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Clementine - Lava Cinder

hypnoctopus

hypnoctopus

Olivia Barron
Introducing Clementine! Beautiful lava cinder from Carol Huddleston. She is unfortunately a live feeder, so I'm (probably) going to hold off on proper photos and handling until she's eating frozen thawed reliably. Tonight was her first feeding with me. I waited until evening, popped her in a deli cup and left her alone in a dark and quiet place for an hour. Then I heated up a pinkie nice and hot, dropped out in with her and left her alone again for half an hour. At that point, I checked on her and it was untouched. I went ahead and opened her mouth gently and placed the pinkie in her mouth head first just to see if she'd be willing to eat it on her own and thankfully, she did! I was obviously holding her at the time and I had to absolutely freeze and hardly breathe so as not to scare her. But she was a good girl and got it down without any further intervention. My gecko shed recently and I was able to grab a little piece of the shed, so if she doesn't eat on her own next feeding, I might try gecko scent.

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Nice pics! This clutch seemed to have a real liking to ivory washed too. Hope she cooperates soon.
 
Oh, she's still being a butt unfortunately. I have tried washed once. And I've tried boiled and lizard scented. She even refused the first live I offered her, but finally took a live mouse for me a few days ago.
 
Sorry about that. :( I had one other be a butt after being shipped and ivory soap washed did the trick. What a brat. Keep me posted!

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That's okay! Not your fault, obviously! I'm sure she'll come around eventually, I'm just impatient, haha. I keep hoping to find a mouse breeder nearby to get live pinkies from because the reptile store I go to has given me a peach fuzzy both times that I've asked for a pinkie. Thankfully you had already gotten a good amount of weight on her, so she was able to handle the one she ate, but it made me nervous.
 
SUCCESS!! :dancer:

Tonight was feeding night. I placed Clementine inside her toothpaste box because it's dark and cramped to help her feel secure. Thawed a pinkie in hot water, washed it with Ivory dish soap (had to make a trip to the store for that brand specifically, haha), and ever so gently wiggled it in the front end of her hide. I've watched her in the past be very interested in movement and I was hoping to replicate the movement that a live pinkie would make. It's really hard not to just harass her with it. She was acting very interested in it but eventually retreated into the back end of the box. I rinsed (and reheated) the pinkie, dried it off this time, and also brained it. Then repeated the process of really gently jiggling it and let her come to it instead of putting it right in her face. Again, she was very interested and stuck her mouth right in front of the brained area and then after a few arm-tiring minutes of making it crawl around, she opened her mouth and ate it. Such a relief! I hope next feed requires less work though!

Picture of little stinker finally working it down in her box:
 

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Wow, great job! Have you tried leaving the pink in overnight?

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Yeah, each time she's refused, I've reheated it and left it overnight. I tried doing it once in a deli cup (covered with a dark towel) and once in her enclosure.
 
Another success tonight, using pretty much the same method. This time I didn't bother washing the pinkie or drying it off. But I still brained it and very gently jiggled it. It still took several minutes of intense interest for her to actually eat it, but this time she struck and coiled. But I'm really relieved that she will at least eat this way! Hopefully each feed will get a little easier and she'll require less babying. I think after she's done digesting this meal, I will go ahead and start handling her occasionally. And do some photos! I've been looking forward to that. :)
 
Popped Clementine into the light box for some proper photos today. She did well! Very cooperative. I handled her while I uploaded images and looked through them. She was pretty calm to handle, although she can be a bit tail buzzy.

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Clementine got a peach fuzzy tonight since she's now sitting at 15 grams. I brained it, barely even gave it a little jiggle for her and she went crazy. Looped coils over it again and again for several seconds. So glad she's getting the hang of this frozen-thawed thing!
 
Clementine is doing great with her feeds now! She's now had two consecutive feeds in a deli cup with the other snakes all around her and ate no problem. I have still brained her mouse both times, but next feed I'll give it to her without braining. I'm really relieved she's being so good now!
 
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