Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Okay, y'all, gimme yer input --

I got three baby hondos the end of December. All are kept under identical conditions.

One has always been a good eater. (f/t pinks)

I started feeding the other two in small tubs, left overnight.

The second one got the idea, and is also now a good eater.

The third will STILL not eat. I have brained pinks, I have fed in the tubs, and last night I force fed a pinkie head. She even spit that out.

I'm thinking I've got at least four options:

1. go buy a live pink -- which I reaaaaaaally don't want to do, not to mention which the closest live pinks are about an hour's drive from me

2. scent a f/t pink with a lizard -- which raises the question of where to get affordable lizards in TN in early spring

3. try force feeding another head next week

4. liquefy a f/t pink and syringe it down

5. syringe feed an egg

6. scent a f/t pink with chicken scent (I've got chickens, but I don't know how milks feel about eating birds!)

What would y'all try next?

Any input welcomed!
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0.1 Peruvian rainbow boa (Amaru)
2.0 Brazilian rainbow boas (Arco, Olho)
0.3 Honduran milksnakes (Chicchan, Chanir, Hari)
1.0 Thayeri kingsnake (Coatl)
2.7 corns (Cetto, Tolosa, Uce, TBA)
1,000,000.1,000,000 other critters

Live...live....live....live....live! I've NEVER had a picky baby hondo that wouldn't eventually take a live pink and that is out of hundreds of them over the years.
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Randy Whittington

>>Live...live....live....live....live! I've NEVER had a picky baby hondo that wouldn't eventually take a live pink and that is out of hundreds of them over the years.
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>>Randy Whittington

Yeah, but I bet you've got plenty of live pinks right there. I'm not willing to drive 2 hours (1 hour each way) every week to keep this little bugger fed, and I'm also not willing to breed mice for her.

What would be your second choice, aside from the things I've already tried?
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0.1 Peruvian rainbow boa (Amaru)
2.0 Brazilian rainbow boas (Arco, Olho)
0.3 Honduran milksnakes (Chicchan, Chanir, Hari)
1.0 Thayeri kingsnake (Coatl)
2.7 corns (Cetto, Tolosa, Uce, TBA)
1,000,000.1,000,000 other critters

My second choice would be to give it to a friend who has access to live mice.
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Randy Whittington

I believe Randy is right, but it sounds inconvenient for you to acquire live pinks. You might try braining a f/t pink and twitch tease the pink for the honduran, see if it will take it that way. Some honduran neonates are complete spazz cases when it comes time to opening their tub, but try opening slowly, and gently so as to not freak it out. If that is done w/ success poke the pink in w/ a pair of long tweezers/tongs and slightly twitch the pink in front of the honduran until it takes the pink or starts throwing its' tongue at the pink, it might not take the pink off the tong/tweezers, so gently place the pink down without upsetting the honduran and close the lid, and gently place back on the shelf. ( It sounds like a lot of "gently" crap going on here, but w/ a high strung neonate I think it's warranted.)

I only feed f/t pinks and mice and I would say stick w/ it, from my experience it will come around, but keep offering a pink every few days like this until it takes.

If you force feed a tail or a head, once the neonate has taken the item keep it moving forward by tapping its tail and it will have a harder time of regurgitating the item.

Syringing liquefied pinks is about the grossest thing I've ever done, and hope to never do it again. I've never tried an egg, but I've used lamb/turkey baby food in a syringe w/ success, but didn't care for that to much either. I'd only do it as a last disagreeable strategy.

Never tried chickens. (Do your chickens have large talons?)

Good luck.

-Dell

Thanks for the suggestions, Dell! I think the tong feeding is out for this kid -- spazz is her middle name. But I like the suggestions about how to discourage regurging and the baby food, and I'll keep those in mind. And if I get really really optimistic, I'll try the tongs too!

And yes, the chickens have claws! But I was only thinking about making the pink SMELL like the chickens.....

>>I believe Randy is right, but it sounds inconvenient for you to acquire live pinks. You might try braining a f/t pink and twitch tease the pink for the honduran, see if it will take it that way. Some honduran neonates are complete spazz cases when it comes time to opening their tub, but try opening slowly, and gently so as to not freak it out. If that is done w/ success poke the pink in w/ a pair of long tweezers/tongs and slightly twitch the pink in front of the honduran until it takes the pink or starts throwing its' tongue at the pink, it might not take the pink off the tong/tweezers, so gently place the pink down without upsetting the honduran and close the lid, and gently place back on the shelf. ( It sounds like a lot of "gently" crap going on here, but w/ a high strung neonate I think it's warranted.)
>>
>>I only feed f/t pinks and mice and I would say stick w/ it, from my experience it will come around, but keep offering a pink every few days like this until it takes.
>>
>>If you force feed a tail or a head, once the neonate has taken the item keep it moving forward by tapping its tail and it will have a harder time of regurgitating the item.
>>
>>Syringing liquefied pinks is about the grossest thing I've ever done, and hope to never do it again. I've never tried an egg, but I've used lamb/turkey baby food in a syringe w/ success, but didn't care for that to much either. I'd only do it as a last disagreeable strategy.
>>
>>Never tried chickens. (Do your chickens have large talons?)
>>
>>Good luck.
>>
>>-Dell
>>
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0.1 Peruvian rainbow boa (Amaru)
2.0 Brazilian rainbow boas (Arco, Olho)
0.3 Honduran milksnakes (Chicchan, Chanir, Hari)
1.0 Thayeri kingsnake (Coatl)
2.7 corns (Cetto, Tolosa, Uce, TBA)
1,000,000.1,000,000 other critters

I gotta agree with Randy on both his points. Go with live or wait her out with FT. If live is too much of a pain in the butt, find someone who will take her.

In the 7 years that I've been breeding Hondurans, I finally had my first real hold-out for live. She is an 09 possible hybino and for the life of me I can't get her to take FT, so every 4 weeks I toss in two live pinks and she chomps them down. My next step with her is to cup her overnight with one live and one FT pink to see if that gets her going in the right direction. I've never tried braining or scenting with Hondos and I don't think force-feeding is all that successful unless you count stressing out a hatchling as success.

Good luck!

Rob

Live would be the best option. However, if you are defrosting the pinks in hot water, try defrosting at room temp, or near a light bulb/heat source. The pink smells different. I have transpecos rat that will only take f/t defrosted this way, while all the other snakes take warm water defrosted animals.

>>Live would be the best option. However, if you are defrosting the pinks in hot water, try defrosting at room temp, or near a light bulb/heat source. The pink smells different. I have transpecos rat that will only take f/t defrosted this way, while all the other snakes take warm water defrosted animals.

Thanks Kevin, I may try that.

I defrost with the pinks inside a plastic bag and the bag inside the water. I dislike waterlogged rodents myself, so I can imagine the snakes wouldn't like em much. But I can try a totally dry method and see what happens. Thanks to chick brooders I've got plenty of heat lamps!
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0.1 Peruvian rainbow boa (Amaru)
2.0 Brazilian rainbow boas (Arco, Olho)
0.3 Honduran milksnakes (Chicchan, Chanir, Hari)
1.0 Thayeri kingsnake (Coatl)
2.7 corns (Cetto, Tolosa, Uce, TBA)
1,000,000.1,000,000 other critters

perhaps stick with rainbows, since you obviously cannot provide what your lil milk needs(live pinks).
i feel SO sorry for your snakes.
,,,,,,,,,thomas davis
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Morphs... just like baseball cards BUT ALIVE, how cool is that???

my website www.barmollysplace.com

Thanks for your input!
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0.1 Peruvian rainbow boa (Amaru)
2.0 Brazilian rainbow boas (Arco, Olho)
0.3 Honduran milksnakes (Chicchan, Chanir, Hari)
1.0 Thayeri kingsnake (Coatl)
2.7 corns (Cetto, Tolosa, Uce, TBA)
1,000,000.1,000,000 other critters