....large fuzzies (sub-weanling) to hoppers (weanling) mice for the first few meals...best not to overly stress young bellies that have recently undergone the transition from embryo gut to orally-feeding neonate...



...Jay's policy of starting on fuzzy rats is a good one if you can obtain them...fuzzies about 7-10 day olds are a good start...often it can be difficult switching older balls to rats if they have only been fed mice for the first year or 2...



...note that it can be very tricky getting neonates to start on frozen-thawed...baby balls trigger on the heat and movement of food...it's important to get food into them as soon after the neonate shed as possible, especially smaller hatchlings...those can lose condition fairly quickly...if you don't have access to live feeders you're at a distinct disadvantage...try warming the frozen-thawed feeder item in hot water RIGHT BEFORE you offer it...blot-dry on paper towel...offer food at night in subdued light...



...you might want to pick-up a 12" tweezer to offer food, that way the HEAT FROM YOUR HAND won't confuse and DISTRACT the snakes (see the classified ads/supplies)...



...NOW you're ready!!



Scott J. Michaels DVM

Serpent City

[ Hide Replies ]

• hatchling food size - talace, Sun Apr 10 18:40:52 2005
• RE: hatchling food size - jmartin104, Sun Apr 10 19:35:06 2005
• RE: hatchling food size - toshamc, Sun Apr 10 20:10:07 2005
• RE: hatchling food size - rwoodyer, Sun Apr 10 21:42:04 2005
• I start all my hatchlings on..... - serpentcity, Mon Apr 11 01:36:12 2005