Failure to thrive

[guidofatherof5]

This spring and summer I had 3 groups of Plaines born. A very old mother had 7 and 2 were still born. Two others had a total of 45. From that 45 aproximately 6 refused to eat and I had to put them down. I tried every combination of food I could think of. They would go to the food dish, touch the food and wander away. I attempted to force feed a couple. This only extented their lives for a short time. The result was they had no interest in eating. Is this a common occurance with any of you or could it be something else? I'm guessing they just don't have the eating mechanism turned on. The remaining scrubs are eating machines. They are all used to being handfed and growing in leaps and bounds. My 5 kids all take part in the feeding time and it's quit a show. Any advice would be great. Thanks to everyone.

[ssssnakeluvr]

not sure why that happens, but it does...not unusual for a couple out of a litter to just not survive....

[infernalis]

Sometimes nothing can be done, and sometimes it takes the right food offerings to "trigger" feeding.

I have seen many Garters who refuse food go bonkers over certain food offerings.

[Snaky]

Some things can be tried:
-earthworms (chopped in pieces, it most of the times has a great smell).
-Live fish in a shallow dish ( so the fish splashes a bit)

If they eat something, you can scent with that food item later on.

But as already said, sometimes it just doesn't matter. In most of the litters you have a few that will just die. I see it as the 'weak' young and I think it's better that only the 'strong' survive.