Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I captured a 32 inch adult female eastern milk snake about eight weeks ago. One week after capture she deposited nine healthy eggs which I now have incubating. I have studied snakes all my life but have never bred or incubated eggs before. The eggs will be hatching in about three weeks and I am a little concerned about feeding the babies when they emerge. I have read story after story about how they are hard to feed and don't eat well. However I also read the same thing about wild caught adults and mine will eat dead mice from my hand and only has bitten me once. ( when she was captured ) I even let my three year old hold her. Anyway, I wanted to see if anyone has experience feeding newborns and if they will eat things other than tiny pinky mice. I am not too proud to ask for help!

In my experience some will eat frozen/thawed pinky mice without any problem, while others won't eat at all. It is likely that they eat a wide variety of food as hatchlings. It's my guess that you'd get a few (maybe half) to eat mice. I never tried getting babies to eat small lizards or snakes, but it's probably what the non-mouse eaters are holding out for.

Tim

Third Eye

thanks for the help!

Just caught a tiny baby garter snake in my yard today. Now I only need about thirty more! I will save it for a couple of weeks to see if it helps with a hard feeder. Thanks again.

One thing that I do with stubborn hatchlings of all kinds is to buy some catfish or halibut from the grocery store. Wash the pinky and then rub it all over with the fish. Has worked well for me with milksnakes, indigos, and tree boas. You can also try catching a skink and freezing it, then scenting using that once the babies come.
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Paul Weaver
Carolina Herps

Please keep us posted with your progress and findings and show us some photos. Thanks.

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Joe

beautiful snake photo. I am kind of computer challanged though I will talk my wife into posting some photos.