Hang in There!!!

[swingonthespiral]

Hi everyone,

For all you herpers newbies to fossils just some pics to give you hope for all those non feeders that stress us out to the max....

Kalea.... my beautiful yet incredibly stubborn intergrade who was a gift from my darling Steve 'ponybug'...

This little girl had not eaten since hatched in feb (???? if thats not right im sure steve will correct me).....

Steve had tried just about everything (live, brained, scented etc etc) and as an experienced keeper he opted for a force feeding before i got her around a month ago....

So i again tried everything i could.... and in the end..... after major stress on my part worrying about this little girl who was very very skinny and not very strong but just gorgeous.... she finally chowed down...

Now what i had to do to the poor little AHG was pretty gross for me especially being a vegetarian...

But my little girl was more important to me....

So i caught an AHG approx 2wks ago.... 'whacked' it and froze it..... then when the time came i defrosted it in the same water as the pinky..... although that was a no go, she wasnt even phased by it....

But the second i brained the defrosted gecko and put no more than about 2 drops of blood and ooze onto the pinky's head.....

BAM!!!!

WOOHOO..... she took 2 last night and was looking for more but i didnt want to over do it...

At least now she has something substainal in her belly so i can start slowly decreasing the amount of gecko scent used so she can grow into the gorgeous healthy darling that she has the potential to be.....

So anyone having issues..... just be paitent, try not to freak out, in the end it'll all be ok!!!!!

[mines bigger]

very subtle hints there swing LOL
but thanks for your support
nice skake btw

[Helikaon]

yes it is all about patience. and the stress is terrible!! arhh but yes it does usually work out quite well. have you thought about tube feeding with some of the more difficult ones. AD canned food works well for that instance and is extrememely high nutrient based. and tube feedign is much less stressful then force feedign a pinkie down their mout i think.


but WELL DONE to you is all i have to say gorgeous little snake to

[mr_muesli]

congratulations, you must be sooo relieved.
as a fellow vegetarian, i understand what it must of been like, LOL, i wash my hands thoroughly whenever i touch a dead mouse, it freaks me out to have a dead animal 'for food' on my hands LOL, i need to get some tweezers... What type of intergrade is she? She looks like a bredi x ?

[swingonthespiral]

Originally Posted by mines bigger

very subtle hints there swing LOL
but thanks for your support
nice skake btw

thanks mines bigger no worries

Originally Posted by Helikaon

yes it is all about patience. and the stress is terrible!! arhh but yes it does usually work out quite well. have you thought about tube feeding with some of the more difficult ones. AD canned food works well for that instance and is extrememely high nutrient based. and tube feedign is much less stressful then force feedign a pinkie down their mout i think.


but WELL DONE to you is all i have to say gorgeous little snake to

she is a gorgeous girl..... and she knows it.... thats why she gets away with being so naughty and stressing her mum!!!!

I had thought about tube feeding, i had force fed a few times before with my jungle boy who is now powering on..... but i thought i'd give her another couple of tries and get her muscle strength up with the natural feeding response...

Originally Posted by mr_muesli

congratulations, you must be sooo relieved.
as a fellow vegetarian, i understand what it must of been like, LOL, i wash my hands thoroughly whenever i touch a dead mouse, it freaks me out to have a dead animal 'for food' on my hands LOL, i need to get some tweezers... What type of intergrade is she? She looks like a bredi x ?

LOL im the same.... i even refer to meat as dead animal too LOL

And no shes not crossed with a bredli.... shes a 'port mac carpet' (which is a natural intergrade between diamonds and coastals) x coastal.... i know many closed minded people wont approve but shes a pet and beautiful in her own right....

[m.punja]

can someone go into more detail about tube feeding?

[Helikaon]

Originally Posted by m.punja

can someone go into more detail about tube feeding?

basically you shoudl deffiantley only do it if you have been trained to do it, as accidents can happen. but its basically gettign a substance that can be made into a 50 percent water 50 percent food mix and obviously small enough to pas a small tube like a oesophogeal feeding tube. you then connect the feedign tube to your syringe of liquid food and then prime the tube by pushing food all the way to the end so you are not pumping air into the snakes stomach, you then pass the tube down to its stomach and slowly empty the syringe. you then pass abit of water down after.. you then have to make sure it doens't get regurgitated and aspirated by the snake but often if you jsut give the snake its own it will work itself out.

thats the basics.
pardon the spelling it is alte and i am tired

cheers
H. oh and you obviously want to warm the food as you dotn want to temp shock the snake or burn it so yes again only if you have been trained i cant empahasize that enough) if it needs to be done you should take it to your vet.

[Squamata]

I have used gecko skin wrapped around the pinkies head and that worked. or i rub the mouse on one of my geckos, sometimes the python can just be plain stubborn and as you said Swingonthespiral, patience is the key.
Tube feeding is really a last resort, just like force feeding. You really have to know what you are doing. Get someone who knows how to, to show you. Bit hard trying to explain on here...

[swingonthespiral]

no worries reptilegirl_jordan

its such a hard time for every keeper..... but nice to see a light at the end of the tunnel

Definately patience Squamata... its always hard..... but sometimes just a little bit of time and a well thought out plan is your best asset

[x_aussie_bloke_x]

Its the same with my spotted . I got told it was just because its cold. If you want to get them eating again maybe raise the temps up.

[swingonthespiral]

aussiebloke she hadnt eaten at all since hatched and has been kept at approx 30-32 the whole time.... so she was a problem feeder from day one... but it was only a matter of time....

so for an established feeder to go off thier food during winter is ok and raising thier temps usually fixes that....

[Bung-Eye]

good job mate, great to see her feeding

[swingonthespiral]

thanks bung eye.... its an awesome feeling

[David Evans]

she is a gorgeous little snake....

[swingonthespiral]

thanks david.... she has a very sweet little face but i think she knows it LOL