Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I have a baby pyro that is not eating. I have tried every tip that has ever been given to try and get it to eat. I am not looking for any more tips on how to get it to eat. What I am looking for is an answer to this question:

Should I just wait it out now and if so how long should I wait before I attempt to force feed it. I have people tell me that they have waited as long as 2 to 3 months before doing anything..... Also, I would like to know if force feeding is good to do on a pyro. I have done this before with baby corn snakes and it was easy.....Is it as easy to do with a pyro baby.... I would use the smallest pinkie I could find to do this if and when I decide to go that route.

Hi,
I've waited up to 3 months on baby pyros that hadnt eaten anything before forcing before. You might want to give it mouse tails-(usually once you get it in there, they'll swallow it down from there), and if you get a couple in there and its a nice size baby pyro-(12-15 grams) I'd hibernate it for a couple months, usually always you'll get a good feeding response doing that. Good luck with it steve,
jeff teel

PS- I've better esults forcing mouse tails than pinks, with pinks it seems you have more of a chance of them regurging, but witht he mouse tails they just take em down.

We all doing things a bit differently and as it happens, we produce some fine animals.
I don't wait to see if the little buggers will come around. I offer a pink head within a month of hatch, wait a week if refused and offer another pink head. If that second offering is turned down, the snake will get a fat tail via "assist feeding". Leave the heads in overnight. A week later, the process is repeated; offer a head, force a tail. My limited work with pyros has been successful within 2 months, not bad at all. Typical Pale or Alterna will hold out around 4 months.
JeffT--the Kaibab pyro female is ready next spring, are you still taking a few?
Go for the force feeding-the little pyro needs to keep her weight up. Jeff Hardwick

hey jeff,
Yeah, I would like to get a pair of those from you next year, besides what you keep, the picks of the clutch is what I'd be interested in. I love really ncie normal locality pyros. The only locales I'll have going next year is a F-1 pair if Gardner Canyons produced by Ric Blair, but they are ncie and I'm excited to some of those. I'll have the bauable line going, but they arent to the T locale specific, but they are santa rita mtn locale, just no special crack,crevice, under the log 5ft from the big square shaped rock-but those are very nice from there,lol. Anyways, talk to you later,
jeff teel

Ok check to make sure the wife isn't around. Get some defrosted pinkies. Put the in a puree machine and liquefy. Get a sirenge with small surgical tuebing the will fit on the syrenge and slide easily down the snakes throat. Make sure all the air is out of the syrenge and then insert in snake and slowly pump the liquid into the snakes belly. This is pretty much the same thing as a pinky pump but for pennies on the dollor. Hope this helps Paul

Using her best marble rolling pin, roll a handful of pinks into a pulpy mess and load a syringe with the paste. Attach a catheter (good luck finding some), purge the air and grab those non-feeders!
Guys, you gotta wash, dry, and put the rolling pin away exactly where she keeps it. Or have a signed pre-nup.
Has anybody used baby food (like chicken) for force feeding? That may be more applicable for the venomous guys but it should work just fine. Jeff H

A French Catheter works best, these are available from the Bean Farm, and coating it with egg yolk will allow it to enter the esophagus easily..
Guess I got lucky, as my wife will actually do this for me...

Jeff

Check out my post on the Grey Band Page for Ryan Reptilian.

It may help you.

Tony Lanzi