Stubborn Newborns

Colubrids Hognose Snakes
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Hi all!

We had our first breeding season this year and we were lucky to have a beautiful clutch of 16 hatch. They are about a month old as of right, but we have had only 3 out of the 16 feeding so far. Now, I know that they can go a while without eating and I normally wouldn’t be worried, but given as this is our first clutch and the babies are on the smaller size ranging from the biggest being at 7g and the smallest at 4.41g we are trying to figure out our next move, the other 13 have lost at least half a gram each if not up to a gram and a half on one of the bigger babies. They are set up in a Freedom breeder FB5 tubs (5qrts) on paper towels with belly heat being at 86 degrees and we have tried offering pinky parts as they are too small for a normal size pinky. We tried scenting with tuna and salmon this last time just because of their weight loss to no avail.

Any advice/ input (even if it just for us to not panic yet) would greatly be appreciated.

Thank you!

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There will be experts to come along on this but do you by chance have access to a toad or a lizard? Sometimes scenting with something they would be eating in the wild will help get them started……

One of my Hognoses actually came with a large toad from the breeder!

Edit to add: Don’t panic! Help will be here to save the day!!!

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Whilst I haven’t begun breeding myself, scrambled egg or scrambled egg with added pinky parts can be tried. Obviously don’t use any oils or anything with the egg. Let it cool before feeding. You can scent pinkies with egg. Reptilinks offers a frog scent if you want to try that, not sure how successful it is.

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