Force Feeding

Just a question for those of you that have force fed in the past...
How long do you continue to force feed before giving up or deciding that the snake is just never going to eat on its own?

And on the flip side - if/when the snake does decide to eat on its own - what do you then do with it? Do you sell it as a pet only due to prior feeding issues (hoping to not pass it along in the gene pool)? Or advise potential buyers of the past feeding problem and let them decide if they want to breed it or not?

This stems from a female from my cornsnake clutch this year. She is actually my potential keeper (wasn't sure yet if I was going to keep any), but has not taken a meal on her own yet. I have force fed her pinky heads three times so far and am not sure if it is worth it to continue or not.

Is she growing, Katie?

Would you advise people who bought hatchlings that had to eat lizards and then switch?

She does seem to be growing a little bit.
And if I had any lizard eaters that I switched over I would definately advise. All my graybands from last year have gone that route and anyone who has been interested has been advised of their progress from the beginning.

I don't know how I'd feel about buying a potential breeder who had to be force fed for a lengthy period. Some of her clutchmates fed right away, right? So she hasn't gone through the whole gamut of possible scenting choices, what are there, 20 plus things to try...I think, if it was a reasonable amount of meals, and then the snake took off and fed, and had clutchmates that fed right away, I'd just figure it was a slow learner, not a bad-feeding bloodline.

I have some non feeders here for a friend. I got the two kinked females to eat, but the perfectly normal non defective male just won't eat. Go figure...

He has 3 more assist feeds (that will be 7 in total) before I leave him to do it on his own or he dies basically.

Elle, do you ever give him (anyone) the opportunity to feed himself in between, after he's reached a weight where he doesn't seem like he's in danger of starving in the near future?

I did that with Lil, built her weight up, let her get hungry, let her refuse a couple of times, force fed to get her weight up, and so on.

When I force-fed, I did so once a month, offering pinks in between with the usual tricks (warming, braining, scenting, leaving overnight etc) for them to take of their own accord if they chose.

It never worked for me. Although those being force-fed kept the pinks down, they never really put on weight and all died in the end. I don't force-feed any more. They eat of their own accord (although I don't mind how many of the tricks I have to try to get them there) or they fade away.

And yes, sadly, Mr Murphy and his dratted law, states that it's always the prettiest and most desirable that turns out to be the stubbornest refusnik...