Ditch the calci sand, the stuff is worthless, and can still cause impactions even though the bag says it can be digested. Use newspaper or paper towel or aspen shavings.
17 days is nothing, DO NOT FORCE FEED THE SNAKE.
Are you feeding in the tank or in a separate container? I only feed in small separate containers, so small the snake is forced into close contact with the food. Making it dark can help. Try leaving the snake and the mouse in a small dark container over night and do not bother him until the morning. After you get rid of the calci sand try placing the pinkie right outside the entrance to the hide (not on aspen though)or put the mouse inside the hide. Try all this with live and dead. You can poke a hole in the pinkies head and sqeeze out some brain, lots of snakes love that, others like it when you chop the head clean off. Some baby corns do not know mice are food, I had one that needed pinkies scented with an anole, you basically take the lizard and rub it on the mouse so the mouse smells like lizard. Some people take a bit of lizard skin or tail and stick it in the mouse's mouth. Force feeding is a last resort as it is very stressfull. I have only done it once, when a snake I got at 7 grams refused to eat and went down to 3 grams. How old is it? Has it eaten at all for you? If it has been eating it is ok for a while. I once opened up a snake who hadn't eaten in months and it was full of fat still. I had a baby rat snake die on my the other day, he'd been vomiting every meal he ate and he was still full of fat when I opened him up
Be patient!
Also, you don't need a light, all my corns survive on the heatpad alone.
FireDrake
