BHP Progress

[John1982]

So, about as expected, none of these guys(and I do mean guys, ended up 5.1, haha) showed any interest in eating. I gave them a few different options over as many weeks then jumped straight into assisting. Having to assist feed to get them started is pretty common practice with this species, which is very surprising if you've ever witnessed their food drive once they get going! It's always a toss up between whether my adults will go for the feeder, the tongs holding it, the hand holding the tongs, or even the part of the glass door I recently touched to slide it open, or maybe just bypassing all that and coming straight for my face. I can literally throw anything in the enclosure with my adults and they'll try to eat it, but I digress.

The youngsters are doing well with assists. I've done my fair share of this in the past and these are about as easy as it gets in that department - thankfully. They were pretty willing participants from the beginning except one that would clamp his mouth shut tighter than a clam but he started easing up on that after just a couple weeks. They're getting small meals every 3-4 days and it's about a 10 second affair for each animal now.

I'm adding a couple post shed pictures for your viewing pleasure. First is a holdback male in filtered(under a tree) natural light. He was an easy choice with that golden chin creeping all the way up into his upper labials. The sire has a couple little gold spots on his chin and it's a transferable trait but I guess instead of spreading around the clutch this male hogged it all. I think he's going to end up looking pretty wild as an adult. Since there was only 1 female in the bunch, picking a holdback there was even easier. Second picture is my lone female with the definite keeper male. Third is a pile of males in full sun, displaying the range of colors in this clutch. Fourth is a shaded shot of the same males as pic three.