Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I have on hatchling that has not eaten yet. They were hatched out in August. I ve tried mice, rats, and soft furred, frozen and live. I also placed it in a small container and left it in the dark. It has also shed out once. I am just out of ideas and how long can a hatchling go without eating?

If it has been since the beginning of Aug. you may want to assist feed a small hopper.
Travis
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LAIR OF DRAGONS

I have had trouble getting babies started in the past. I now "try" to handle babies very little to none before they eat their first meal (this has eliminated any eating issues). After hatching I keep them in the incubator for a few days before transferring them to baby bins and provide them with a tiny (and importantly, short) little box that they can squeeze into with a small opening at one corner. I have fabricated my own custom boxes out of aluminum, they are about 4" by 4" square with a height of 3/4", the opening is in one corner, every baby always goes into the boxes and wedges themselves in the corner farthest from the opening, after the first shed I wait a few days and then I provide them with a fuzzy mouse, I shut out the lights and leave them alone till morning and see if they ate, if not I wait a couple days and try the same thing again. If they have not eaten after three tries, I put them in a small paper bag with a mouse and leave them overnight, this will usually do the trick. I think the bag trick works well because it keeps the snake and mouse in close contact for the entire time. In a baby bin the snake may strike at the food item and then it crawls away to a far corner of the bin, if the snake is not comfortable enough to search around for the food, they just dont come in contact enough with each other. In your case their could be the possibility that there is just something wrong and it is not meant to survive, or that it has just not been able to feel secure enough to develop the confidence to strike out at something. It may just be my take on things, but it seems to me that the babies in a nice little hide develop a real feeling of confidence and ownership of their hide after a week or so of being alone and undesturbed, some times I run out of my special hides and give them some larger hides I have, these snakes just dont seem to have that confidence I see in the others, in the tiny hides they are very alert and curious, to be continued..

I can see the little noses of the snakes in the tiny hides peeking out as they rest there, just waiting to see food, they are in ambush mode, not scared mode. Anyway, long story, but in your case I would say time is running out, may not be enough time to get snake into ambush mode before weight drops too low. May want to try and just give the snake a 5 to 7 day break with no contact in a small hide that they can wedge into and then try a late evening feeding, or try the paper bag trick, be sure to use a pinky mouse that cannot crawl over the snake and cause any stress. Or if time is too short may need to do a force feeding. Good Luck with your little one.
Mark

The one time I had a baby not feed on it's own ended up being an under-developed stomach. Never would've known by looking at it, but a vet disected it (it eventuallt died) and determined that to be the problem. Try not to get to hooked on hides if you're using a rack system. They'll become used to the hides and you may need to use them throughout their lives (might be ok if you don't mind). I agree with leaving them alone as much as possible so they stay "mean" and strike at everything. They'll calm down anyways with the handling you have to do when cleaning, etc. and with general growth. Just my experience and not meant to contradict others experiences.

I like to cut a macaroni and cheese box in half and use the bottom half as a hide. If they get messy, I just throw them out and use a new one. By the time they out grow the box, they do not need to use a hide anymore. I would suggest assist feeding. I had to do this with my lucy for 4 months before he decided to take on his own. He is a big boy now, but it was very slow going for the first year. Good luck with him.