hatchlings unable to open mouth
 

Two of my hatchlings don't seem to be able to eat. They are both exactly two weeks old and haven't done poop yet. I watched them today carefully to find out if there is any problem. They seem to be very keen to eat, keep pushing their head into food and nearly eating, but they don't seem able to open their mouth. One of them is not opening mouth at all, just desperately pushing into food but not actually eating. The other is opening it little bit, but not really enough to eat. I offered weeds and there was no single bite after 30 mins of trying, and then I tried softer food (pellets) and I don't think anything went in either, even though they tried really hard. Is there any advice? Have you ever had similar problem?

I believe Suze had this problem with a hatchling a couple of years ago. I'm sure she or Gordon may be able to advise.
Poor little hatchlings. It must be very worrying watching them unable to eat. :(

Is it able to drink?
Does it still look healthy or is it wasting away?
Have you tried cleaning around the area where the beak joins? Maybe it is stuck with gunk from in the egg that has now dried solid, I would soak it for quite a while then use a cotton tip or kids soft paint brush to very gently work up under the beak, it will be fiddly but worth a try.

Believe it or not wiping a cold tea bag or cold tea over the egg albumin will help remove it.

I have not heard of that before,there is a useful tip!
Does it work if it is dried on Sandy?

Well it has in the past.

I think they are both able to drink. With the one that doesn't open mouth at all, is it possible that it would be drinking through its nostrils ? Because every time I get it out of water, it sort of breathe out and waters runs from the nostrils.

They don't seem to be wasting away. I only noticed that they weren't pooping yet and therefore I watched them carefully when they were eating, otherwise I wouldn't know anything was wrong. But they are not putting on weight either.

I can't see any gunk from outside, but I wonder if it is from inside. Both of them were born with a lot of jelly like sticky thick gunk. I gave them bath as soon as they were born and washed it off them, but I wonder if it got stuck from inside... They are having bath twice a day. I think I will try with the brush gently around the beak.

Are you suggesting a bath in cold or warm-ish tea? Or is it too late for that now?

Try all in turn to see which one works the best.
It can't do any harm either way.

I had this very problem with a hatchling a few years ago. I felt terrible because it took me nearly three weeks to put my finger on the problem :( The hatchling was very active, I had been on holiday and when I got back noticed her trying to bite her siblings, my Dad said " the little white one is far too busy to eat"! But I watched her carefully one day and realised that after going through the motions of trying to eat there were no bite marks in the leafs. On close examination (which was hard, as she was only 10 grams I worked out she didnt have a slit on one side where the mouth opening should be. If you gently applied pressure to the mandable one side gaped the other didnt.

Anyway my vet wasnt sure she could do it but managed to make and fit a feeding tube, using a cat vein catheter, which was very small and fiddly. She pulled this out after 2 weeks. I then managed to keep her alive for about a year adding critical care to soaks, sometimes watered down baby food but I couldnt get her past a certain weight and lost her.

Danny reckoned they are sometimes born with a jaw hinge missing or deformed.

Out of interest what temperature did you incubate these at?