Tips on feeding Neonate carpets..

[Dom]

Alright,

The majority of my coastal carpets have shed but will not feed.. I have manage t make only one of my 20 babies eat, and he taken down his 3rd meal today..

What are your tricks.. I have heard aany and tried many but right now I am just going nuts.. there taking all my time! (Wich i don't mind but I'd love t get them eating..)



Tx in advance
Dom

[Jeff_Favelle]

Live hopper mice. Everytime.

[NewLineReptile]

For sure live hoppers like jeff said works everytime good luck Dom

Brandon

[Jeff_Favelle]

Yep. Get them when their eyes are JUST open or are going to open. I guess they can be considered large fuzzies. We used to call them "popcorn mice" but no one seems to use that term anymore.

Baby Carpets take surprisingly large meals. Actually, they seem to prefer it.

[Zoe]

How about live rat pinks? Will those work?

Zoe

[Jeff_Favelle]

Try it and find out. If you have the means, make the data yourself. Much more believable, and certainly more concrete. Yes/no?

[Zoe]

Agreed - I'm going to try some f/ts first (my first baby shed today, btw! - perfect, too!) and then some live for those that don't take the dead ones.

Thanks,
Zoe

[Katt]

When I switched my coastal over to rats, what I did was touch her body with the frozen thawed rat pink. As soon as I tapped her body about 1/3rd down and she went for it. Guess she was mad!!

Good luck.

[Dom]

I tried dead.. di not work . then live rat pinines.. one or two days one.. got one to eat it.. then live mice pinkies.. no luck at all .. I have spent excessive amounts trying to get them to feed..


Any tricks out there??? Ill try hopper mice tomorow .. see how that goes although I doubt thell take it anymore then rat pinkies or mice pinkies..

Any advise .. Tx again

[Zoe]

You may want to wait a few more days to try again. Some breeders have more luck feeding rougly a week after shedding.

Are you feeding inside their enclosure? You probably are, but in case you aren't, you should. Feed at night, and just let the mouse/rat wiggle in front of the hidebox hole, so the baby can see it and smell it, without any stress.

If trying dead:
Is it warm enough? Babies sometimes need much warmer prey to realize that it's food. Not cooked, and not burning-hot, but warmer than normal.

Try annoying the snakes with the rat by poking at the snake with it. Not too hard to too long, or course, but a little poke in the face can help.

Don't quit!! If you see tongue flicking, but no biting action, don't give up. Some snakes are timid and it can take them a while to be brave enough to eat.

If trying live:
Is your food item old enough? While you don't want a mouse or rat that is too old, a hairless / newborn rodent emits much less heat and moves around a lot less than a rodent that has grown a little hair. Try using slightly older prey - take care not to offer something too big, but you'd be surprised the size of rodent these babies can handle. You'll likely have more luck with hopper mice.


Don't try daily - but every 2 to 4 days, so the snakes don't get stressed.

If nothing works, and in a week and a half you still have some non-feeders, you may have to resort to traumatizing force-feeding.

I found this link: http://www.amazonbasin.com/feeding.htm , which is pretty good and describes how to forcefeeding baby emmies. I know they are not the same, but the process shouldn't differ.

Zoe

[Mardy]

I put a couple in real small 500ml deli container with one or two pinks. Worked on some, others I placed the pinks in the water dish and was gone in the morning.
Try them with lots of stuff,
Mardy