. I will try a hopper next weekend but feel she has the hang of it now. I was really surprised to see that she ate all 3 fuzzies last night.
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