Hatchling wont eat.

I have been trying for nearly 3 months to get a little lav motley to eat. She came fresh from the egg as a bonus to a purchase I made from Brad Lichtenhan.


I have tried everything that I know of, braining, gut slitting, feeding just parts, tuna soaked, chicken soaked, lizard scented, live, teased, washed, left in paper bag over night with all of these solutions and left in container over night with each. She refuses to eat anything I have assist feed her twice both times was a major fight to get her to swallow it.

It is becoming more evident that she is weakening and getting thinner. I have no idea what else to do or if she is just not meant to make it. She is beautiful and I would hate to lose her. When it comes time to feeding her I get so stressed and I worry about her all the time. The little thing is wearing me out.

I am looking for anything that I might have missed or even just confirmation that I have done all I can.
Her temps are good, she has hides, fresh water.

There is always force feeding if it comes down to it.

Have you tried just a little tail? I know you said you've tried "parts" sometimes the tails work...

Good luck!

Ali

I meant to write that I have force fed her twice a whole pinky, I have assist fed both pieces of rat tale and mouse tale, and pinky head. I am just wondering how long I should keep assist and force feeding her. I really dont want to have to keep doing it, it so stressing on both of us. She wont take anything on her own willingly and I am suprised she hasnt regurged with how she fights to not take it.
Should I keep trying? I am ready to give up, it brings me to tears that she wont eat on her own.

I had that happen with a hatchling this year. I tried everything and nothing worked. so I went to Petco and bought an Anole. As soon as I put it in with the snake it was gone. I did it 3 more times and it worked. I went back to live pinkys after that and the snake went at it. Thanks to the advice from the Corn Snake Manual By Kathy Love.

What did you try to wash it with? For us the dishsoap 'joy' as been the best.

another thing, make sure the pinkie is super small. (obvious but ya never know)

next thing y ou can try .. well, sounds abit odd but it Does work! When warming the pinkie, After it is totally thawed , put it into nearly boiling water for a few seconds. Kinda like you are trying to blanch it.... take it out and let it cool to the point where it feels still pretty warm to you..... then put it in a small covered gladware container (with holes) and cover with a dark towel and then leave for atleast one hour before checking. This got quite a few of my 'out of the egg' babies going. If, as you say, she is too weak, then you may have to force feed that from half of a pinkie every 5 days til she gets her strength back.

I wish you the best of luck! With all the non feeders I bought, out of the egg babies I got and some of my own...... I havent lost one yet so, try as I said and hope Goodluck!!

Just keep trying every 4-5 days. Eventually she will get it.

Maybe force feed her more often to build up her strength? And try a live anole.

I'm really sorry to hear this.
If it was earlier in the year I would suggest to try and find some baby blue bellies (fence lizards) but at this point they are likely in brumation. However the anole could work.
Another idea - sounds weird but roll the pinky around in dirty rodent bedding so it has a strong scent.
I will be blunt - I have never had a baby snake that gets to the point of having to force feed recover and thrive. I've had some hang on for a while and die and ended up wishing I had euthanized them before that happened. But others have had better luck than I have too.

the same happened to me and these is how i fix it i went to petco they have the smallest pinky's i have ever seen then heat them with hot tap water as hot as it gets, cut the head off and split it in 2 i also open the pinkys belly and put it with my tatzu in a small toperware then i put the 2 pices of the pinky oh i place the tuperware in the hot side of the terrarium and i left them all night and by the morning the pinky was gone.

I have washed with Dove, joy and soft soap. She is not so weak that she cant do anything I have just noticed that she sits in one spot more and doesn't fight as much when force feeding. She still only weighs 7 grams. I have no idea where I would get a live anole small enough for her to eat the ones at petco are big, I tried scenting both F/T and live with an anole (live adult anole way to big for her to eat) and she wasn't interested.

I appreciate all the suggestions, there are a few things I am going to try.

Thank You

Good luck, keep us posted, don't give up yet!

All the best,
Ali

She certainly IS beautiful... I am hoping with the others that she finally catches on and eats for you.

She has eaten, one of my ASFs just had babies and the new borns are just small enough I thought I would try it so I put dirty birthing bedding and a fresh baby in a small container, put the hatcling in and put in a dark place. went back to check and had a fat happy little girl, I could swear I saw a smile of content on her face. Oh what a relief.

Thank you so much for all the support and help. I am going to go pass out now lol.

yay for asf's!!

It sounds like you found a solution. I was going to tell you that I have had luck with new gerbil pinks. They are bigger than mouse pinks but several non feeders were fixed with them; all eventually took mice.

I also have force fed a baby for several months. One day I started putting the pink in its mouth & it clamped down on it & swallowed it by itself. It now eats 2 pinks every week on its own, no tricks.

Hope your little lav continues to thrive.

CassieK said:

She has eaten, one of my ASFs just had babies and the new borns are just small enough I thought I would try it so I put dirty birthing bedding and a fresh baby in a small container, put the hatcling in and put in a dark place. went back to check and had a fat happy little girl, I could swear I saw a smile of content on her face. Oh what a relief.

Thank you so much for all the support and help. I am going to go pass out now lol.

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Congrats on the success! That's great news!

Thank you again.

Jen the ASFs you gave me have been quite productive, had 19 totals babies with the first batch which I still have 8 of and so far there are 8 pinkies and I dont think mom is done yet and the other will be having hers in the next few days.

It is quite the satisfying feeling breeding my own feeders.

Hopefully the other mom will have hers in 5 days lol

Congratulations Cassie! Hopefully she will continue feeding for you