Reptile & Amphibian Forums

a friend of mine gave me some baby runty balls knowing i had a little free time on my hands and i was wondering if anyone here has experienced; and/or can provide me with tips on how to get them going or if they had sucess with them or not. They weigh between 22-32 grams each. I have two of them eating but 3 of them are being very difficult and i get a defense strike at best. I tried day old pinkies on up to fuzzies. I may try raising the huidity but i dont want to risk RI. I have pretty good luck with picky eaters but these being babies im worrying about their fat reserves.
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we're here because a hobby became an obsession

some days you're the dog, some days you're the hydrant...don't know who started this saying but it's the truth

I had one that started to eat small fuzies only after more than a month, all the other hatchlings were eating for more than 3 weeks then. So patientce would be the first keyword..allways use live fooditems, so that the defensive strikes are getting into aggressive strikes. Mine was attacking everythin at first, only defensive..only after a month it was ment to kill

thanks. Ive been patient but cant help but at least offer food here and there. Did you find any temp gradient or humidity level especially helpful? I know waiting is key but i was just wondering about other experiences. Ive have females that went over 6 months without food that are awesome feeders now!
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we're here because a hobby became an obsession

some days you're the dog, some days you're the hydrant...don't know who started this saying but it's the truth

Nacho, the bee in the post directly below, was a runt, and was very small at hatching. I did have to assist feed twice, but after that he was a ravenous feeder and is bigger than other snakes his age. I do favor him a bit, though.
Justin
AAR

nachos looks pretty sweet im glad its eating habits improved. I have 4-5 pinks in two of the 5 baby balls but the other three are holding out. Two of the three non eaters are starting to thin out so im hoping they perk up soon. I dont even think they hit their first shed. Do you know how old they are when they typically go thru the first shed?
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we're here because a hobby became an obsession

some days you're the dog, some days you're the hydrant...don't know who started this saying but it's the truth

with little guys time can be a deadly enemy.
forget the waiting crap , assist feed every five days , and continue to offer on the fourth day after it's previous assist feed.
usually only takes four or five assists and they get it going on their own. use 2 or 3 day old pink mice for that size critter.
you really can't afford to wait , and the eating will stimulate their little appetites more than the starvation mode they are currently in.
lotsa luck , ck

im paranoid to force feed because i had some imports a few years back and they didnt respond well to it. It seemed to do more damage than good and believe me i tried so hard to be careful. I was considering force feeding but i dont even think they hit their first shed yet.
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we're here because a hobby became an obsession

some days you're the dog, some days you're the hydrant...don't know who started this saying but it's the truth

I would leave them be till they shed. Then offer something. Follow weight closely if the lose more than a gram or two I would assist feed, I have had to do it and usually by the second to third time they are doing it themselves.

thats what i was thinking but then i figured maybe id get lucky if i offered food every other day. Force feeding is just something i hate doing because how fragile a baby snake is and i wouldnt want to risk breaking teeth or even a jaw... or even putting strain on the spine. Almost everytime ive seen it done the poor snake is struggling to get away. Im just not sure how long it takes for them to shed and dont want to wait until its too late
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we're here because a hobby became an obsession

some days you're the dog, some days you're the hydrant...don't know who started this saying but it's the truth

When did they hatch? First shed should occur within a week or two after hatching. Its generally not recommended to even try to feed until after the first shed. But if they are more than three weeks old, I'd be wondering if they had shed already. Should be able to tell by looking at them though.

Assist feeding can be traumatic for a hatchling. But, I've done it with several that I'm convinced would have starved to death otherwise. I would agree with ConstrictorKeeper on the schedule and size of prey. Smaller prey is easier to assist feed, and because it is so small, you need to feed more often. When I was doing it, I fed a pinky mouse every three days. After just a few assists, they took off on their own.

Oh! Offer it first, and if the snake doesn't take it, then and only then assist.

Steve

didn't say force feed.
recommended assist feed.
much less stressful, for both of you.

ck

yeah i jumped the gun on that one. At times i forget the difference lol Sorry about that. Thanks again for the suggestion i appreciate it. I mean i have my gut feelings but im really trying to compare good with bad here and i figured the forum would help me make my decision.
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we're here because a hobby became an obsession

some days you're the dog, some days you're the hydrant...don't know who started this saying but it's the truth

We are discussing basic husbandry techniques, and trying to save snakes that aren't worth thousands of dollars. It goes to show people that we aren't money hungry, and are actually concerned with the propogation of the species. I guarantee that, because of husbandry efforts like this, people will never hear abuout this species facing extinction.

Good luck with those babies, I am sure tehy will come around.

thanks for the luck and i try to put effort into any animal i take in. Unfortunately at times theres just not much you can do for them. In this case i see hope though.... and i forgot to mention, one is a pastel (well thats almost normal these days lol )which ate for me two or three days after i got it.
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we're here because a hobby became an obsession

some days you're the dog, some days you're the hydrant...don't know who started this saying but it's the truth

Keep us posted. they are tiny babies, the smallest I ever had was 38 grams and 5 months later she is 258 grams. I have had a few that didnt eat and I had to assist feed it is not so bad till you get one that actually spins and twist to get the food out.That is whent he real fun begins.

I had a 28 grammer this season.
He didn't look too good.

Since he was so preemie, he didnt shed with the others. I gave him 2 weeks to eat on his own after a one week "leave alone" period, and assist fed him a pinkie mouse. He spit it out at me a few times, but then he just kept it in his mouth for like 5 minutes. He was sitting on my lap, us both deathly still, until he FINALLY started swallowing it.

The next week, I left 2 pinky mice in with him over night. One was gone. SWEET.

This week, I dropped one in, and he attacked Popped another in there, and attacked that one too.

I have had two runts; or premies. For both of them, I waited for about a month before trying anything. One was from last year, and it was a normal weighing in at 16 g. The other I am still working on, it was born in June weighing in at 18 -22 g. Anyway, i got this idea from Kollwitz, who in turn got it from someone else.
First I tried assisted feeding. That wouldn't work. The snake didn't even seem big enough to swallow a pinkie mouse. Both would just spit it back out. So from Kollwitz's suggestion, I tried a beef or chicken baby food. I used a suringe, and just pump alittle down it's throat. Just alittle. Barely enough to make the stomach pooch out. Then several days later I would try live again. I went through this with both for a couple months. Then, I moved up so a fine canned dog food. Beef and veggie. I would do this during the end of the second month to the third. Trying live first everytime. Then when the snake was big enough to force pinkies and fuzzies down, I would start that. If it swallowed the rodent, then I would move up to that stage. If not, I would go back to the wet dog food.
The first one finally started to eat live and grew rather fast after that. I am still working on a mojave runt. It is up to the assisted feeding finally. The belly finally looks halfway full. Sometimes it lookes pretty concave though. I am still keeping my finger crossed, but I forced a fuzzy down the other day. I am hoping any day now it will do it all on its own.
I hope this helps. If it is going to die anyway, It won't hurt to try. Good luck, and I have only tried this after I could see almost every organ in the snake through it belly because it was so skinny and thin skinned. But with premies or runts, that is only about a month after hatching, and time is of importance until it gets some size on it. Good luck.

I've also tried the ball syringe thing, with much success! Here's my recipe: Turkey baby food, Miner-all and Gatorade, mix it into a slury that can get through the syringe! Works great on baby Gray Bands too!

I set them up on a part of my rack with a better temp gradient. I added a humid hide and kept my dry hide. All are seperate with clean water etc. Im hoping that a slightly higher humidity level will spark things because my snakes (even picky eaters) usually eat pretty well after it rains and the humidity in the basement goes up. It looks as if theyre starting to go into shed or an old shed is on the body. I have had them for about two weeks now and they were pretty young when i got them. One is defensive towards pinks and the other two are exploring the new hides. Earlier i tried rubbing a pink on their nose and they wiggled and looked aggitated so ill see how this works. I think ill give them a little more time to acclimate with reduced light times. I think i just started rushing things prematurely. They arent anorexic but they dont have the normal weight most of my snakes have. I usually like to respond to post individually but it seems like im taking up alot of space and may be taking away from other news or inquiries. Thanks again to every post and i have considered the options and will keep you all informed. I let their small size throw me off guard but overall things arent looking too bad. My pastel was a runt too but after two double feedings it really plumped up. He started off as a defensive eater and one of the others is starting the same thing. I usually wouldnt rush a feeding pre-shed but again the small premie siz put me in a different mind set.
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we're here because a hobby became an obsession

some days you're the dog, some days you're the hydrant...don't know who started this saying but it's the truth