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Baby Black racers not eating
Someone from another forum is having difficulties with captive hatched Black racers and is asking for help (she PM'd me). I know next to nothing about them so am turning to you guys for suggestions.
She works at a summer camp, found a clutch of eggs and brought them home to hatch them as she did not want the kids to disturb or trample them. The hatched on August 15th and have not eaten anything she has offered (roaches, worms, grasshoppers etc.). They have lost ~1-2 grams each since hatching. She has them housed all together in a rubbermaid bin with a lot of hides, water, heat gradient...her set up seems pretty good as she has mimicked her area. The only question there would be having them all together. Last night she got a few of them to eat some raw chicken. The smallest pinks she can find are too big, she said they are at least twice the girth of the largest baby (if not bigger), they currently weigh 4 or 5 grams each. She was going to leave the ones that did not eat last night in deli cups with some chicken and bugs overnight and I don't know the outcome of that.
I'd love to be able to point her in the right direction...any care sheets or suggestions? She just wants to establish them a bit and then let them go eventually. Any help is greatly appreciated!
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BPnet Veteran
Re: Baby Black racers not eating
I know most Colubrids eat lizards for the first few meals. Has she tried offering live baby lizards?
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BPnet Veteran
Re: Baby Black racers not eating
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Registered User
Re: Baby Black racers not eating
Yeah...lizards, insects and frogs make up the bulk of baby racers' diet.
Try scenting the pinks with tuna water (residual slush from a tunafish can).
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BPnet Veteran
Re: Baby Black racers not eating
A 4 - 5 g baby can eat the xsmall pinks found at rodent pro. If the pinks are to big, she can simply cut them in half length wise. Anoles are like candy to racers, so if she can use one for scenting that would help a lot. The tuna water works great as well. Another point, racers are very sight orientated, so she might have better luck trying live pinks to begin with, and then converting.
Jenea
GuardianReptiles.com
"The irrational fear of snakes is the only excuse a grown man has to act like a complete sissy" - Colchicine
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Re: Baby Black racers not eating
Thanks! I did tell her to slice the pinks in half if they were too big. Hopefully she can get a few meals in the little guys before they go off on their own.
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Re: Baby Black racers not eating
Baby racers will devour crickets. I hatched a clutch of 20 about 15 years ago and none would even look at pinks. Give them a handful of crickets and watch them go to town. I know it sounds too good to be true, but it is their preferred choice of food as hatchlings.
Good luck.
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Registered User
Re: Baby Black racers not eating
Iv got one he wont eat any suggestions
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Re: Baby Black racers not eating
All but 2 have now eaten something. They seem to like the raw chicken she gave them...is that a bad thing for them? She also noticed, finally, that some of the roaches and crickets seemed to have disappeared so someone is eating something. She is going to try to catch some anoles, she said there are a ton running around and if she can't she will consider buying some (she, like me, keeps Leo's so that will be a big deal ). She is going to try to find smaller pinks and use the anoles as scenters before trying to use them as feeders. Anyway, a slight bit of progress is being made!
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