I'll give my question first, and then a little background. I need every bit of advice that can be offered. How do you get a hatchling to eat?

About a month ago, we as a family adopted a small Ball Python. One of my wife's co-workers found her underneath his stove in his apartment and his roommate wanted rid of her. My 8 year old son asked if we could keep her. I had no idea how to care for a snake, but my wife had a Rainbow Boa when she was a teenager, and thought we could care for the python. We named the snake Ophelia. She is about 15 inches long, which I've learned, makes her a hatchling.

She had a wound near her tail that was about the size of a dime. We treated her wound with antibiotic ointment, and even though she still has some skin hanging loose near it, the wound appears to be healing. I went to my local Petco for advice, purchased a 20 gallon tank, a separate feeding tank, bedding, hide items, a climbing tree, and the approproate heat sources and lamps. On their recommendation, we did not try to feed her for a few days because of her wound.

When we first tried to feed her, we offerred a "pinky" which she tried to eat sideways, then spat out. That is the last time she has tried to eat, and that was three weeks ago. We have offered three other "pinkys", and three "fuzzys", and she has shown no interest in them. We have soaked a few of them in chicken broth, and tried refreezing and rethawing one. She is now showing signs that she is in her shed cycle. I've read that Ball Pythons can go for a while without eating, but she is just a baby. I've also read that young pythons need to eat every 7-10 days. She has become a well cared about member of our family, and I want her to be healthy. If you can offer any advice, tips, or just words to rest my mind, please pass them on.

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