• Hello!

    Either you have not registered on this site yet, or you are registered but have not logged in. In either case, you will not be able to use the full functionality of this site until you have registered, and then logged in after your registration has been approved.

    Registration is FREE, so please register so you can participate instead of remaining a lurker....

    Please be certain that the location field is correctly filled out when you register. All registrations that appear to be bogus will be rejected. Which means that if your location field does NOT match the actual location of your registration IP address, then your registration will be rejected.

    Sorry about the strictness of this requirement, but it is necessary to block spammers and scammers at the door as much as possible.

Feeding the Unwilling

That's a great idea. I use the index cards as a backup but had only been logging the successful feeds on there. The offers/refusals are all entered in the computer. That's a good way of doing it though. I'm tired of index cards standing up on end in my card box while I wait to see if they will eat ;)
 
well, other than still having one from the last clutch that still needs to be force fed... I got 5 more today that havent eaten since they hatched (early to late July) I tried all 5 tonight and 3 ate on their own :) 2 I force fed a head and hindquarters to :) so.... we will see what the next feeding brings :)
 
More success

I still have PLENTY of stubborn ones....but -- today I had 2 eat for the second time on their own. They're the first "multiple feeds" I've had on their own. The others that have fed on their own willingly all have their own deli cups tonight and I have collected enough shoeboxes to see if they will eat "in privacy".
 
How do those of you with many hatchlings in those plastic shoebox style vivs, heat all of the boxes?? The one photo of nlove's babies, I didn't spot a heating system. Do you buy and use those little mini UTH? for each shoebox??
 
I have a heat cable (I don't know exactly what it's called- bought it on e-bay) that's like 12-15 feet long. I keep my hatchlings now in sterilite containers that are about 12"x5"x4". The cable is wound around metal bars of a metal shelving unit- 2 shelves of it, and the sterilites are then sitting on the shelf with the back end over the cable. It's even long enough that they get a double wrap. Then it's plugged into a lamp dimmer before it goes into the wall.
 
No way -- I honestly can't afford the heating pad for each. I have heating cable also. I had it removed when I took the pics because I smelled something melting and got paranoid so I pulled it down til my husband came home to look it. Turns out it was his darn bearded dragon clamp lamp too close to the plastic rim on their tank :)
 
Motley07 said:
How do those of you with many hatchlings in those plastic shoebox style vivs, heat all of the boxes?? The one photo of nlove's babies, I didn't spot a heating system. Do you buy and use those little mini UTH? for each shoebox??
Click to expand...

flexwatt.jpg

Flexwatt works great too. You can get it from Reptile Basics

http://www.reptilebasics.com/product.php?productid=16248&cat=248&page=1

Get them to wire it up for you with the kit they sell, they do it free. Don't forget the thermostat!
 
I am hoping I won't have to resort to this as Big Red, the hypo-blood I got last week refused his first feeding attemp four days ago, and has been staring at today's offering for over an hour now. SO, I took it out, washed it with some hand soap and hot water and re-offered it... still no dice. So now tonight I am trying the "leave the pinkie in his deli-cup overnight" method.
 
I honestly had SO much success with offering them live. I'm not a fan of live and as soon as they consistently eat I'll switch them over. I know you have more experience than I do so don't take it funny if I suggest anything that you darn well already know...but it made a huge difference when I brought home the "born today" pinkies. I wonder if there's any remote possibility that they were intimidated by the size of the larger pinkies. My first 8 ate when presented with teeny lives (no braining- just poor little pinkies) and then successfully are "normal sized" pinkies the next feeding.
 
Yeah, I have gone the live route before. I prefer not to go there but if I do have to, I will. Impossible to get pinkies around here but I'm not above throwing a male and 2 females in a ten gallon tank for a while. :D
 
I've been purchasing the pinkies so far, but 2 weeks ago purchased my first colony of mice. I think what will be nicest about this is that if I keep dealing with problem feeders I can offer live and not have to talk my self into "doing away" with them somehow if they are refused. I can give them a baby powder coating and return them to mom for a little bit. We also threw our male and female rats in together.

We started with 2 corn yearlings....then 3 adults....then a hatchling...and when we decided to bring in these problem feeders it was NO question -- I had to get a colony or go broke feeding them!
 
Well Jaxom i have now experienced at least the tri cut pinkys..as usual i say ewwww but they must eat.
Im so sorry about Beldar. I was in hopes he would make a go of it. If nothing else you have learned from the experience. A hard lesson to be learned tho.

Well at least Zelda's severe strange kink has corrected and i hope she is soon eating on her own. She's a lil miracle.
I sure remember my parents and grandparents telling me to eat my meat and veggies. Not that i lisened. lol I was proably like your hatchlings are gonna be...lol

Yaahhhhh for Moe!! I hope it was the anole and it keeps on working well. Maybe he will get the others to follow suit..Well one can hope anyways...
 
wax32 said:
BTW, great thread Jaxom, Cat and Cat's mom!
Click to expand...
Thanks. It's all the rest of the members posting that makes it such a worthwhile read. Reading the range of experiences and methods attempted to get hatchlings to eat is educational for all of us. I appreciate every person who is making the attempt and is willing to share their successes (and failures) with the rest of us.
 
Motley07 said:
How do those of you with many hatchlings in those plastic shoebox style vivs, heat all of the boxes?? The one photo of nlove's babies, I didn't spot a heating system. Do you buy and use those little mini UTH? for each shoebox??
Click to expand...

I have the hatchlings out here in there containers in side of a 29 gal tank. I have a 3 light combo on that tank so i just use the red heat bulb...
 
Well...I had one more die today... :( That leaves 20 -- and to boot my healthy hatchling regurged for no apparent reason. So -- a few steps forward and a few steps back. I weighed them all tonight too though and I finally have several breaking the 7 gram high end. 4 of them weighed in at 8 and 9 grams!!
 
Msterry said:
I have the hatchlings out here in there containers in side of a 29 gal tank. I have a 3 light combo on that tank so i just use the red heat bulb...
Click to expand...
I over-wintered my 2006 hatchlings in a similar set-up. I stacked 6-quart Sterilite containers in a 30-gallon long tank with heat cable on only the back glass. It worked great. As it gets colder here, I'll be doing something similar with this years babies.
 
nlove_3000 said:
Well...I had one more die today... :( That leaves 20 -- and to boot my healthy hatchling regurged for no apparent reason. So -- a few steps forward and a few steps back. I weighed them all tonight too though and I finally have several breaking the 7 gram high end. 4 of them weighed in at 8 and 9 grams!!
Click to expand...
You have my condolences. The hardest part of working with non-feeders it accepting that some will not make it. No matter how prepared I think I am for it, it always breaks my heart to lose a baby I worked so hard to save.
 
Let me be the one....

to submit post number 100 to the thread! Thank you too all of the members participating and taking this journey with me. :cheers:
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top