Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Some of you may remember me posting after i received my wc hatchling back in May. Well im pleased to let you know that its showing excellent signs of acclimating to its new home here in captivity. It was a bit thin when it arrived and was 15 inches in length and a month later has grown another 4 inches and is far from thin and shedding regularly. Im very intrigued by its curiosity and willingness to eat. It will consume as many rat pups as i will give it even to the point of noticeably struggling to breath. I have yet to have any physical contact which is why i believe its beginning to trust me more to the point of eating from my hand in only a few short weeks. I started out feeding a supplemented insect based diet but have now switched to strictly rat pups with a few crickets, roaches and worms here and there. I have its enclosure setup in my living room for observatory reasons and realized how smart these little guys are in a very short time. About a week or so after being here it had us figured out. It knew when we would be in the room and when we would retire for the evening and based his schuedule around that until he was more comfortable being watched. As of now it seems to go about its business with out a care in the world unless of course i break our trust agreement and cross that imaginary line where he feels i've gotten a bit to close for comfort(lol).

This appears to be his daily routine:
1. Come out of hiding and climb into its water container for a swim/pass of feces

2 Climb the branch leading to its basking area and bask for approx. 2.5 or so minutes

3 Climb down and venture into each hide in its Retes Stack looking for food.

4 Dig around in its substrate a bit followed by a short nap on an 87 degree surface(its favorite spot for naps)

5 Awake then back to the the water container or basking area followed by a repetition of the other steps named above.

Just wanted to share, thanks for reading.
-----
James Grigsby - " When you try of all your forces to make your own way, you will help some of others and will be helped by others. As long as you do not make your own way, you cannot help anybody, and nobody can help you. " (Shunryu Suzuki)

>>Some of you may remember me posting after i received my wc hatchling back in May. Well im pleased to let you know that its showing excellent signs of acclimating to its new home here in captivity. It was a bit thin when it arrived and was 15 inches in length and a month later has grown another 4 inches and is far from thin and shedding regularly. Im very intrigued by its curiosity and willingness to eat. It will consume as many rat pups as i will give it even to the point of noticeably struggling to breath. I have yet to have any physical contact which is why i believe its beginning to trust me more to the point of eating from my hand in only a few short weeks. I started out feeding a supplemented insect based diet but have now switched to strictly rat pups with a few crickets, roaches and worms here and there. I have its enclosure setup in my living room for observatory reasons and realized how smart these little guys are in a very short time. About a week or so after being here it had us figured out. It knew when we would be in the room and when we would retire for the evening and based his schuedule around that until he was more comfortable being watched. As of now it seems to go about its business with out a care in the world unless of course i break our trust agreement and cross that imaginary line where he feels i've gotten a bit to close for comfort(lol).
>>
>>This appears to be his daily routine:
>>1. Come out of hiding and climb into its water container for a swim/pass of feces
>>
>>2 Climb the branch leading to its basking area and bask for approx. 2.5 or so minutes
>>
>>3 Climb down and venture into each hide in its Retes Stack looking for food.
>>
>>4 Dig around in its substrate a bit followed by a short nap on an 87 degree surface(its favorite spot for naps)
>>
>>5 Awake then back to the the water container or basking area followed by a repetition of the other steps named above.
>>
>>Just wanted to share, thanks for reading.
>>-----
>>James Grigsby - " When you try of all your forces to make your own way, you will help some of others and will be helped by others. As long as you do not make your own way, you cannot help anybody, and nobody can help you. " (Shunryu Suzuki)

Please be careful with the hand feeding bit. It is probably cute now, but in a few months a mistake on the monitor's part will leave serious cuts on your fingers or hand, and in a year or two it could cause crippling injuries. In the short term, I would suggest wearing gloves while hand feeding. Once it gets to the 5 foot stage, though, even heavy leather welders gloves will not completely protect you. At this point, for your own safety, please use hemostats (or just toss the food in its cage, or use some other non-contact method of feeding).

I'm just worried about your fingers is all. Take it from someone who learned the hard way, and take this opportunity to learn from someone else's mistakes.

Luke (who's still got all his fingers, despite the best attempts of his menagerie)