Reptile & Amphibian Forums

thought we'd get a list of advice and keep it going a bit to reduce redundancy for all of us with hatchings...

I'll start with what I've read/heard:

1.) house separately
2.) use containers that aren't to large
3.) use live pinkies the first few times
4.) braining/bleeding pinkies
5.) scenting pinkies with anoles
6.) crickets
7.) temps need to be high 80's
8.) minimal handling
9.) wait a day or two after first shed before attempt first feed

anyone notice hatchlings poop their first poop right before/after their first shed? I don't get where the poop comes from though, they haven't really eaten anything except absorbed yolk???

Please feel free to tear my list apart and distinguish myths from truths and make additions/changes!

I tried to feed my first to hatch/shed the other day and he hit the pinkie in self defense and let go... discouraging, hoping live and temperature increases help my cause...

thanks!

I would probably do f/t pinkies the first time, and if that doesn't work, do brained, live, and then lizard scented.
-----
-audri
Webpage/Pics

Sorry, have a degree in Neuroscience and they taught us to be extremely critical and inquisitive in everything that we read/research/do... Hence, to simply say "this is bad" will not do...

don't get me wrong I'm not trying to be confrontational, on the contrary I swear I've read somewhere else that crickets are not preferred too! I just can't remember why?

Crickets are not thier normal diet. They may eat them but there is something about the exoskeleton that is harmful to the digestive system of the snake.
Corns feed on vertibrates, birds, mice, lizards, etc.

Clint Boyer

P.S. I always try feeding frozen/thawed pinks first. That way they don't get hung up on live only if they'll take f/t.

Plus, even if a corn would eat crickets, insects in general do not provide adequate nutrition. That's why insect-eating lizards generally require a lot of vitamin supplemention and exposure to UV. Snakes in general do not get vitamim supplementation because the whole animals provide all they need. I doubt corns would eat insects in the wild, instead dining on small vertebrates like small rodents, lizards, and frogs.

The only places I have heard mentioning corns eating insects is Ms. Kaplan's web site (which is not the most accurate source of information), and ignorant petstores. No breeders I know of offer insects.
-----
-audri
Webpage/Pics

>>
>>The only places I have heard mentioning corns eating insects is Ms. Kaplan's web site (which is not the most accurate source of information), and ignorant petstores. No breeders I know of offer insects.

I went to PetCo to get some tiny pinkies for my two newest hatchlings. While I was there I looked at their snakes, of course.
They had two nice young adult normal corns in one enclosure.
It didn't bother me that they had the snakes together, what bothered me was when I looked at their water bowl. There were several dead feeder fish floating in the water and the water was oily and milky white from the decaying fish.
I brought the clerk over to the tank and asked why in the hell they would have dead fish in the corn snake's water bowl and she actually said thats's what they feed them.
I told her to look in there. Those fish are dead and decaying in the snake's water! Does it look like they eat them? Corn snakes don't eat feeder fish. You need to clean that water bowl, now, and never put fish in there again. Feed them mice. You have a damn freezer full.
The idot just didn't get it.....her answer.....We'll that's what we feed them so I'm sure we will put more in there.
I stood there for a minute, looked around for a possible manager and only saw young teens wandering around in a daze. You could tell they were only doing their "summer job" thing and didn't know about or care about the job they were doing.
This is not a bash on teens in general, it is just a bash on the group working there. Hell, one time I had to explain to the girl at the checkout how to ring up my purchase.
Anyway, I gave up and left.
So, when I got home I looked up rodentpro and ordered some pinkies, fuzzies and hoppers.
I will order some weanlings next week and should have a very good supply to last quite a while.
I will never step back into PetCo again.
-----
Jimmy (draybar)

OMG! How awful. Sounds like the 'pet'store I bough eden from. I would have been tempted to report them or at least get the snakes out of there. I know all about the 'summer thing' I'm dealing with similar situation. Poor snakes. I hope someone comes along and gets them out of that enviroment.
-----
Blessed Be
Aradia

I called up my local PetCo one day to ask what they fed their milipedes. I knew they were vegetarians but some greens and other veggies are more nutritions than others. They said, "Crickets." I said, "What!?!? I'm asking about Milipedes...they're vegetarians. Are you sure you're feeding yours crickets and you're not confusing this with another animal in the shop?" The guy said, "Yes, we just feed ours crickets." I made this call over a year ago and I'm still stunned.

This happens a lot with pet stores. The animals come in and out so fast and since no one gets "paid" to do the research, no one thinks they should have to do it. I'd be surprised if I called every pet shop in town to present the same question and got the same answers...I'd rather hear someone say, "I don't know," than give someone bad advice because they need to look good.

You can TRY feeding crickets, but I can almost guarantee you that they won't be eaten. Snakes just won't eat things that 'aren't on the menu'.

Most snakes' natural diet are rodents. A lot will eat mammals, birds, and other reptiles to include other snakes (and to include their own). Ground snakes eat insects.

Kerby...

The brown paper sack and well warmed f/t pinkie works wonders.
-Cole