An Albert Clark Offspring... - Page 2

Scubadiver59 · 08-16-17, 06:03 PM

Personally, I use San Francisco Bay Brand Sally's Frozen Silversides for scenting, as recommended by Al...they avoid all the bad stuff wild minnows bring into play.

But, since the "worm" ate some of the night crawler-scented small pinky parts, I can avoid the Reptivite...and the Plains Garter did enjoy the crawler snack as expected!

Albert Clark · 08-16-17, 06:10 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by toddnbecka

I'm thinking to get some endler's livebearers to raise for feeders for a while, the feeder guppies at the lfs are usually infested with TB. Have a fair number of small cichlids on hand that will be suitable food when she's larger, good for scenting now though.

I haven't tried feeding her yet, was thinking to start with a small earthworm. Usually can find suitable size ones under the bricks outside the basement door. I remember reading somewhere that baby garter snakes eat earthworms for their first year. Seems to me they'd need calcium too though.

No red legged frogs locally, though I could round up a few small salamanders if necessary. There's a creek a short walk from my house, have found mountain dusky, spotted, and mud salamanders there back in the day.

I breed loads of mice, can easily snatch a few newborn pinks aka redhots out of a tub. How often should they be fed those?

I would ditch the backyard worms and the salamanders for sure. They both harbor endoparasitic loads and are not good in the long run. The cut pinky parts or whole extra small pinkies fish scented is a better, safer way to go. The backyard worms for scenting is also a safer approach. I wouldn't feed the worm to the snake. As in minnows ( rosy reds) are great for scenting also. Any newborn live pinkies should be accepted also although I haven't tried feeding any live pinkies to any of them. Hope this helps.

SerpentineDream · 08-16-17, 10:49 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by toddnbecka

Tuberculosis, highly contagious disease, though fortunately the strain that infects fish doesn't affect people or other warm-blooded animals.

Fish tuberculosis actually *does* infect humans. However in humans it presents as a skin disease rather than a respiratory disease. If you have any cuts or punctures on your hand and reach into a fish tank where it is present that's how you would contract it. It's known as "fish keeper's TB." It's treatable though and wearing aquarium gloves every time you go spelunking in the tank is usually sufficient to prevent you from contracting it. I keep a whole lot of fish and that was something my doctor cautioned me about.

/hijack

I'm also going with Sally's San Francisco Bay silversides in addition to the smallest pinkies I can find in my freezer. The silversides are available frozen at PetSmart. They sell nightcrawlers there too.

In a pinch I have learned that scenting pinkies or pinky parts with the juice from a can of chunk light tuna in water renders them absolutely irresistible to baby garters.

toddnbecka · 08-16-17, 11:06 PM

Huh, I never knew fish TB was a threat, never caught it myself in decades of fishkeeping, maybe because I avoided infected fish to start with.

Nice, tuna is probably cheaper than silversides. I'm thinking freezing some newborn pinks along with part of a can of tuna. When they thaw out they'll be marinated in the scent, and I can eat the rest of the tuna, lol.

toddnbecka · 08-20-17, 12:37 AM

Fed the new wee one a newborn pinky (so fresh the mother was still eating the afterbirth) after I dipped it's butt in tuna water. Much quicker feeding response than to the earthworms. Left quite a bulge, hope it wasn't too big.

Albert Clark · 08-20-17, 10:42 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by toddnbecka

Fed the new wee one a newborn pinky (so fresh the mother was still eating the afterbirth) after I dipped it's butt in tuna water. Much quicker feeding response than to the earthworms. Left quite a bulge, hope it wasn't too big.

. That's so good to hear Todd! She was pounding food over here for sure. Mostly the last food item that was exclusive were the f/t extra small pink mice (whole). Sometimes mixed with cut up f/t Sallys' silversides. Congrats! Nice job.

toddnbecka · 08-20-17, 11:23 PM

Peeked in on her tonight, and the "huge" bulge is completely gone. I didn't think she'd digest it that quickly, relieved that she did though, lol. I had offered her a similar size unscented pinky before rounding up the 2 small nightcrawlers last week. She seemed quite interested in the squirming little rodent, but wouldn't take it, so it went back into the litter. Hopefully it won't take too many more scented pinks to get her onto unscented, but at least canned tuna is cheaper than anoles. Two of the remaining 24 yearling Dominicans are still refusing f/t rat pinks, will only take f/t anoles.

SerpentineDream · 08-21-17, 12:09 AM

I'm glad that worked for you. It also often works for other species. Hognoses go bonkers for tuna scented mice. This can backfire though. There was a lady on this forum a while ago (Jaleely) who even after washing her hands still had some lingering scent after eating a tuna sandwich. She went to handle her hoggie and he bit her and chewed. Her hand puffed up like a balloon.

toddnbecka · 08-22-17, 01:51 AM

I'll be kicking myself if scenting rat pinks with tuna works on my 2 yearling Dominicans that are still eating anoles, lol.
On another note, I picked up a baby Abbott line Okeetee at a reptile show last Saturday. Set her up in another tub beside the wee Cali worm, and she very eagerly took a large pinky on Sunday.

Scubadiver59 · 09-10-17, 10:55 AM

Finally off of papertowels and on Forest Floor/Eco Earth mixture...still in a 10gal though. The "worm" is about 10" now.

SerpentineDream · 09-13-17, 11:45 AM

My two seem to have taken the "worm" moniker literally. They spend most of their time burrowing under their bedding. I can tell where they've been because they leave squiggly tunnels that are visible from the bottoms of their tubs.

On feeding day I wave a day-old F/T pinky mouse around the inside of each tub until the scent reaches them. A little head will pop out, snatch the pinky and vanish again. That's it until next feeding time. They've already left me some tiny snake skins.

They were reluctant to take their first pinkies so I dipped them in tuna water. That changed their minds for them. Since then they've been good about eating unadulterated pinks.

toddnbecka · 09-14-17, 12:01 AM

I misted the inside of the tub, my little female was in blue and didn't eat Sunday. Eyes looked clear tonight, so she'll shed soon and then I'll offer food again. I haven't seen any burrowing, she spent the first couple weeks using a relatively large clay cave on an elevated shelf for shelter.
More recently she's been hiding under the small black pvc hide on the substrate over the heat mat.