I have gotten my first HL, rather unexpectedly. That is not the way I usually go about things, but I was at the National Reptile Breeders Expo in Daytona in mid August and fell in love with a gorgeous little DHL. My vet, (John Rossi, who specializes in herps and has written a number of books about snakes), was at the show and advised me that they could be hard to feed. I talked to the guy who was selling them and he assured me that this one was already eating very well and ate crickets and mealworms as well as ants. I have several other dessert dwelling lizards and have extra ceramic heat emitters, basking lights, 8.0 UV lights, etc available, so I felt pretty comfortable getting him and playing catch up on the information.
He is 2.5" from snout to vent and 4.5" from snout to tail tip. He is definitely male, but I have no idea how old he is. The vendor did not raise him from a hatchling, so he did not have an age on him. When I got him, he appeared very well nourished. His limbs, hips and tail all appeared "well meated". His eyes were bright and clear and there was no sign of any illness.
The first night, while I was still at the hotel, he wandered around on the bed for quite a while and ate a wax worm and three meal worms. He was very calm, so much so in fact that I named him Placido Domingo (I purchased him on a Sunday....lol.) After I brought him home, I made him a 10 gallon tank habitat (with the intention to bump him up to a 20 long within a few months) with a play sand substrate. He has an 8.0 UV tube on during the day as well as a 100 watt basking lamp. Both of these are turned off at night.
When he first got home, I had to find a place to order ants from and get them in (it took just a little over a week to complete that and have them in hand.) In the mean time, I offered him small crickets and mealworms. He did not eat any of the mealworms, but he did eat a cricket or two, nothing more. Once the ants were in (I got harvesters from AntsAlive), I put 3 in with him to see how he would react and how quickly he would eat them. Basically, he didn't. After a few hours, I removed them.
The next day, I put one in and he ate it within an hour or two, so I put in one more. I had to remove that one several hours later. He is now eating 3-5 ants a day, but he is looking thin. The meatyness of his limbs and tail base are gone and his hip bones are beginning to show. I am worried. I force fed him two wax worms today, which he didn't particularly enjoy. For that matter, neither did I, but I felt he really needed some nutrition more than he was getting. That and I have no clue how to force feed ants. The wax worms are maleable enough to manage.
The other issue that concerns me is water. He doesn't appear to drink out of the shallow water dish. I mist his body daily, but maintain the substrate as dry sand. I have tried the dripping water on his snout technique, but have never seen him take any of it.
I have read back through as much of the archives as I can, but haven't found what I am looking for as to what I might be able to do beyond this point. And I am not sure how the hibernation pattern will be effected here in Florida where it is still 80+ daily.
So, can anyone give me any clue as to what his age might be, what I should expect as far as hibernation behaviour and how concerned I should be about the food/water issues and how I might best solve them?
I was kicking myself for even getting him without having all of my information up front, and then I realized that he probably wasn't really better off where he was when I got him. It was late in the show and he had been locked up in a very small tupperware on a paper towel for two days with no clue as to what might happen to him after that.
Your help would REALLY be appreciated!
Karen
