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Hi Andrew,

Welcome! You've come to the right place to run into people with lots of chondro experience. You've got the right attitude about giving this little guy your best try. While I have my doubts about how truly established this baby is, if the breeder guarantees that his babies will eat, you should find out who this person is and contact him or her directly. The breeder should be able to answer questions about what he was feeding (live vs. thawed pinks vs. scented pinks) and what he had it set up in before selling it to the pet store. Sometimes copying the environment that the baby is used to works wonders and sometimes a baby just becomes stubborn about eating.

As was already mentioned, I would also recommend moving your baby into a smaller, less stressful set up and heat with something other than a heat light that turns off at night. Other suggestions for heating include flexwatt, red heat lamp, and a ceramic heater all run with a thermostat. I aim for a gradient as described on Greg Maxwell's web site but I also think that getting the temps up to around 86 F 24hrs a day is very important. You can also try covering the cage so that outside movement doesn't disturb it, keep the cage in a low traffic area, and wait several days between feeding attempts. Rather than live food I would try scenting with chick down.

If the baby is cruising around at night, I wouldn't be worried unless it's rubbing its nose raw on a rough top. My babies climb all over the place at night.

Feeding a stubborn baby can be frustrating and feel a little like banging your head against a wall, even for experienced owners. Hopefully your baby will come around but yes, there is a technique to feeding stubborn babies that is easier seen than described! You're essentially trying to piss the baby off enough that it strikes out in defense and ends up with a mouth full of pinky head. You have to be gentle, yet aggravating. Small steps in the right direction (tongue flicking, strikes) and a positive ending to your feeding attempt is what you're aiming for, even if it doesn't actually eat for you the first few times. Trying different times of the day isn't a bad idea because when I was starting my babies, my feed times were all over the place. They are all now eating at a normal chondro hour but early morning or lunchtime wasn't unusual at first! I was trying to catch them when they were sleeping not when they were cruising their cage.

Please keep us posted on your progress!