I am an animal keeper not a breeder. Animal care is not new to me. We arent talking about breeding. This is snakes not eating. What I did was suggest a last resort. Read the original post. 400 gram weight loss and he tried everything. Then someone who disagreed replied to me on how I was wrong. I responded. Now its an anti assist feed conversation. Ok if assist feeding is out, his temps are good, his humidity is good, the vet says all good then what? Change enclosure size? Anything else? Would assist feeding ever be an option in your view? If so when? All Im saying is it worked for me. Maybe my method was better. Maybe I was lucky. Maybe it was a fluke. The original poster may have a bigger issue being its 5 snakes. Obviously that would have to be addressed. I was taking him literally when he said he tried everything.
I think this discussion is getting off topic. I feel like a lot of people are focusing on the wrong statements to respond to and making offensive comments with no purpose, and I’ve noticed many users doing this and I’m not targeting anyone. So instead of arguing/criticizing how someone cares about their animals can we focus on the topic at hand, which is when assist feeding is beneficial, if ever. And I think that the argument is going around in circles. So if this discussion continues can everybody at least try to be civilized and make statements that continue towards the progression of the thread and ignore the other comments.
I guess the conversation is stuck at check temp, check humidity and go to the vet. Assist feed is not the popular opinion. No other help was given. The original post is vague. My opinion is based on 400 gram weight loss and him saying I tried everything. I may be dumb to assume everything meant parameter check and at least vet advice.
Agreed with this amount of weight loss if this actually true that all of them have lost that much weight in just a few months is extremely concerning. However you need to find out exactly what the root cause of the problem is first. Force/assist feeding is putting a bandaide on a bullet wound. May slow the problem down but still have a major issue to deal with. A vet appointment would be in order here for sure to check for parasites, that much weight loss even over a few months is not normal. I would still love to find out what the setups details are.
Is almost unheard of to force/ assist feed an adult/sub adult ball python, most common on your none starter babies. sub adults or adults there is ALWAYS underlying cause
Yep, the regurgate it and die and the next day or two due to no gut bacteria to digest the meal
Yes, very true.
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.