For egg eating snakes, periods of not eating really is the #1, and practically only, anxiety producing thing about them. So lets go over it. 

First thing first, I'm sure you already went over the usual husbandry stuff of temperature/humidity /security (hide)? No? Start there first. Yeah? Ok moving on. 

So it's important to know that egg eaters in the wild are boom/bust feeders. This means that they will eat as much as they can for about 3 months (while the birds are laying) and then not eat for the rest of the year. So your egg eater may just not be hungry. Its very normal for them, it doesn't mean there is anything wrong. 

But ok, lets assume they are or may be... 

If you've been consistently syringe feeding them, the odds are high that they just aren't hungry enough to make the effort to take down the egg. Why put in the work when you can get your human to do it for you right? 😂 

So as odd as it sounds if you want that baby to eat eggs, sometimes you gotta stop feeding them to get them feeding. Now you can only do that safely if you know how much they weigh, so you'll need a microgram scale, weigh them, stop feeding them by syringe for 2 weeks, weigh again. If they've lost more than 10% of their body weight, syringe feed until they're back at weight. If not, offer the egg that week see what happens.

If the concern with the syringe feed is that they aren't growing enough to gain size, then the best thing to do would be to use the smallest egg possible and add some of the powdered quail egg to bring up the nutrient density. that will help them grow. There's more details on why that is here.

Having that said, they really don't grow as noticeably as carnivorous snakes do. If you were to "power feed" them (which again is normal for them), they may gain 2-4x their bodies weight in a year- which is still massive growth!  So if they started at say 3g, they might weigh 6-12g within the first year. For a carnivorous snake that starts at 150g getting to 450 is a huge visible difference, but when your egg eating snake starts so tiny, and the change occurs so slowly- it's totally understandable to be anxious about if they are gaining weight. So what to do is to get a gram scale (that can measure in 10ths of a gram for hatchlings), and weigh them whenever you need that reassurance. That way you can see the progress easier.

It can be a little anxiety producing, especially if you come from a carnivorous snake background. Hey Im used to it, and I still do it regularly so it's totally normal to have a little anxiety about it. So get you a gram scale. It helps. 

Ok so now that we've gone over those things, let's talk about what to try to get them onto the eggs.

First up we need to know if the eggs are good. They won't eat them no matter what we do if the eggs are bad or have started to develop a chick inside (no longer entirely liquid).

To test if eggs are good, use the float test. Submerge the egg in water; if it sinks and lies horizontally, it's fresh. If it floats or tilts upward, it's old or bad. Additionally, crack one of the eggs open and inspect the white. It should be thick, slightly cloudy, and not watery. If the white is watery, it's likely an older egg.

Sometimes suppliers collect eggs over several days to acquire enough to send in one shipment, and some bird species have only an 18 day incubation from laid to hatch, so if the egg is starting to develop an embryo (there's parts that are no longer liquid) the snake won't eat them. 

Another thing to consider is how you may be storing them. If you're keeping them in the fridge with your other food items, sometimes the smells from the other food can make egg shells smell odd.

This is especially true of commercially bought eggs because, along with other criteria, for an egg to be USDA-grade, it's required by law that eggshells be sanitized before being packaged and sold. As a result, this process strips the eggshells of their natural protective oils — which makes the shells smell less bird like and the thousands of tiny pores in the shell more easily permeated by strong odors that could be lurking in your fridge. Onions are a notable offender. 

The solution here is to store them in an air tight plastic carton, you can get a basic pack of two off of Amazon for $10 here. Theres fancier models that you can record the dates with and stuff like that too. 

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If your snake has stopped eating frozen thawed after being previously established on it, freezer burn may be the culprit. 

Lamprophid snakes tend to be a bit sensitive to freezer burnt prey. This is especially true for file snakes. I think this may be because they rely heavily on their sense of smell, and as prey oxidizes it changes in smell, texture, and even color. It may get to a point where the animal simply doesn't recognize it as food anymore. Anyone who's attempted to eat a freezer burnt steak can tell you the flavor is definitely affected as well. So it's not hard to understand why snakes may reject freezer burnt prey.

So here's what you need to know about freezer burn in regards to prey items. 

Prey will become freezer burnt within 6 months, from the first day it was froze, which is not likely going to be when you bought or received it. 

Unfortunately, yes some pet stores and even online prey retailers will sell you prey that is already freezer burnt. So the length of time you've had it may not be a factor at all in determining if the prey is freezer burnt :(

There are not always visible signs of freezer burn, but sometimes you can see spots develop as the prey oxidizes.

Notice how the pinky on the far right has many oxidation spots and a slight yellow tint. This is common in advanced freezerburn, and many snakes are not likely eat mice that look like this.

Its not always that obvious though. Especially if the animal already has fur.

Here's a way to check if your rejected prey may be freezer burnt without any visible oxidation spots.

First offer your snake a prekilled mouse, something freshly expired. If it eats that, then you know its not that it wants the movement of live prey.

Then try another prekilled mouse, but this time freeze it the night before, and prepare it the same way you prepared the rejected frozen from before. If it takes that, then the odds are very good that the rejected prey may be freezerburnt. If they don’t, then there is likely something in the preparation of the prey that they don’t like- it may be too cold or warm, or wet etc

Here's some tips on how to avoid freezer burnt prey:

Order your frozen thawed prey in quantities that would last 2 months at a time. This can reduce waste since you wont likely know how long they've already been frozen and stored for at the time that you purchase them.

Package the prey with as little air as possible. Less air = less oxygen to oxidize the meat = less freezer burn.

Set the freezer they're being stored at to 0 degrees. This is the optimal temperature for frozen meat, there is no need to go any colder, and doing so may even make the prey freezer burn faster.

Is freezer burnt prey safe for my snake to eat?
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Yes it is. freezer burnt prey that doesn't have any other signs of spoilage, is still safe for your snake to eat. It's just far more likely to be rejected than prey that is more fresh. If your snake has ate freezer burnt prey there isn't any reason for concern so long as they aren't showing any symptoms of illness.

I hope you found this information helpful. If you have any questions feel free to contact me.

Its easy to get a little confused by prey size labels in mice.
If you're looking into buying a snake and the breeder tells you they're feeding on "pinkies" what exactly does that mean? If you google it you'll find that a pinky is a baby mouse that doesn't have any fur. That's a good enough explanation for larger snake species. However, it doesn't serve you well in house snakes, or other species that start out life very small because the size of a newborn "pinky" can be 8 times smaller in weight than a large "pinky". 

Here's a look at pinky mice sizes starting at newborn (or "redhots" as they are called here in Florida). Newborns are typically half a gram in weight to 1g. Small pinkies are about 1-2 gram. Medium are 2-2.5g. Large pinkies are 2.5-3.5 grams, Peach fuzzy are roughly 3.5-4.5 grams. Fuzzies are 4.5-6. 

This is the way that I personally organize my sizing however, and different rodent breeders may use different labels, or different gram weights to describe each of the same labels. Many prey sources will not have "pinkies" broke down into as many sizes as this either. 
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For example, One prey source: Rodentpro.com breaks their sizing down ​like this: 

Laynelabs uses different labels- doesn't use the "peach fuzzy" label at all. Also uses different gram weights.

Other sources may not use as many breakdowns at all. like AmericanRodent.com

So if you walk into a pet store and order a "pinky" you could be given a prey item anywhere from half a gram to 4 grams. To make matters even more confusing, rodents can mature differently, especially across different breeders, so using a lack or presence of hair to label prey can get you different results. 

So if you're raising a very small snake, its best to compare gram weights when looking for prey source, not label names. For most species a few grams difference isn't going to be an issue, but in very small snakes it can be. Typically speaking, a 5 gram hatchling is not going to want to eat a 4 gram "pinky" no matter how it's presented. 

So if your hatchling was started on "newborn" pinkies. It is not reasonable to assume they would be willing to eat large pinkies. It is possible that they can, but they probably will not.

Don't get me wrong, House snakes are capable of eating enormous prey relative to their body size, but that doesn't mean they will *want* to. especially as young hatchlings. 

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