Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hatched out 7 no. pine eggs 10 days ago. Five ate f/t pinks as soon as they shed, but the last 2 are stubborn, haven't taken f/t or live. Suggestions ? I've tried braining them, deli-cupping them overnight. No dice. They have good weight and seem otherwise perfectly healthy.

Wait for 'em to shed...I'm thinkin' they'll eat with gusto after that....congrats

-AzAtrox

Oops...my bad...guess I should read more carefully

If they have good body weight, just make sure they're hydrated...usually baby pines don't need a whole lot of coaxing to eat...Just leave 'em alone for a few days and try again...

did you use mouse pinks or rat pinks? I have almost no trouble getting hatchlings started on f/t rat pinks. I thaw them out in warm water and offer them while they still retain some heat. I usually put the meal into the hide box , kind of simulating a fossorial forage/hunt situation. hope this helps some.

daveb

I've always started my hatchling northerns on large fuzzy or even hopper sized mice. Plus 1 on the suggestion by Terry V.

"The mouse will often be killed by pressure against the walls of the box (tunnel) rather than actually being wrapped."

The big northern in the pic usually gets fed f/t rats, but I won't forget that one time I threw in a freshly thumped rat. The rat twitched and was immediately pinned against the plexiglas door with AUTHORITY! The door really started bowing out, and I was so sure he was going to crack it, I started pushing back from the outside. We had a little pushing contest there for a bit until he settled down.

dave,
yup, tried f/t rat pinks first with the stubborn ones, then brained them, in their hidebox, no go. Then tried mouse pinks, live. Still have 2 that are very curious but won't take anything.

Baby Northern Pinesnakes are large enough at hatching to take half grown mice. Not to say that you should give them a large meal. Just that they can swallow something that large if they have to.

Use a large live furry or a just weaned (eyes open) mouse. While the snake is in its hide box and has not been disturbed, run the mouse into the hole and set something against the hole to block the mouse or snake from coming out. You should hear something going on almost immediately. Come back in an hour or two and you should have a snake with a lump in it.

Pinks offer so little nutrition that a baby pinesnake may, upon occasion, simply refuse it. He may expend more energy eating it than what he gets out of it in the end. A dead pink offers no visual or tactile stimulation. Pinesnakes are tunnel feeders. They feed by smell and touch. They often feel their prey and pin it as it tries to run past the snake. In a tunnel it is difficult to coil around the rodent. By introducing the live mouse into the hide box, it will often run next to or on top of the snake, eliciting a pinning response with the coils. The mouse will often be killed by pressure against the walls of the box (tunnel) rather than actually being wrapped.

Give it a try.

Cheers,

Terry Vandeventer

that.....priceless

same here, baby bulls & pines can easily handle fuzzies so i don't waste pinks on them. & usually once started on 'larger prey', they'll often refuse the peewee stuff. it's almost like it's beneath them to accept that when they think something bigger/better may come along more suited to their taste......

thanks Terry, yes I'll move right on to hoppers, they're plenty big enough to take them.
craig