I've kept a couple snakes for a while - including a hognose who was originally hard to feed but I now have eating regularly - but I recently got a baby kingsnake and I'm having trouble with her. It's making me a bit anxious.

I got her to eat the first couple weeks just fine, but now she won't without assist feeding. I really hesitated with that and gave her a couple weeks before trying it. (I tried other methods too, with different rat parts and cut up pinkies. I've tried leaving her alone with the food for a long while, wiggling the food with the tongs like usual, a bit of scenting using one of my other snakes, braining pinkies, etc etc.) The first assist feeding with a rat tail went fine enough and I got her to eat one. But a couple weeks later she still won't eat on her own, and assist feeding didn't work this time.

I really want to avoid having to assist feed again, as it's so stressful for her (and me) and I accidentally caused her to get her lip stuck on a tooth and it bled a bit so that scared me from trying it again. But at the same time, she's so small and I'm afraid of stunting her growth if she goes off food too long. Any tips?

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