like any other animal they are individuals that respond differently. I have had hatchling ball pythons assist feed a couple times and then eat on their own while I have had others assist feed for many months before eating on their own. What you are describing is more assist feeding, putting the food in the mouth and closing the mouth on the food. Force feeding would be shoving the food all the way down against the snakes will. Assist feeding works really well for ball pythons. Just stick with it.

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