Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I picked up a baby black milk at the new england reptile expo about 3-4weeks ago as a 2 week old hatchling. It hadn't eaten yet an it was still going through it first shed. Now it has shed and I've been trying to get it to eat but it either gets defensive or just wants nothing to do with the prey item. I've tried frozen, live, brained, putting it in a small container with the prey over night, nothing. I'm not really worried yet and if I need to I can call the breeder and he can exchange it for another one for me. Before I need to go that far I just want to see if their are any other tricks for getting black milks to eat. Thanks for the help!

A few thoughts here:

1. Never buy a snake that has not eaten unless you pay less then normal value.

2. Its not unusual for a hatchling to not eat till the 8th or 10th week.

3. Try scenting live pinks

4. Try a very small live lizard, then scent a live pink with the same type lizard. All this while the snake is still in feeding mode from the lizard it just ate.

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Doug L

In addition to what "snake_bit"(Doug L.) already mentioned, if you see the snake being very afraid of the live lizard jumping all over it in the confined space of a deli cup for example,...kill, or stun it and re-introduce it to the snake, many times a prey animal jumping around all over it will either enhance a feeding response, or scare the crap out of it,....one of the two..LOL!

~Doug
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"a snake in the grass is a GOOD thing"

doug email me or ill email you
xray_doug@yahoo.com
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Doug L

Okay,...I left you an email.

Doug #1 to Doug #2....come in?, do you roger that?, over?..LOL!
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"a snake in the grass is a GOOD thing"

Nice zonata, Doug! As I suspected from the description, this is one of my hatchlings... it's funny, I thought I recognized it in the picture that he posted back on Oct. 4th, and almost replied to say so, but then I thought "Naaaah... can't be"! After all, what are the chances... but, small world and all that. Anyway, with regard to your points, #1 was definitely in effect; I'm not trying to rip anybody off. I prefer to not sell non-feeders, and generally try to steer people towards the hatchlings that have already eaten. However, since the gaigeae usually hatch in mid-September plus or minus a week, and the New England show is typically held on the first Saturday of October, it's always a crapshoot as to whether they'll have shed and fed before showtime. This year, since they didn't start hatching until about Sep. 21st, and the show was on Oct. 3rd, none of them had shed, and only about four or five (of 11) had eaten. Generally, though, gaigeae are very easy to get started, so I don't worry too much about selling hatchlings that haven't eaten yet. Even the non-feeders come with a full guarantee, so rest assured that one way or another, Mr. Brewster will have a healthy black milksnake hatchling before the year is out.

Thanks,
Nate

Hello,
If you got a black milk at the show in Manchester, you must have bought it from either Rob Haneisen or me, and luckily, we're both regulars on this forum. I suspect you probably got it from me, since I think Rob said that he left the ones that hadn't shed or eaten yet at home. Of the 7 hatchlings that I still have from the '09 clucth, there are two that still haven't eaten. Of the five that are eating, one is exhibiting the same behaviors as yours... if I try to feed it with forceps as I do with the others, he'll strike at the pinky, spit it out, then resume a defensive posture. If I leave the pinky alone with it for a few hours, though, it will eat. So, there is hope for your little one. It sounds like you're trying all the right feeding tricks... I would try a live pinky as well, if you can get them in your area. Chain stores like Petco and Petsmart usually don't have them, but a privately owned pet shop might. If you can get it started on live pinkies, it's usually very easy to switch over to frozen/thawed. Give it a few more weeks... if it doesn't start eating by Turkey Day, then we can arrange a trade-in.

Thanks,
Nate

Nate is correct - I left my non-feeders at home. I had 3 non-feeders out of a clutch of 12 black milks (which is kind of high by my experience).

My advice: Don't do anything. Don't scent, don't brain, don't try tease feeding, etc. Black milks will eat eventually. Wait them out. I have had a few Hondurans this year that have decided to wait until after their second shed to feed on FT (I'll cup the stubborn ones overnight). All the tricks you are trying right now are probably freaking out the black milk hatchling. Just chill out and wait. My rule of thumb is to try three feedings after their first shed and if they don't eat FT then, I wait until after their next shed cycle. It ALWAYS works.

Good luck.

Rob

Thanks for the good advice and reassuring words, Rob. I'm not too happy about having two non-feeders at this late date either, but I noticed while cleaning their cages today that one of them had defecated, so maybe it's still digesting some yolk material internally. I'm sure they'll come around eventually. The good news is that the aberrant one is eating like a champ. How did your holdback from that late clutch turn out... that one good egg must have hatched by now?

That last egg hatched and it was alive for a short time but had multiple deformities (stump tail and upper spine kinks). Oh well.

I always find the biggest hatchlings to be the slowest to get going, mostly because I think they are full of yolk. I'm going to resort to live pinks in a week or so on my last stubborn babies.

thanks and good luck.

Rob

PS: That aberrant is really cool.

Thanks, man, too bad it's just going to end up turning black! Actually, its belly is already black; I should get a good ventral pic now that it's shed. Bummer about that hatchling... guess it was a small miracle that it made it as far as it did.

Nate

any non feeding hatchlings. Many late season hatchlings have more than enough body weight to easily brumate. Most hatchlings eat straight out of brumation with no problems.

Good luck!