Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hey all. I got a pair of Black Tails from Brett. They are great looking, but stubborn feeders. They have eaten feeder fish for him, but what is the best method to get them switched over. Today I tried putting them in separate feeding containers and misted the container with a spray bottle and put them in each container. I then dropped in a brained pink. These are in a warm area and I am hoping the heat and humidity would help. Any other ideas? I know he has tried live, brained, etc. Some of their siblings were offered food outside a hide, which I have tried, but no luck yet. The smaller one is only about 15g and the female is over 20g. I know this has been discussed before, but I can't find the post.

Thanks,
John

Never had any luck feeding my young Black Tails outside the hide box. Never even tried moving them to a different box to feed made them to nervous.

I placed f/t fuzzy mice right at the entrance of the hide and left them alone, overnight. If the young cribo sees you or feels you walking around probably won’t eat.

Used chicken parts to scent the fuzzy.

2 cents employed….Good luck..

Yeah, I think disturbing them was a big mistake on my part. They wouldn't even eat fish if I disturbed them. Hope they get going for you on rodents....

I bought feeder fish today and just put them in. I don't want them to starve. I will keep at it though. The female is real spunky..she thinks she is a pitbull..lol. It is funny as heck watching her latch onto my hand. It won't be funny in a year or two though.heh

John

try a small toad. just to get them started

I also got a pair of BTC from Brett. Both of them ate a live pinky the first time offered. The male has continued to be a good eater either f/t or live pinks or minnows. The female on the other hand only ate that first time and has refused any thing else since.I will try a tree frog next and then a baby corn if needed, I have a friend who has some baby corns that won't eat. If all that fails I will then give her mouse or rat tails until she comes around.

washed small pinks & leave them overnight in front of their hides. assist feeding will also get them started as a last resort but can be trying to both parties. this is why i stopped breeding drys for awhile. if you think 2 are tough, try 30-some at a time! i got them all to eat slowly but i thought i was gonna die. best of luck, they'll eat when their good & ready.........

Hi Dan, I have tried most of the little tricks to get her to eat another pinky, such as live,f/t,stillborn pinkies ,scented with lizard,egg,fish,chicken blood/juice,tuna juice,brained pinky. Maybe I'll try a rat tail in a baby corn snake shed. Next I'll try a tree frog and last maybe a baby corn. In a month or so I will assist with rat/mouse tails if needed. If all else fails I can feed her to an Indigo lol.

Yeah, they are/were driving me nuts. I am used to Boas snatching up rat pups on the first offering. I have tried everything but the minnows are what the two remaining are eating. I keep trying the mice scented with lizard, chicken etc and it's not working. ARGGHHHH! I have a friend out here, Jerry, that has had success with one and not the other but he fed the one not eating a treefrog and it went nuts on it. Hope they get going for you guys...

In the past.....

I've used treefrogs with good results. They tend to like them alot and its rather tough to get them to switch from that to pinks however. Rotten, nasty, smelly catfish works also.

Fred Albury

I have an Eastern Indigo hatchling that didn't want to eat. One day I bought some catfish filets for dinner. I figured 'what the heck', and took a washed pinky and rubbed it all over a piece of catfish filet (um, not a piece that we ended up eating The hatchling ate it within five minutes. I saved the filet and have been using it over and over and he's still taking them like this. In fact, it even worked on an Amazon Tree Boa I have that hadn't eaten in 4 months!
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Paul Weaver
Carolina Herps

Thanks for the tip! The male ate a fuzzy mouse for the first time. I took a feeder fish that had died in the pond, cut it open and rubbed it all over the fuzzy. Put it in the cage and he ate it within about 5 min. I think the female didn't eat hers because she had eaten more feeder fish than the male had. It's so cool to see a big lump in him!

John

just not rodents. They are eating feeder fish. I just wanted to make sure everyone knew Brett didn't send them to me until they were feeding on feeder fish. I am just trying to switch them over.
Brett, BTW, they both ate 2 goldfish after we talked Sunday and the male is going in shed, which is a good sign. The female loves me...or I should say, she loves my hand. She loves to bite, strike and chew on it like a piece of rawhide.
I will try the catfish fillet "rub" next. This is kind of a fun challenge...in a sick, sadomasochistic sort of way..lol. Thanks for the replies all.

John