Posted by:
FR
at Wed Aug 10 20:58:28 2005 [ Email Message ] [ Show All Posts by FR ]
Again, captive methods work, but are far from resembling nature.
There are two basic regimes to approach. The physical, here I believe most have to narrow of temperature ranges and not enough humidity for babies. Consider, the surface to mass ratio is many times more in babies then adults. Which simply means neonates cannot withstand the stresses as well as adults. Also consider neonates often different in weight by 100%, normally its these smaller offspring that have prey selection problems. This may or may not be a problem with the snakes. Most likely its the keepers fault, poor husbandry or poor incubation.
And then behavioral aspects are also important, Of course there are perferred prey types, but I would think a starving wild baby would eat a pencil(joke, but you get the picture)
Also, sometimes common sense has to be applied. We perfer to offer pinkies, but maybe the snakes are smarter then we are, they most likely understand that where theres pinkies, there's adults too and adult mice can and will eat baby snakes. In these cases, the ability to feed while undercover is important. Most reptiles do not risk life and limb for food, they consume food under their control. FR
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