Diary of a Non-Feeder

This baby, daughter of Heart Attack the peppermint stripe, hatched July 19. She was a little thing- 5.4 grams. The rest of the clutch weighed in at 7-9 grams. The entire clutch ate the first time except this baby.

She refused her first two meals, slit pinks, in a covered deli and then overnight in her bin both times.

On her third feeding attempt I tried Ivory soap washed, followed by chicken broth. She wouldn't eat, or tease feed. I fed her a mouse tail.

On her fourth feed I offered a pink covered with a gargoyle gecko shed. She refused and got a mouse tail.

On her fifth feed I tried chicken broth again. She refused, and I was ready to feed her yet another mouse tail, but I tried tease feeding her as usual, and she took it!

On her sixth feed I tried a boiled pink, which she refused, but tease-fed instantly.

Tonight, on her seventh feed, I tried Ivory-drenched, again, put her in her deli, put it under a pillow on my bed, fed the rest of the clutch, peeked in prior to starting to feed a different group, and the pink was GONE!!

Thrilled does not begin to describe the feeling. This was my LAST reformed non- now tease-feeder!! YAHOO!!

She's been putting on weight FAST, too, since starting to eat whole mice. She'd dropped down to 4.2 grams despite being fed tails, and is now up to 5.6!

To celebrate, she got a fluffy new bed of pink CareFresh. (I keep non-feeders on paper towels till they are eating, so I can easily leave pinks in their homes overnight).

Congratulations Nanci! You're wonderful and so caring for these little babies!

Well- I'd be lying if I say it's fun trying all the different tricks, but it's fun to finally unlock the feeding response! My non-feeder treatment has really been refined this year and is much different than what I'd done in the past. And I will be able to spread the word here and help others, which makes me happy.

I'm sure you love some, or all challenges! But honestly I've heard of you saying you have used Ivory before...& sorry if I'm a little slow. But every time I hear of ivory I think of elephant tusks. LOL!!! What kind of ivory are you talking about?

That's awesome to hear! She's a really cute little one too.

Ivory dish soap, original scent. Tonight I thawed the pink in hot water. Covered it with Ivory. Added an equal amount of hot water and let it steep a minute. Then rinsed the pink, in the measuring cup, under very hot running water, until pretty rinsed, but still a little soapy.

Wow, Nanci!!! You've got some kind of patience there! I guess there's no alternative (what CAN you do?), but I don't even detect the slightest amount of frustration in your "non-feeder" posts. I'm so glad such a beautiful snake decided to LIVE!

I was thinking soap too! But then I was like nooooo! That's soap! But wow, incredible! You're awesome

You're awesome, Nanci! And she's a beautiful baby...but I have yet to see one of yours that I didn't think was beautiful.

Yes....Yes she is!!!


Congrats! :cheers:

I fed her again tonight- Ivory-scented, although not quite as strongly. And she was in a deli cup, under my pillows. Next time, if she is still here, I'll try her uncovered.

Nanci, thank you for this thread. It is great to have all of the ideas in one place. I'm working my way through them on one that just won't eat for me. Ate for the breeder just fine, but not me.

Is there a chance yours is blue? I always cover up any non-feeder, too. And if it's a bitey baby you can quite often tease feed it by restraining the snake about an inch down the neck and poking it in the neck with the pink's head till it strikes the pink. Then freeze and hope for swallowing.

I would try boiled first, Ivory second, another dish soap third, chicken broth fourth. And live anywhere in there. And that is if the baby has refused slit and brained initially.

I have another thread in this section called OMG Three Babies Ate! which lists EVERYTHING I tried this season.

Thanks Nanci. No, it has been way too long for blue and I haven't seen any sign of it. Slit brained didn't work, dipped in boiling water didn't work. I always cover with a tea towel, overnight hasn't worked. Tuna fish scented didn't work. So now I'm going to try the Ivory and your poking techinque.

All of this has been done in a deli. Ugh. I'm getting to the point of trying force feeding, which I did years ago, but I'm less bold now on trying it.

I'll look at your other thread too. Again, thanks for doing this.

Okay- but they need to be cooked white, not just dipped in boiling water.

If the baby ate for the breeder, it will eat again.

Nanci - I didn't mean to hijack your thread, sorry.

I went to feed this afternoon and found she had died. Drat it all. Now I'm thinking of all the things I didn't try. But I was also trying to not stress her by trying to often. I'm putting this into the lessons learned catagory; at least not one of the more expensive morphs, but it does hurt and bug me.

Screw the diet, a shot of Bushmills tonight.

Aw- I'm sorry. A really, really special hatchling starved to death on me the year before last. I tried many things, but never force fed the baby. That isn't going to happen to me again. Some, maybe lots, of breeder don't believe in force feeding. If the baby doesn't take FT pinks with little or no fuss it is out of luck. I guess I can't do that. Force feeding whole pinks, or even heads, is tricky and messy and incredibly frustrating if you have to do it every five days. Feeding mouse tails is simple and often "teaches" the hatchling the motions of 'chewing" and swallowing and either kickstarts a feeding response or at least maintains the baby until something clicks and it starts feeding. But the whole process of dealing with a non-feeder is really stressful, and this is the first season I attempted anything beyond the basics before shipping them off to an expert.

Little Stripe ate unscented, tonight, though still covered by a pillow. Next time we try uncovered!

Congrats on the little lady finally eating for you! I picked up a non-feeder at a show earlier this year and it was the Ivory soap that got little Faith to eat. Now she whips the pink back and forth like a dog with a toy before she'll settle and eat.

Congrats on converting another non-feeder

It was the boiling trick that worked for mine in the end (and I am so grateful that you put all of your various methods down, because it helped immensely)