Non-feeding BHP Hatchies

[solar 17]

As a lot of people will know trying to get BHP hatchies to eat is one of the hardest, most difficult things to do in our hobby, well over the last few years l have been trying many different methods but l appear to have found one solution to this problem and while not for everybody and maybe only for those with some experience.

Every year l am lucky enough to produce a large number of BHP's from several clutches so feeding in the past has been a problem,
but over the last two years l have developed this method that works extremely well.

As follows, it requires a cropping needle, very specifically :150mm/6" x 8 gauge
next you need some fresh eggs and some turkey mince,
the mix requires one egg and four times the volume of the egg in turkey mince mixed together very well, next you need a disposable syringe and drill the needle open out with a 3.5mm drill bit rinse and put you cropping needle onand fill your syringe {at least 15ml.} with you turkey mince/egg mix
now hold open your hatchies mouth with a "round tooth pick"
now before you insert the cropping needle down his/her throat have a second glass with a couple of eggs in it so you can dip the cropping needle in this egg solution to use as a lubricant, now insert your cropping needle down his/her throat the whole way and slowly squeeze you syringe to empty the contents well down the throat now gently massage and done
this one snake takes me about 20-30 seconds and has virtually no impact on the snake, repeat this every 5-6 days for 5-6 treatments and then leave for a week and throw in a pinkie overnight and you will find the "vast" majority will eat 1st. time

l didn't tell anyone that l sold bhp's to this year but l had done this treatment and 99.9% rang back and said their newly acquired hatchie ate straight away and this was over a large number of hatchies over two years.....cheers solar 17 [Baden]....ps and the shine on your hatchies scales is awsome

 

[CarpetPythons.com.au]

How would you modify your technique to suit non feeding carpet snakes?

 

[solar 17]

How would you modify your technique to suit non feeding carpet snakes?

l wouldn't change anything except with bhp's l give 12-15mls as hatchies....Baden

 

[cadwallader]

wow congratulations one fine tuning this technique.
Will help so many fellow bhp breeders

 

[pythons73]

I would think this technique could be used for any non-feeding hatchies,except smaller quanties of the egg liquid.Hatchie carpets would need a little less,BUT Anteresias could be another story.Does anyone use any simarlar technique on those little buggars.Great work Baden,so egg does make the scales shiny...If your not confident or experienced enough i would suggest this to be done by someone that has done it before..

 

[andysnakes]

can you post a pic of the set up. where do you get cropping needles from?

 

[Waterrat]

We used similar technique at the zoo but instead of a cropping needle, we used a piece of aquarium tubing (the tube used for an air-stone). We used chicken mince.
I sometimes use egg white diluted with water as a lubricant when force-feeding pinkies to baby GTPs. I found that using egg yolk or white or a mix glues their mouths if any of it stays on the lips, hence the water dilution.

 

[solar 17]

can you post a pic of the set up. where do you get cropping needles from?

A good pet shop or www.vetafarm.com.au Baden

 

[Jason]

so essentially you just make a cheap version of a pinkie pump and pump them a few times?

 

[andysnakes]

thanks baden

 

[solar 17]

so essentially you just make a cheap version of a pinkie pump and pump them a few times?

l honestly never thought about a pinkie pump what l was trying to achieve was a high quality protien meal while trying not to upset/put-off the hatchie from eating and as the crop needle is only 5mm at its external widest and with a 4mm internal diameter this ruled out imo anything with any skeletal formation what so ever, short of processing/blending as blocking is a major grievance hence the minced turkey breast a readily available finely minced high protien low fat food plus eggs and after two seasons and many hatchies they seem grow like weeds and a shine to their scales....solar 17 [Baden]

 

[longqi]

I like the adding an egg part
Have never tried it but will do so in future
Usually use just smashed pinkies in a tube
This sounds great

Our Iguanas love hibiscus
The green one gets a reddish blue tinge afterwards
Very cool

 

[AUSHERP]

i normally use a bit of aquarium airline as well, im gonna try your recipe on a couple of hypo coastals that are being stubborn normally i just crush a pinky through... thanks for sharing

 

[Perko]

Some interesting info i found on another forum

"

My jump start for picky feeders is: take a plastic tipped syringe, I use a cheap pen tube on the syringe, as it easily will go down their throat and doesn't get stuck on little baby teeth.. Add plain yogurt this has a live bacterial culture in it (just regular yogurt) and squirt it down their throat. It will jump start their gut fauna making them hungry.. If you want you can mix that with a little turkey baby food, or chicken baby food.

Works like a champ.. If I have a baby not feed after 3 offerings of food this is what I do, been doing it for a long time and 95% of the time they take food the next time it's feeding day.

I also agree at some point if they aren't taking off on their own they were meant to be bird food.. I know it's tough to do, but sometimes you have to put them in the freezer.

Oh, BTW.. The yogurt will get good babies going better as well. they will digest food better and gain weight faster than siblings that don't get it. You just put some on the prey animal if they are readily taking food.. "​