Well, this is the season of problem feeders... Babies that have hatched out and have yet to thrive.
Here's a good calendar of events to follow.
After a hatchling has shed, offer a pre-killed or live rat fuzzy within the first week of shed. If the critter has not shed yet after 2-3 weeks of hatching, feed anyway.
If the snake has not eaten on its own, offer every 4-5 days until it does, with the caveat that if it does not eat on its own within 6 weeks, consider assist feeding.
This is really dependant upon the snake themselves...
If the snake look emaciated and does not respond to touch well or flicker its tongue, it is time to intervene.
Assist feeding is a simple-ish process, and I will actually go thru how to do it with photos on Friday.
Do not force feed unless absolutely necessary and do not stress out your animal overly, or you defeat the purpose of getting the animal comfortable and get them to eat.
Make sure they have plenty of water, and are in a tub that is relatively small (if there is no hide and they are not eating, that may be something to try, or crumpled up paper).
Patience is a virtue with hatchlings, but there is a fine line of when to get involved. Again, it depends on the animal, and if the skin gets loose, the animal is not too responsive, that is the time to get aggressive.
If the animal just is picky, I would suggest leaving them alone for a feeding cycle (or a few days) and try again. Mouse hoppers are a good choice for those that are just picky...
Start out with rat fuzzies, move to mouse hoppers if needed. THEN try assist feeding...
I hope that helps those of you out there that have been having issues.
Have a great day, my friends!
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1 comment:
Thanks, Heather! My guy is still pretty lively. But he's now much smaller than his brothers and sisters who actually eat.
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