Lost my mind.

[JadeThorne]

Re: Lost my mind.

I did something a little extreme tonight. The rat fuzzy was half-drowned (how it managed to get into his water dish, I have no clue - the water dish is heavy and fairly deep as well), so I thought "the heck with it, I'm probably wasting another one anyhow, let's try this." I killed the fuzzy. Then I bloodied it up really, really good. Got my hatchling firmly in my right hand and pushed the very bloody fuzzy's head just into his mouth.

BINGO!!!

He wrapped up around my thumb really tight, then he ate - right there on my hand. Finally! I can breathe now. Stubborn little PITA ... at least now I know what to do to trigger the feeding response!

[acephantom903]

Re: Lost my mind.

Be careful about assist feeding as it can freak it out even more than not eating. I was saying that you may want to consider it in a month as they can go pretty long without eating and still be healthy. Oh well, hopefully it will be more interested in eating in the future.

[bcr_229]

Re: Lost my mind.

Be careful about assist feeding as it can freak it out even more than not eating. I was saying that you may want to consider it in a month as they can go pretty long without eating and still be healthy. Oh well, hopefully it will be more interested in eating in the future.

This... or it can help to jump start a baby. I've had a very few that needed it, to the point where I've gotten pretty good at the technique.

At least he ate. Hopefully he'll turn into a solid feeder for you.

[acephantom903]

Re: Lost my mind.

This... or it can help to jump start a baby

How long have you waited before having to do it? I know how effective it is, I'm just not sure it is necessary after 1 month to go to it.

[bcr_229]

Re: Lost my mind.

How long have you waited before having to do it? I know how effective it is, I'm just not sure it is necessary after 1 month to go to it.

Two were BRB yolk babies I produced that were half the size of their littermates and very obviously underdeveloped. I started with them on mouse pinkies within a week. Hindside being 20-20 I would have tube-fed Carnivore Care instead.

One was a very late 2014 mainland retic that I did not produce. She was sold early last year by her breeder during the Lacey Act "banic buying" frenzy (IMO she should not have been). She was from a boob egg and hatched out at 80 grams. While the breeder claims she was eating, I have my doubts. At any rate she was purchased by a 16 year old whose only experience with snakes was with one well-established king snake. He of course thought the new baby retic was just cool and played with her for several hours every day. She never ate for him, and eventually his parents eventually researched "retic" online, freaked out at her potential adult size, and we ended up with her in April, 2015.

When we got her she was 4-5 months old, 75 grams, backbone showing, and dehydrated. We set her up and left her strictly alone for several weeks, and offered live feeders weekly. She still didn't eat and after dropping to 69 grams two well-respected feeders and our vet both advised assist feeding.

She wasn't thrilled with the process but with my experience with the BRB's getting a meal into her was fairly straightforward - it's actually easier on a bigger snake, as there's more of them to hang on to, and smaller feeders tend to "squish" and make a mess. It took quite a while (months) but she did eventually start to eat on her own.

[JadeThorne]

Re: Lost my mind.

Be careful about assist feeding as it can freak it out even more than not eating. I was saying that you may want to consider it in a month as they can go pretty long without eating and still be healthy. Oh well, hopefully it will be more interested in eating in the future.

Well, he hadn't eaten in a solid month and last night scared me. When I fished the fuzzy out of the water, he never moved. Very lethargic. So I felt like I had no choice. I really did *not* want to do it, but ... the way he was acting pushed my hand. Today, he is far more active. I peeked in to make sure he kept it down, and he raised his head to look at me and started flicking his tongue. It could have been longer than a month since his meal, since there was a discrepancy in whether he ate once or twice for the breeder, but I'm positive it had been a month at least.

Let me say thank all of you for being supportive and helpful on this. I have never raised a hatchling before, and got so much conflicting advice elsewhere. It's pretty well been this forum that has given me the most sound advice. I'm glad to be a part of it.

[acephantom903]

Re: Lost my mind.

If he was lethargic, I'd look at temperatures in the cage. Sounds like it is too cool. Remember these animals evolved to go long periods of time without eating. I cannot find any studies about how often babies eat in the wild but I'm pretty sure a month is fine. Two months is when I would get very concerned. Now that he has been introduced to assist feeding, you might have to do it a couple more times until he is confident enough to eat on his own. Next few feedings, introduce the food. If he doesn't take it in an hour or 2 you may want to think about assist feeding again. Remember to leave the room (hopefully dead prey) so he will have privacy. Another thing you can try doing is braining the prey which is very similar to what you did. My girl would chew on her food getting it all bloody the first few times she was eating in my care. Braining is a little cleaner by putting a hole into the brain cavity using a razor or other instrument exposing it to air which is very fragrant and the snakes are usually very interested in that. A lot of people don't have the stomach to do it but you already went half way there.

[Noelle7206]

Re: Lost my mind.

...Braining is a little cleaner by putting a hole into the brain cavity using a razor or other instrument exposing it to air which is very fragrant and the snakes are usually very interested in that. A lot of people don't have the stomach to do it but you already went half way there.

I've never found that to be especially helpful & it's certainly gruesome; instead, I just use my feeding tongs to squish the nose a bit to release more scent.

[acephantom903]

Re: Lost my mind.

[MENTION=13772]Noelle7206[/MENTION] Several zoo keepers have told me it is necessary for certain species which are picky, mainly arboreal snakes. It is also how they get their king cobra to eat rats. Just another option.

[Noelle7206]

Re: Lost my mind.

@Noelle7206 Several zoo keepers have told me it is necessary for certain species which are picky, mainly arboreal snakes. It is also how they get their king cobra to eat rats. Just another option.

Yes, I realize that "it's just another option"...just think it's rarely needed, & we're not dealing with a king cobra here either, lol... I have also tried it in the past & found it wasn't helpful, at least not for what I
was feeding. I'm pretty experienced with fussy snakes...how many people do you know that successfully keep a longnose snake (Rhinocheilus lecontei, both lecontei & tesselatus) on fuzzy mice?

[acephantom903]

Re: Lost my mind.

how many people do you know that successfully keep a longnose snake (Rhinocheilus lecontei, both lecontei & tesselatus) on fuzzy mice?

You're the only one I know. I also don't know many people who try.