Starting BHP's

[africancichlidau]

I would be interested in hearing the methods that have proven successful for breeders getting BHP's to start feeding. I have a clutch here that refuse to feed after being a month out of the egg. I don't really want to force feed yet but the methods I have used so far, including assist feeding, have failed for me.

 

[reptililian]

A stern talking to, threatening to tell their father, then shameless begging is the sequence I've heard works! :wink:

 

[olivehydra]

You tried skinks??

 

[africancichlidau]

OH, yeah have tried scenting with them but still no luck so far.

R, I tried shameless begging, I did tell their father but the stern talking to started to turn me on so I stopped.

 

[NoOne]

Hey Afro,
Honestly i've found the best is to assist feed them, BHPs can go a couple of months easily after hatching without eating so you can wait a bit longer and they will probably start on their own.
The way i assist feed hatchling BHPs is with a pup rat and something like a credit card, a liminated card like a library card without any numbers on it.
Put the card in their mouth and slide the rat pup in on top of it. Get the rat pup down into the troat abit and then take the card out.
It can take a bit of practise to get it right but i find it works great, it normally only takes one or 2 of those and they start feeding on their own.

The other good way is to use Geckos as scent, they really love geckos, i prefer not to scent because it takes longer to get them onto unscented.

Best of luck.

 

[africancichlidau]

Thanks Duga old mate

 

[TrueBlue]

Yeah they can take 2-3 months to start feeding. But always do. Chicken stock or day old chicken sent works sometimes to.

 

[zulu]

re Starting

Yes afropuss dugabugs has the idea,the way to start bhps is the assist feed with credit card,forget about scenting and playing around.Afro the idea is to get a 1 day tiny as rat that it cant spit out or little pinky mouse if they are too big they spit them out.I credit card them like dugs described and let them go on a flat surface and when they start swallowing put them in clik clak in a little hide then comes the MUST in more pinkys defrosted placed at the entrance to the hide.Pretty simple method that works on the principle that bhps having eaten are pigs and look for more food having eaten,so it works on the follow up afro.If you assist feed and dont put more food there it doesnt work well its the FOLLOW UP after assist feed.

 

[africancichlidau]

Gentlemen, I am overwhelmed with your generosity in the sharing of knowledge I am proud to be part of such an upstanding, honest and ethical community as the herp community

 

[serpenttongue]

Afro, i always wait them out, eventually they will give in to hunger. I dont try them for about six weeks and then start offering rat pups or adult mice. The meal is left in their cage overnight, if its still there in the morning its removed and i'll try again in a week or so. Over time the hatchlings will lose weight and you'll start to really panic, and then suddenly they'll decide to feed. I've never assist fed a hatchling BHP and i dont believe its necessary, you just need patience.

Chicken down and skinks will often work for the really, really stubborn ones.

 

[Retic]

But don't they make up for lost time once they start ? :lol:

 

[BROWNS]

But don't they make up for lost time once they start ?

Sure do boa,it's quite amazing how quickly they grow.

When i got my pair i followed advice given and didn't even bother trying to feed till after 8 weeks as they absorb a huge amount of the yolk and will get hungry enough sooner or later.I used live just fuzzed up rats first feed and they haven't looked back since.The assist and back up method i've seen work well too and a friend even resorted to scenting with fresh cooked prawns and worked a treat ,i've also seen non feeders take ducks when they've refused feeding on anything else.

If mine breed next season i'll be doing it the same as when i got them and not even bothering to feed for 8 weeks,there's a good read about this in POTW.

 

[Allan]

I always assist feed with a rat tail, cut to app.10 cm. Lubricate with water and gently push half of it down. Gently put it down in its cage whit a thawed fuzzy rat. It can take some time before it starts to swallow, but they always do and then about half of my clutch go straight for the dead fuzzy.
I agree with zulu and duga that scenting can cause unnecessary work later on.

 

[zulu]

re Starting

If you just let juv bhps go they would eat eventually and when they get hungry as juvs they eventually start to nuzzle little mice or rats usually pushing until they open their mouths and eat.The problem is that individuals or buisnesses need to get them going in a time frame and havent got time to muck around.I asked Dave Barker about this and he said he never really hit on the method of getting the juveniles feeding quickly enough,although that would of been a while ago i suppose.Roy Pails said once he assist feeds them a pinky and puts them back and throws a few more in and they usually go around and gobble up the rest.

 

[PilbaraPythons]

If any body wants a run down on assist feeding this might be useful to you, even though it was written for venomous in mind.
http://www.pilbarapythons.com/assistfeed.htm