Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I was reading the post below about hatchlings not eating. I was not worried because my hatchlings are about two weeks old. But, I was wondering, how long Can they go without eating? When should a person start to worry?
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****Misty****

"Yesterday was the deadline for all complaints"

The list keeps getting Smaller!
Not counting Hatchlings, this is what I have.........

1.1.2 bearded dragons
7.17.4 corn snakes
1.1.0 jungle corns
2.5.0 king snakes
1.0.0 Sinaloan milk snake
0.1.0 Tri-Hybrid milk snake
0.1.0 rat snake
1.1.0 Leucistic rat snakes
1.1.0 Congo African Grey Parrots
0.1.0 German Shepherd hybrid dog

Misty,

They can go 3 to 4 months without food. I wouldn't start with "tricks" like splitting pinky heads or scenting until after 6 to 8 weeks of trying to feed the snakes by leaving them in a deli cup overnight with a pinky.

Keep in mind that if they do go 3 months without feeding, they're well on their way to being "goners." At this point some people force feed the babies, while others choose to "put them down" as it seems there's a belief that poor feeding habits could be genetic.

Tim

Third Eye

It's not a happy boast, but of the non-feeders that ultimately died without taking food of their own accord, my "records" are 7 months for a hatchling that had just had supplements in its water, and 9 months for a hatchling that had supplements plus one force-feed a month.

Having said that, last year I had one hatch in late August and then start eating of its own accord in mid-January, after refusing every feeding trick for nearly 5 months. From then on it ate everything I offered and I sold it in March.

I'm increasingly of the opinion that I ought to be hardening my heart and dispatching any weaker ones after maybe three months of trying. I've also heard from a breeder of over 20 years, that he sees feeding habits being passed to offspring.

However, practising what I preach might be a different matter.

Yeah, it is a tough decision. But if we don't toughen it up, we could be passing on undesirable traits. The problem is compounded by the desire to make $$$. I get the little guy eating after 4 or 5 months and then I can sell him or her. That little anomilie in growth doesn't seem too bad so I sell that one too. Then they are bred. Granted, we don't know for sure what gets passed on. We have not been breeding these critters long enough to get good data. But we do have data from other critters (tropical fish, birds, dogs, cats, etc.). It's not unreasonable to figure reptiles will probably be the same. Just my $.02.

Pat Glazener-Cooney

Not $$$ in my case Pat - I sell to a reptile shop for relative peanuts.

My problem is that I'm a weak and feeble woman, who can't bear the thought that I might euthanase an animal that has the potential to live a normal and happy life, if I just keep trying with it for a few more weeks.

It'd be an interesting thing to look into. In dogs some runt that had trouble getting going can turn into fine animals and produce fine offspring. And if you're selling to a place where the offspring tend to become pets it becomes a moot point as to genetics. It'd be worth seeing if some of the slow starters had a higher percentage of slow starting offspring. Just from the curiosity point if nothing else.
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3.5 Normal Ball pythons (Hoss, Little Man, Adam, Helen, Annabel Lee, Summer and the new girls who gets named when they eat)
0.2 Snow corns (Legolas, Eurydice)
1.0 Amel het charcoal (Orlando)
1.0 Hypo het anery het Amel (Antony)
0.1 Amel het Stripe (Cleopatra)
1.0 Caramel Motley poss het Amel (Flick)
0.1 Amber (Amberly)
1.1 Anery Stripe
0.1 Anery
0.0.1 GTP (Kissy the Red)
1.1 Haitian Boa (Enkil and Akasha)

And bunches of furry pets