Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hi everyone. I'm new to this forum & have a few questions for the experts.
Out of 7 Sinolean eggs, I have 4 hatchlings. an Albino, 3 high red abberents.
Do they eat live newborn pinkies?
At what age do you sex them & how? Pop or probe.
They look too small to try & pop them.
Thank you,
Beth

Well, the first thing you should know is that they aren't true "Sinaloan" milksnakes. For there to be an albino in the clutch is most indicative of the amel Nelson's milksnake gene also being in their genetic background. Without actually seeing pics of them, they are either true L.t.nelsoni, or much more likely intergrades of the two subspecies. There are more nelsoni x sinaloae intergrades in todays hobby than you could possibly imagine.

Next, yes, hatchlings usually do accept newborn, or frozen/thawed pinkie mice. But wait until AFTER their first shed around 7 to ten days after hatching to offer them. The hatchlings have a natural reserve of egg yolk in their belly to give them a good "head start" on life, so they don't usually begin to get hungry at all until well after their first shed most of the time.

Also, I would strongly suggest that you get some good inexpensive milksnake books from most any pet shops that sell reptiles, book stores, or countless books on line. This is the most important thing you could possibly do for yourself. Learning about all their basic and fundamental needs BEFORE you own them is extremely important for you, and even more importantly, the snakes themselves.

They can easily be sexed by being "popped" shortly after their shed. I like to usually wait until after ther first shed so it reduces the chance of tearing the shed that will be coming off so it all comes off in one piece. It is VERY inportant that ALL their shed comes completely off from nose to tip of tail. This means the eye caps, and very tip of tail, or there can be major problems.

In my opinion, you really shouldn;t have put "the cart before the horse" by getting familiar with them after producing them, it would have been FAR better to get familiar with them well beforehand. I hope the snakes do well before there are any problems which is why you NEED to get some cheap books on this, and at the very least quickly google up a bunch of different care sheet tips on the net to help with some of their basics. I cannot stress the importance of this enough!.

Here is a link to sexing hatchling snakes, but I strongly suggest you have someone do it with more experience, or you can injure the snakes doing it incorrectly.

sexing hatchlings

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"a snake in the grass is a GOOD thing"

serpentinespecialties.webs.com

Thank you so much for all the info.
I've been keeping & breeding ball pythons for 9 years,
so I'm not new to snakes. I have sub adult colubrids but these are my first eggs. I bought a gravid female from a breeder.
The baby is orange with white & yellow bands, I was guessing that it's Albino.
I have them in a rack, on wet paper towell to help with the shed.
I was asking about the feeding & sexing because they are smaller babies than I am use to.
Thanks again for your response.
Beth