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Hatchling spotteds and eating

marcantony Jun 06, 2003 03:59 PM

I have 3 spotted hatchlings which show no interest in eating. I have tried the usual, putting overnight in a deli cup, lizard scenting, egg whites, etc. Does anyone have any good advice for getting these little devils to eat? It's a miracle that I have them at all, since we had an ice storm and power outage while the eggs were in the incubator. I lost 10 out of 13 eggs from this, so I consider myself lucky to have the 3. I would just like to get them eating. Any advice appreciated!

Replies (3)

Sonya Jun 08, 2003 12:42 PM

>>I have 3 spotted hatchlings which show no interest in eating. I have tried the usual, putting overnight in a deli cup, lizard scenting, egg whites, etc. Does anyone have any good advice for getting these little devils to eat? It's a miracle that I have them at all, since we had an ice storm and power outage while the eggs were in the incubator. I lost 10 out of 13 eggs from this, so I consider myself lucky to have the 3. I would just like to get them eating. Any advice appreciated!

I am not experienced, but have read tons as my Children's is laying eggs RIGHT NOW! (little psyched here, sorry) but I was just rerereading anything I could get hands on re this genus and one thing I saw was Brian Barnett saying he trys pinks first, then trys scenting with either skinks or fish and then on to offering just skink or fish if the scenting didn't work. I am sorta nervous of myself in this situation in a couple of months. But then I did (finally) get neonate Candoia to eat. (larval dusky and two lined salamanders of all things)I think if it were me I would try feeder guppies flavoring first.
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Sonya

BHijgemann Jun 08, 2003 02:07 PM

I have problems with spotted and children's pythons too. If they don't eat within a month I start force feeding pieces of mouse tail every week. Of cource I try to feed pinkies before force feeding every time. It's very easy to force feed mouse tails because of the hairs on the tail pointing in one direction. just put it in the snakes mouth and they have no choice other than eat it.
In the end (could take a couple of months) they're all on pinkies.
Make sure the little snakes are seperated as they do get hungry after weeks without food and then they eat the other snakes in their cage.
Also, I found out it's a lot harder to get children's pythons to eat than spotted pythons. (At least in my experience)
Most spotteds can be force fed pinky mice. As you put it in the snake's mouth you notice it's going to eat the mouse by himself (assist feeding). My children's pythons I hatched this year don't do that.
Good luck.
Cheers,
Bas

>>>>I have 3 spotted hatchlings which show no interest in eating. I have tried the usual, putting overnight in a deli cup, lizard scenting, egg whites, etc. Does anyone have any good advice for getting these little devils to eat? It's a miracle that I have them at all, since we had an ice storm and power outage while the eggs were in the incubator. I lost 10 out of 13 eggs from this, so I consider myself lucky to have the 3. I would just like to get them eating. Any advice appreciated!
>>
>>I am not experienced, but have read tons as my Children's is laying eggs RIGHT NOW! (little psyched here, sorry) but I was just rerereading anything I could get hands on re this genus and one thing I saw was Brian Barnett saying he trys pinks first, then trys scenting with either skinks or fish and then on to offering just skink or fish if the scenting didn't work. I am sorta nervous of myself in this situation in a couple of months. But then I did (finally) get neonate Candoia to eat. (larval dusky and two lined salamanders of all things)I think if it were me I would try feeder guppies flavoring first.
>>-----
>>Sonya

Sonya Jun 08, 2003 04:31 PM

>>Also, I found out it's a lot harder to get children's pythons to eat than spotted pythons. (At least in my experience)
>>Most spotteds can be force fed pinky mice. As you put it in the snake's mouth you notice it's going to eat the mouse by himself (assist feeding). My children's pythons I hatched this year don't do that.

Okay, don't scare me yet. My girl just finished laying 14 eggs! I have to live through the breakdown I am gonna have sweating temps in my incubator for the next two months! Once I see little python noses....Then you can scare me some more!
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Sonya

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