Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I had a litter of 29 babies. Of those, all but four are eating great. The four remaining have not yet eaten and are coming up on 8 weeks old.
Is it normal that some would refuse this long? Are there any tricks to get them to eat?
They are housed individually. Temps are good. I have tried peach fuzzy's through rat pinks. Alive and dead. I can't figure out why 25 are eating great, and four are refusing. HELP!!!
Thanks,
Chris
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Chris
1.1 Columbian BCI
0.1 CA BCI

Chris,
I always have a few that do this every year. I hate mice, but they tend to work in situations like this. I usually will only offer one mouse (live fuz or hopper) and then go right back to pup rats. Hope this helps. (I think the fact that rat fuzzies and pinks don't move as much is more of the problem they don't eat=no stimulation for the baby)
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Greg Holland
GMHERPS Hunting & Reptiles
www.imageevent.com/gmherps
gmherps@gmail.com

Thanks for the response. Unfortunately, I have tried rats and mice of appropriate size. These four are not interested in either
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Chris
1.1 Columbian BCI
0.1 CA BCI

This sounds a little nasty I guess anyway. You could try to punch a hole in the scull so some brain tissue oozes out. This sometimes encourages feeding with small boas. (I'm sure you've tried this next idea) Have you used the forceps to dangle the food item in front of the baby, trying different up & down etc... motions to entice.
. . . . . . Lar M
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Boas By Klevitz

EEEEEEEEEWWWWWW! Probably wouldn't be the grossest thing I've done since deciding to keep snakes! I may resort to the mouse labotomy idea.
I have tried all different swinging techniques with the foreceps.
Thanks for the ideas!
Chris
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Chris
1.1 Columbian BCI
0.1 CA BCI

Its weird .. but get a can of chicken broth and dip the mouse in it ....

Boas love it!