Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hello

I have two hatchling male honduran milks that are being very picky in their feeding. I am not sure how old they are but they were born in 09 and have been in my care for just over 1.5 months. One of them took a fresh killed pinkie at the reptile expo. However, neither one has eaten since I brought them home. They have both shed at least once.

Set-up:
Shoebox containers
Large water bowl
Aspen bedding
Underbelly heat ~86 on hot end upper 70s low 80s on cool end

Feeding Attempts:
Live
Fresh Killed
Brained
Frozen Thawed
Tuna scented (I also have hognose so I thought why not)
Anole scented

All feeding attempts have been in a deli cup and left for at least 6 hours each. After all this had failed, I was forced to force feed them to keep them going.

Please share any experiences you have with getting problem feeders to eat. I have never had a honduran refuse food for this long. Their patterns are really unique and I don't want to lose them. Thanks in advance for your help and expertise.

I wouldn't try force-feeding them. Just wait them out. Be patient. They'll eat eventually. Talk to the breeder and find out how may meals they took before he sold them and what exactly they ate.

Your set up seems OK, though maybe a little too warm.

Rob

To bad you had to force feed. That can be stressful on both of you. I would leave them alone for a few weeks, let them adjust, then a live pinky in a brown paper bag overnight usually does the trick...
Good luck!

Hi kyle,

Some of the aberrant stuff is notorious for being slow staters because in some cases thay have been line bred quite a bit to reproduce the unuasual pattern. We have two lines of aberrants and they were all slow starters, but they made it to adult size. It just took a little longer. I hope they come around for you.
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Thanks!

Joe Exposito
Thoroughbred Exotics, LLC
www.thoroughbredexotics.com

The temps seem a little warm to me ( I could very well be wrong though ) but perhaps try lowering them a few degrees to see what happens.

Also, do your cage setups include a hidebox? If not, they may not be feeling secure in their cages, even if they burrow under the aspen. Having a hidebox may make a big difference.

Also, if you haven't tried this, try feeding them inside their cages. Although some snakes may not have issues with being put in another container for feeding, some may not care for that, and simply may not eat.

Hope this helps!
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Genesis 1:1