Reptile & Amphibian Forums

If I were to breed northern black racers next year would there be anyone interested in the cbb babies? Or would I be stuck with the babies forever? I understand the difficulties of raising hatchling racers, and I have learned a few tricks to all get the babies eating well.
thanks

Baby Racers would sell if you priced them around $20.00 - $30.00 but shipping rates are high right now($70.00) and after collecting small anoles for three months and feeding, sometimes force feeding stubborn ones to get them up to a sellable size (30" trust me, there is no room for a profit! do it out of passsion for the species, I say 30 inches because they start to eat on their own by then and your customers wont be disappointed.

I never had a problem starting the captive hatched clutches in the previous years. Just set the enclosures up properly, add heat, and add live pinkies. works every time. But then again the racers i have are native to an area that has no lizards...

I sell E. Coachwhips and some years have 30 eggs hatch, seems 80% of the babies would starve themselves to death if I didn't force them to eat for a few months. plus the benifit of stuffing them from very early in life is they reach 30" in three months, Vs. letting them eat at their own pace they only reach 15" in the same period.

Hmm... the c/h racers are just under 3 feet from last summer, and ate on their own without any problems. So you are suggesting that if I decide to raise racers that I should stress the crap out of them for the first year by force feeding them? Good luck with your coachwhips!

They have short term memories, and I dont stress them out like your thinking kid, I'm pretty gentle, and I never said they wouldnt eat on their own, though its true some babies do refuse to eat and waste away in both nature and in captivity, so instead of the normal 3 out of 20 making it to adulthood to breed, I have 100% of my babies make it to adulthood. I stuff them for a few months because I've seen the dramatic differences in growth rates when fed my way vs whatever volume they normally would eat on their own in capitivity or in the wild, specifically in their first few months of life, and so I recommend my customers skip the first winter cooldown too, for the benifet of the four more months of fuzzie meals, and just in case you didn't know, in the wild they would only eat a meal or two, maybe three before winter, and then not eat again till Feb-March, growing very little by then, mine get 40-50 inches in 12 months. I just do all the work so I don't have to be concerned that my customers are having trouble getting them to eat, not because I'm big and mean. BTW I often bring my three year olds outside and let them hang in low trees and bushes near my front door and they never care to run, they just watch everything that moves and flick their tounge to taste the air, point is they dont resent me for force feeding them, they simply dont remember that very earley part of life, do you? JB