Feeding young question

What size tubs are the little ones in?

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Originally Posted by Deborah

From my experience younger animals are voracious (especially at the size you are mentioning) and will very rarely go off food, of course there are always some animals that will be the exception to the rule but for the main part they should be eating.

All the animals I have hatched or bought in 09 are eating and are still pretty much in their feeding frenzy period.

Of course some has to do with husbandry and what you are feeding also.

Keep the young ones in tight and warm enclosure and they will eat like champs for the majority of them.

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X2 - it is NOT normal for babies to go off feed in the winter. All of my babies are pounding food weekly. What size enclosure are they in?

They are in 6 quart containers.

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Originally Posted by Starsnake

They are in 6 quart containers.

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How often are you handling them?

Only handle IF a full clean up is necessary. So maybe once every 2 weeks or more.

I have a picky feeder like your spider. He's very picky on how he wants to strike, and if he doesn't get the right pose down, he won't eat. I'm going to try to get him on pre killed or f/t, and possibly leave the prey in the tub over night. Have you tried doing pre killed?

OK, so I think I may have figured things out, maybe, who knows. I checked the temps in the cages. While I thought over the 3 inch flexwatt was 90 degrees it was actually 75. Reason was that I refreshed there containers recently and probably put too much aspen for bedding, so I thinned it out tonight. Hopefully this helps things. Funny how the young ones that were still eating actually had moved the bedding to get to the heat. The others seem to be a little "slow" and did not try to get down to the heat. I hope I'm right. I spent good money on six future breeders (I know you all have) and I do not want to lose them to heating issues. I used newspaper in the past and changed to the aspen after trying it with my corns. I like how it keeps the containers cleaner.

I have a tiny....when I got her she was 43 grams. So so tiny...it was scary!!! We did not know if she would make it or not we thought maybe she was going to be a failure to thrive. But she is up almost to 100 now in about 3 weeks. She is very very timid eater. Because she was so small we feed her small adults and hoppers.(just about the same size) I have to prekill the mouse as she is very scared still and takes a while to strike. Sometimes I will lay it in the tub and then she will take it when we are not around. She is up to 3 hoppers at in a feeding now. I will be upping her size after this week. But just did not want to rush her on how much she ate at first and how big.

I might try prekilling your live and then laying it in.....if he is timid that might do the trick. Thankfully I have not had finicky eaters yet. All of mine excluding tiny....are ferocious eaters and always looking for more. Big ole pigs!!

You should only weigh your snakes after a poo! The 10 gram drop could be after a poo. It is very important to check that your ambient is up to 75 min. daily in the winter months. They should not be off feed at that size. If its just the odd feeding or two than it is nothing to worry about! Some snakes only like to eat every other week.

I also have a timid eater. If it's f/t or p/k, I have to lay it on the floor in front of the entrance to his hide. Then go away.

Live is the same way. He won't strike if I'm there watching him. I have to leave, let him strike in "private".