Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I just wrote up a page on how I got 8 out of my 9 non-feeding WCs to begin feeding. If your struggling with non-feeders~ check it out!

Hope it helps some!
WC Balls

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Cheryl Marchek
AKA JM
Check out my website at:
The Red Dragons Den

Cheryl......thanks for taking the time to share your work....good details....good documentation. I love good documentation of animal feeding and habits

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Jim Perron
Python Passion Reptiles
pythonpassion@hotmail.com
www.pythonpassionreptiles.com

I like to keep records~ I keep a 3X5 Card next to every snakes tub and I write down anything that might be interesting later. It's just getting them all together and making them make sence thats a problem!
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Cheryl Marchek
AKA JM
Check out my website at:
The Red Dragons Den

Great page, very informative. Do you plan on eventually breeding these females? I was just wondering what the chances are of any of these females to breed in the future, hopefully they feel comfortable enough to get into the mood. It's great you got them to eat though, I'm going to try that method with two WC's I have right now. Thanks.

I bet the chances of those breeding are pretty good. Especially since they weren’t really adults when brought in.

I wonder what sort of success rate they have with 1,600 gram imported females.

It's all a waiting game for the imports of almost any snake. I think they will breed, but it could (or not) take many years. Some animals (imports or not) will not breed, but with proper conditioning "most" will.

Just a thought,
Chad

But I've become a beleiver in the "WC are a bad idea" postings. They really have been a lot of trouble and I do doubt they will breed before the 03 CH females I brought in last year will. I guess we'll see. I'll be sure to keep records!
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Cheryl Marchek
AKA JM
Check out my website at:
The Red Dragons Den

Yeah, I bought some "03" animals 3 months ago that were 200-250 grams, and some w/c's that were 600-700 grams at the same time. The "03" animals are now 660-700 grams now, and the w/c's are only now starting to eat (they all lost about 100 grams each), so I would say going with a smaller established animal would probably produce better results in a more timely manner.

Chad

I never had to do it for Balls yet, but I've used this method for years on various snakes, and it almost alawys gets a feeding response.

Great job, and hopefully it will help alot of people who are new or not so new to Balls.

Chad

I hope it will help people~ otherwise what was the point in wasting my time this morning writing it all up! )

Even if it doesn't help anyone else~ it's interesting stuff~ well~ I think it's interesting! Thats why I keep track of it all!
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Cheryl Marchek
AKA JM
Check out my website at:
The Red Dragons Den

Cool!

Not to discount the importants of seclusion and failure prey and substrate, but did you happen to monitor the temperature?

I'm wondering if burying the hide and covering the front raised the temp (or is it controlled by a probe in the hide?).

I once read a post by a guy who had a bunch of non-feeders in a rack where the temp control malfunctioned and spiked higher than you would normally consider safe (like over 100 deg F). All of the sudden they all started eating.

So many variables; time of year, temp, your setup probably also increased humidity, and of course the ever important security, familiarity, and subdued light.

I'm postive the new substrate increased the humidity considerably.

And the temp may have changed. But probably not by much~ the control for that entire rack is a probe on the back wall of 4th tub down (Yes, it's one of the ones with the new substrate and the towel blocking) The probe is supposed to keep the back of the tub at 92F but the remote thermometer in there indicates it varies between 85F (Coldest part of the night) and 98F (Hottest part of the day)

I do think the time of year helped as well~ it's just that time of year~ a lot of my CBB and CH are coming off of Winter Fast right now as well. Also time. I doubt if I had tried this in October when they very first got here it would have worked. Perhaps they would have started feeding sooner than they did~ but I suspect WCs just need time to adjust and get over the stress no matter what tricks you use.
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Cheryl Marchek
AKA JM
Check out my website at:
The Red Dragons Den

I've got a couple of gorgeous wild caughts here that refuse to feed. I put a flowere pot in with them as a hide but the bottom of a planter is much more shallow and may make them feel more secure. I'm going to try it as soon as I steal the bottom off of one of my wife's plants! Think she'll notice?? LOL

I'd notice if my husband swiped a planter bottom from one of my plants!

You can get the plastic ones at Wal-mart for less than $2 each. They are easy to clean~ but so light that I put a rock on top of the ones that are not buried in those WC tubs. I *think* I got the idea for the hides from Robin at Pro-Exotics. He uses good, heavy clay pot bottoms. Check out his site. Lots of good info there.

Good Luck! Hope it works for you!
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Cheryl Marchek
AKA JM
Check out my website at:
The Red Dragons Den

I found a real nice clay one but she caught me smuggling it in through the garage! If it works, I'll buy her another, if not, she can have it back!

but if it works, I guess it's worth it. LOL

Chad

Ot would be worth it! I don't usually buy wild caughts but these were nice reduced "chocolate ghost" type balls so I figured I'd give them a shot. They found the hide overnight and are in there now. I'll try and feed them tonight.