Actually he said he never tried live mice. Assist (force) feeding should only be used on non-feeding hatchlings that are about to kick the bucket and have never shown interest in food. Not snakes that know how to eat and obviously have something else going on. If you have to force a snake that already knows how to eat, then they are either sick, or your care of them is off and needs fixed. Not every snake wants the same kinda setup you have given others, and something as simple as a smaller hide can make them feed better. If you have had to force food in multiple snakes mouths that already knew how to eat, then I am concerned on how well their care is and if you are ready for breeding. You throwing out seasoned breeder and keepers advice means you aren’t ready for one part at least, criticism and learning better ways to do things.
did I click on Facebook groups accidently???
Again It worked for me. That is all I can say.
I actually never discarded any advice. Read what I wrote and tell me how you come to that conclusion. So your advice is try live mice. Hopefully that works.
Im here to find ways to get a guys 5 snakes to eat. So far its check humidity, check temp, go to the vet, try live mice. There was another option mentioned but was deemed misinformation by the community pro elite.
This is one example,
Here is another,
Another one,
Another one…
More of them.
Your words, attitude, trying to shut people down and be antagonistic, are all different ways you have tried to basically throw the advice given away and consider it bad advice. If that isn’t the way you meant it, then you didn’t do a good job showing it.
Also, @eaglereptiles and @lumpy sorry for going off topic with this, I will stop here as I have made my case.
In the end, assist/force feeding IS NOT the answer for animals that know how to eat. It will not solve any problems, and as @wreckroomsnakes said, it is like putting a bandaid on a bullet wound. Maybe a non-sterile bandaid at that. It should not be encouraged for anything other than non-feeding hatchlings. And even then it should be used sparingly.
Got it. Still does not change the anything. YOU ASKED
Although i am far from an expert of any sense of the word, but i do know that if you take an already stressed animal and " help them" without figure out why there is an issue to start with you just asking for more trouble in the long run. Some animals will need help to the gut bacteria restarted before trying to give them a meal after a long fast. Giving them a meal without doing so can be deadly.
Thank you for your input. I think your advice was live mice. Hopefully that works. Its about the animals health, right?
Yes force feeding a sick snake is deadly. Assist feeding a confused and nervous snake worked for me. So the popular answer seems to be try live mice. I hope it works. I would just like to see the 5 snakes eat.
You seem to be stuck on this and refuse to take in ANY information set forth that is vaild and valuable information as to WHY this should not be the go to in this stituation or with ANY adult animal. It worked for you, the one time you tried. Great.
Also you seem to feel there is a huge difference between force feeding and assist feeding, when in reality it is just semantics
So that is some great advice. Hopefully the guy finds the issue.
Please be respectful everyone. We all want to help this person’s snakes to eat, so please act maturely and be problem solvers, not problem makers. 
This community was created to avoid the discord present in this topic.
@nextdayreptiles if you do not agree with everyone else’s opinions, simply move on. A new breeder/keeper who recently joined this community has no right to attempt to challenge a more experienced keeper’s experience.
And nobody has been deemed “pro elites” by anyone. Some of us simply have seen and experienced more, and therefore are more fit to answer someone’s questions.
First you dont know my experience or experiences. My responses have been to people like you who are saying something directly to me by highlighting my comments. Breeders sell their snakes that are picky eaters. I buy those snakes. I stated what works for me. If you dont like my view then you move on.
This is completely untrue.
And I never targeted your view anywhere in my post.
You cant say it is untrue because I first hand have bought snakes listed or advertised as picky eaters from different breeders.
This tickled me quite a bit! It did get a bit messy up in here…
Let’s do this one please guys.
We don’t have any “elites” here… A few pros, yes, but no elites. Everyone’s on a level playing field here, which is why we have so few threads go downhill like this. No ones here to prove anything, we’re friends whether we agree or not with each others opinions… But, with that said, let’s forget being humble here for the sake of adding weight to words…
Mary, there are what, maybe two handfuls of people in the world that have cared for more snakes than yourself and Grant. You have likely had more snakes go off and back on food than most will ever hold. I think it’s fair to call your experience and advice “expert” level. Between you and Shaun, yous have more data to back it than most of the community have between us.
If you guys are gonna tell me this is a bad idea then I’m personally gonna take that advice and would encourage others to do the same.
I’m fairly new to keeping/breeding myself, since I got my first ball python back in mid-late 2018.
Never have I had to assist feed an already established snake. It just isn’t necessary — if any of my snakes are not eating, it is usually due to known reasons (seasonal changes, breeding, gravid females) and thus I have no reason to worry. There’s only been certain circumstances where it wasn’t something expected.
There was one time I had a few snakes regurgitate and others start refusing food in one of my racks… turned out the thermostat quit working and wasn’t heating the heat tape in the racks anymore. Once I replaced it, they all went back on food without any issue (of course I skipped a feeding for the ones who regurged)
I also had an adult female that would just not eat, no matter what I tried… then I moved her into a smaller tub, and she started eating again. She just didn’t feel comfortable in the larger tub, despite it being the recommended for a female her size.
With hatchlings, I typically will begin attempting assist feeding if they don’t take within a few weeks after their first shed. They aren’t established yet, and so it’s sometimes necessary to get them started. I had to assist feed three hatchlings my first season, and they all eventually started eating on their own.
If you have one, or even multiple, established snakes go off of food for no discernible reason, then it is likely an issue with your husbandry and/or the snake(s) in question are ill.
Especially if they start dropping weight rapidly, then it is definitely a concern and needs to be addressed ASAP!
There is other reasons to assist feed. I will give one example. A snake is raised to an sub adult on live rats. The snake stops eating. The breeder doesnt have time to work with the snake to find why it stopped eating. They decided to sell the snake as a picky eater. I buy the snake. Live rodents are not readily available in my location. I dont have much choice but to feed frozen/thawed. The snake hides in a ball anytime food is put near her. All conditions are as good as it gets. I took the snake to the vet. The vet found no issues. That doesnt mean there werent any but none were found. After trying to feed for a few more weeks I finally tried assist feeding. I tried with a large mouse. It did not work. The snake released the mouse as soon as it was set down. The next week I tried a pinkie mouse. The snake took the pinkie. The next week I did a fuzzy. The snake took the fuzzy. She was stuck on fuzzies for a few weeks. I then decided to try a medium mouse. At this point the snake would almost open her mouth by herself to take mice. She now eats on her own and is healthy. So in this case I did what I could do. I did what I felt was right. My decision worked in my favor. Since then I have bought 5 more snakes listed as problem eaters. I also have the issue of live rodents just arent available. So any sub adult to adult I buy is gonna fight the change. So that method also helped me get a couple adults on thawed feeders. So all I know is it works for me. If it doesnt work for you that is fine, but to say there are no reasons to assist feed an adult snake is simply incorrect.
A bit off topic here, but perhaps as a new breeder, antagonising the community and staff is a bad decision. I get you have your opinion, but your disregard for civil discussion and trolling only ends one way. You literally have the option to just not respond if you have nothing left to say.
Im not going to state my opinion on the topic at hand, as you have made it very clear you do not care what others think on it.
I have disagreed with @saleengrinch on multiple occasions, we discussed our differing opinions politely and moved on. The difference is attitude. I heard what he had to say, addressed the points i disagreed with, and respectfully disagreed. Your first response was “nobody asked you”. That is why everyone is mirroring your attitude and coming down on you like the bad guy. If you had a different opinion, they would just state they disagree and why, without attacking your character. You painted a target on your own back with how you reacted.
Ive been here for over a year as a person getting ready to breed, im not an elite, ive produced 0 animals. I have 28 animals in my care when i started at 0, my enclosures have gone from basic cypress to all bioactive and im finally getting close to producing my first clutch, and at no point did ANY person here attack me when i made mistakes, they NEVER went after me for having a different opinion. If we disagreed, it was as simple as that. Look at your own posts and try to figure out why you felt it appropriate to act the way you did to people who were simply expressing an opinion you disagreed with. Yes, we use the respond and quote feature to put up points we disagree with. Its not an attack, its a response that links the relevant post for the ease of readers.
Thats why I like this better then FB groups. The only reason Im still in them is to help people when I can.