Reptile & Amphibian Forums

A couple weeks ago I picked up a pair of 100% het. caramel albino balls and my female is easily one of the pickiest feeders I’ve ever had (and I’ve worked with many difficult species). The male is CB 2007 and eats fine, but the female is CB 2005 and won’t eat a thing. The breeder I got her from said he was feeding dwarf hamsters because in his experience the caramel line females are picky feeders. I feel this is somewhat BS, but I am trying everything I can think of. Has anyone else had this problem? So far she’s been offered f/t and live of the following: mice of various size, rat pups, small gerbils, and dwarf hamsters. I’ve also tried braining, snouting, feeding at various times of the day, paper bag feeding, but I’m starting to run out of ideas. She is around 450-475 grams, which IMO is way too small for a ’05 animal. Does anyone have any advice or personal experience they can offer? Thanks in advance.

- Evan

I would give african soft furred rats a try. My snakes love them. And I agree that 450g is tiny for an 05. Why did you decide to buy such a small difficult feeder?
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John Vandegrift

John,

Thanks for the reply. I’ll see if I can find African soft furred rats. I was purchasing three animals at the same time and the breeder sold his last ’07 het caramel and offered her to me for a few bucks more. I’m really kicking myself for not investigating her feeding card better when I got her. I saw dates and what looked to be “rat” and found out it was dwarf hamsters. After finding this out I was still pretty convinced I could switch her to mice/rats, but she has proven me wrong so far. I’m going to give her a few more shots then see if some sort of deal/trade can be arranged with the breeder. Thanks again.

- Evan

It sounds kinda crappy the way the guy did it. Honestly, if its been this long, maybe you should just cut your losses and sell the thing off (prob. at a loss)? I would just be honest and there will be somebody out there who wants to take on the challenge - and save some cash.

I have a Het Albino girl Ive been Di..inking around with for 2 1/2 years and it is NO fun and not even worth it. It took me a solid year to get her to eat on her own. The first year consisted of mainly force-feedings. Once she got to around 200-250grams she became a little more aggressive and eats on her own, but she is a runt and always will be. She is still along way from breeding.

I am always suspicious of females that are 2-3 years old and small, and you gotta love the 2000 gram 50% or 100% females that are advertised as "Never been bred"...Yeah Right.

Thanks for your reply. I’m going to try feeding a few more times then see if I can work something out with the breeder. My favorite caveat “You get what you pay for” is severely coming back to bite me in the rear.

- Evan

If you got her at a great price I would not return her. Just work with her. Who cares if it takes you an extra year to get her up to size. I have a friend that has a 260g 2005 female albino. Some just eat like crap. I would try cooling her with your breeders this season (obviously don't breed her). Just cycling them seems to make some eat like crazy for a month or two.
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John Vandegrift

wow !!!! I haven't posted in this forum for a long while, "take it for what it's worth"

I bought a het caramel pair in '01;

the female ate sporatically for the first few years.

breeding season (male introduced) spurred feeding slightly.

I really thought she was a dwarf until '06 whan she started to finally eat!! and now she really eats!!!

she is about 2800 grams now in '07 and i'm glad I waited. she has bred the last 2 years and givin 9 good eggs so far.

TomChambers