Marking Hatchlings

I've heard when you first sex babies you can mark them with a paint marker to keep track of individuals until you separate them. Is this true? I figure its safe and the paint would just come off during a shed. But the paint marker doesn't irritate the skin or anything does it?

good question:)

Depends on the brand and type. I know BHB used a silver paint marker to mark them, but I don't know what type they use.
Send an email asking him, he'll answer next day usually. (maybe 2-3 days)

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Originally Posted by A.VinczeBPs

Depends on the brand and type. I know BHB used a silver paint marker to mark them, but I don't know what type they use.
Send an email asking him, he'll answer next day usually. (maybe 2-3 days)

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Brian uses standard paint pens. Nothing special at all. They dont absorb in the scales/skin and sheds/washes off.

I personally dont mark anything except the tags on the tubs.

I would ask Brian at BHB! You will need a paint pen that is non toxic!

Dunno 'bout paint pens and such (any non-toxic ones should work fine tho), but what I do it throw males in one tub and females in another tub. Works just fine for my corn snakes. :D

What is the point of 'marking' a ball python?
Once the entire clutch is out of their eggs, you sex them all.
You put the boys in one bin, you put the girls in another bin.
You mark the bins as follows:
Boys (you put the boys in those).
Girls (you put the girls in those).
No need to 'marker' up your balls.

...I'm not trying to give the impression that I can't figure out to put males in one tub and females in the another. I'm talking about special circumstances like I just ran into when I wanted to mark the one female in the bin that hadn't eaten.
I remember a while back watching a video on youtube where a guy there needed to mark a specific hatchling put a small mark on its back with a paint pen and said it doesn't hurt anything and comes right off with a shed. I just would like to make sure that is true.

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Originally Posted by Agent73

...I'm not trying to give the impression that I can't figure out to put males in one tub and females in the another. I'm talking about special circumstances like I just ran into when I wanted to mark the one female in the bin that hadn't eaten.
I remember a while back watching a video on youtube where a guy there needed to mark a specific hatchling put a small mark on its back with a paint pen and said it doesn't hurt anything and comes right off with a shed. I just would like to make sure that is true.

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Once they are sexed you can put them in thier own separate tubs, put tags on each tub identifying them as male or female. And use a feeding card to keep track if its eaten, pooped,pee, shed. No reason to mark a snake if its not eaten or not. :confused:

Currently what i use fore EVERY snake the day they are hatched and sexed.

http://i577.photobucket.com/albums/s...m/100_3583.jpg

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Originally Posted by RichsBallPythons

Currently what i use fore EVERY snake the day they are hatched and sexed.

http://i577.photobucket.com/albums/s...m/100_3583.jpg

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Yes I know, I use the same thing, in fact I bought 200 of each these blue and the pink feeder cards from you back in May.

I am just trying to figure out in a special circumstance where the BP hatchling are together and you would need to identify a individual if it would hurt anything to put a small mark on one with a paint marker. I had seen another breeder doing it on youtube and wanted to make sure it wouldn't hurt the snake and would come off with the shed like they said.

The paint wont harm anything as it wont be absorbed. But with problem feeding snakes you want them housed separately from the others. But by time most hatchlings shed they are moved to their own setups and offered first meal.

I remove my babies from the incubator as soon as they are out of the egg--I sex, weigh, and put them into individual bins in a hatchling rack, and set up their record. I do not leave hatchlings loose in the incubator once they leave they leave the egg, and I do not wait until they are all hatched before I remove the ones that have.

It seems absurdly risky to even talk about keeping hatchlings together once they have hatched, much less once they start eating. That is how cannibalism occurs.

So, my advice is--separate the hatchlings, there is no good reason they should all be together once they're out of the egg. You don't have to mark them, because you should mark their bin.

use those water soluable markers that are made for baby humans