Reptile & Amphibian Forums

As some of you guys know my collection is new. I have some a few that are eating machines. My male Amel is a pleasure he takes frozen thawed right off tongs, which seems pretty cool for a milk. A female Hypo is a brat, she tries to bite me when I try the tongs with her but eats normally when I just left the item in her cage, like most of the others "Just leave it over there, dude and go away."

I have two purchased from different people, places that aren't eating. I tried thawed and live overnight with them. Thing is they have only been in my collection three weeks max. What should I try from people experienced with Milks? Wait a bit longer for acclimation? Alive in a deli container? brained? What gets a Milk going, when do I worry?

Not knowing their status before you got them, they could be going into brumation. Maybe it was brought on in shipping? You can either try getting em cold again and gradually bringing them out of it or heating a bit extra and keep an eye on shed cycles. If they are WC they normally shut off this time of year. As long as they have weight they should be fine, but try some soaking in case there is a shed problem first.

Oh I can give you a little backround. The two that are not eating are both 2010s. They are CB morphs. They actually both shed last week. One has been in South Florida its entire life, one was shipped from up north. They sit in the low 80's to 79 degrees in the day, thats where they like it in there cages, I know I temp gunned it. at night I let it drop into the low 70s, South Florida doesn't get cold.

Your temps seem fine. Do they have good hides in their cages? Milks can get nervous without good hide spots in the cage. Throw a coupe of good tight hides on the cool and warm ends of the cage. I have a pair of cb09 hypo hondurans. The female is a chow hound all the time, but the male gets picky time to time. One trick you can try is to offer a smaller than normal meal. If they were feeding on large pinks or fuzzys, try very small newborn pinks. I have a pyro that trick works on. As Jeff mentioned, shipping and the temp fluctuations may have affected them as well. Even though one was shipped from S. Floriday, it may have overnighted some where else along the shipping route.

Knowing what type of milks they are would be a huge factor. I will assume, however, that they're Central American milks, since I seem to remember that being what you had posted photos of. If they're not, and are actually a temperate form, then I'd suspect that Jeff's correct and that your animals are going into brumation.

Regardless, Kevin's information regarding the hides is spot-on. I'd also be interested to know how large their enclosures are. In my experience, a large portion of milks are reluctant to feed in a large enclosure. Many milk-heads choose to keep their animals in slightly smaller housing, as the animals feel more secure.

Do you know of all of the animals you received were feeding prior to you purchasing them? Some sellers will offer non-feeding neonates for sale, though these are best avoided by those new to milks.

A couple of suggestions:
I'd try raising the temperature of their hot spots to 88-90 degrees Fahrenheit, while maintianing a cool spot in the mid to low 70's. I'd also suggest offering brained, frozen/thawed pinks to the non-feeders. The scent is often too much for them to resist. Keep the animals in relatively small containers and offer multiple hides.

-Cole

Yeah, good advice by all. Since they are young Hondos, and you live in south Florida, I would keep them feeding this entire year (weather permitting). I put reluctant feeders in a nice clean deli cup with no other animal's scent in it to spook them, then tear/rip up the snout real well(or brain) a F/T offering. Put this in a totally dark place with the snake in it and leave it absolutely undisturbed for a few hours. As Cole mentioned, the wafting scent of the moist rodent tissue is often just what it takes to initiate a good feeding response from many picky neonates. I do this quite often, and it has always worked great the vast majority of the time. For some snakes, it seems to be like throwing a light switch on!..

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

my website -serpentinespecialties.webs.com

Update: One of them ate. Took a live offering tonight with the lights off after about 30 minutes, after I tried a frozen thawed. So she at least is settling in, feels good.

Very good!, it is a great feeling when you get snakes going on their first meal and go onto thrive well..

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

my website -serpentinespecialties.webs.com