when to cull non-feeders? (a heartbreaking, yet necessary question)

[SquamishSerpents]

hey there, me and my boyfriend hatched our first clutch this year. mom was anery het amel, and normal het snow.

however, 3/4 of the anery's have NEVER eaten, but the 1 has vluntarily eaten 4 or 5 times. the rest i've tried leaving the pink overnight, slitting the pinks, braining the pinks, soaking them in chicken broth, scenting with anoles, and NOTHING. they absolutely REFUSE to eat, even with me force-feeding them. they hatched late march or early may. should we keep trying? (it's costing us a lot of $) even at cost, pinkies for me are .90 cents a piece.

when is the appropriate time to say "i give up" and let nature take it's course? i hope this doesn't turn into a really heated discussion, though in my heart i know there is no simple answer.

[RobbiesCornField]

It's really up to the individual breeder. Some people will cull sooner than others, and some just can't bring themselves to do it and send the non-feeders off to people who are more willing to work with them.

[1TimeMoM]

what does cull mean?

[RobbiesCornField]

what does cull mean?

Euthanize.

[SquamishSerpents]

i forgot to mention, i've even tried with live pinks. since i work at a pet store i occasionally have access to them. when i notice a female feeder mouse is pregnant, i set her aside until she gives birth, because if i leave her it's guaranteed that her pinks will get eaten if i leave her in the "colony" tank. i think our next step is going to be selling the non-feeding amels at a very discounted price, provided we find appropriate takers.

[dionythicus]

I am one who isn't willing to force feed. Either they will eat with a little trickery (live, braining, washing, scenting) or they are not meant to survive. I have about 3-4 out of a clutch that hatched early June that won't eat and another I got from someone that hatched in May that's refused everything. I have one other trick, tuna scenting, that has worked in the past. I won't try beyond that. I'm ok with culling if they refuse this next feeding.

[Eli173]

Have you tried washing the pinks with soap? I have a pair that wouldn't eat for a month and finally went for pinks well washed with Ivory soap.
Since some hatchings can be almost twice as big as others it's hard to give a time frame. Basically it's when you've tried all the tricks they start looking not so good. I don't force feed either.

[1TimeMoM]

awww.. no you cant euthanize them.. keep trying... I would take them all... LoL.. I wish I had the money to get them shipped and to buy them..

[Shiari]

It's basically quality of life, theirs and yours. Starving to death sucks. It's a terrible way to die. So I would suggest getting a scale and weighing regularly. If you started with an 8 gram hatchling and it's now 5 grams... probably time to consider culling.

[Buttons]

0.90 for a pink?? go to an expo or a better store. I pay .45-.65 max!

[SquamishSerpents]

i work in a pet store and get pinks at cost. it would cost us too much $$ in gas to make it worthwhile for us to go to an expo (which very, VERY rarely pass through close-by). i have tried time and time again to order frozen pinks online but micedirect's site DOES NOT work for some reason, and i have sent emails back and forth and they basically told me that have no idea what the problem is, and that they give up. i've tried firefox and internet explorer as well, and nothing. doesn't work for some reason. it's a lot harder to get frozen feeders in canada. and the mouse factory would cost me too much to ship. in order to make the shipping worthwhile we would have to order over 250 pinks. we only have ONE clutch this year, and some of the babies are moving up to fuzzy's already. so, we've sucked it up and paid the price for pinks. i am planning on breeding my own feeders soon though. we are building an outdoor enclosure. as i have a few people in my house that absolutely do NOT support the breeding of mice in-house, and i also live in an area that is rampant with cougars, bears, and raccoons. so as soon as we have a secure enclosure outdoors we will be breeding our own feeders.

but as for the washing pinks, i have never, ever heard of that. it sounds rather unsafe? what is the method for this? this will be our last, last resort unfortunately. it makes me sad to think of the poor snake babies with that aching feeling in their bellies, but not knowing what to do about it. but i also know that that is nature's course, and there is nothing i could do about it. i knew this would happen when i got into breeding snakes so i'm not entirely shocked by it. just wondering what everyone else thought about what is "the end"

[diamondlil]

Katia there is no right or wrong as to which point to euthanise. To try the washed pinks, which is said to reduce the smell of mouse urine putting off the corn from feeding, I usually wash the pinks in unscented soap, rinse and pat them dry without touching them with my fingers and feed from tweezers. I've had success with washed live pinks too. Good luck

[SquamishSerpents]

i think i will try the washed pinks at least a few times, to see if any of them will take to food. it's interesting that washed pinks sometimes work, i have NEVER heard of this! i have heard of scenting feed with used rodent bedding, so this seems kind of opposite to what i've always known but i will give anything a try at this point!