feeding new babies

[Scott E.]

out of the 4 babies that survived, only one has eaten anything. The other three are a lot smaller than the one that is eating. We have been using cut up nightcrawlers, but they don't seem to be interested. Any thoughts on what else we could use to get them to eat. They have been born for a week and haven't eaten anything yet. We are getting worried that they won't make it either, if they don't start eating.

[DIRK]

HI
don´t get worry, try it every second day. Take out the snake that feeds good, it´s possible, that the other snakes are to shy or scared about the big one.....

Don´t give up

[guidofatherof5]

Earthworms. The small pale worms. They have a different smell than the night crawler. I've have babies start on those.
Guppies, they are magic. Get a small round container. Place the snake in with 6 or so guppies. Have just enough water in the container to let the guppies splash around. Very few garters can resist this. After they start on guppies you can drop a few earth worms in with the fish. Your snake will be so excited about the guppies they will grab a worm by mistake and eat it. The water makes the worm smell like fish and that all it takes.
Sometimes isolation feeding works. Once again use a small container w/lid snake and earth worms go in. Cover the container or place it in a no traffic area. As short a time as an hour has worked and sometimes over night is required. If using a lid make sure there are air holes. The lid is important because wet baby snakes climb out of any container.

[snakee]

Sometimes i have the same problem.
Try it with pieces of a trout! That works in 90% with my babys if they don´t want to eat worms.

Best wishes,
Manuel

[infernalis]

Chop up pinkies and fish together into a mush, it's magic most of the time.

[snakeman]

guppies or rosey reds.They are attracted to movement more than scent.

[Scott E.]

I am just worried, after loosing 9 others at birth, these three are about half of the size of the one that is eating...

[Mommy2many]

Don't give up! Steve's guppy idea usually works the best. Though I have fed babies on the cut up nightcrawlers. Good luck!

[ConcinusMan]

guppies or rosey reds.They are attracted to movement more than scent.

You would think, as often as I heard about those two fish, that somebody in one of the largest cities in Washington State would carry them. No go. It's goldfish or frozen silversides. That's all anyone has around here unless I want to pay $5 for a tiny "safe" live fish.

[ConcinusMan]

Chop up pinkies and fish together into a mush, it's magic most of the time.

Just out of curiosity, is that a radix? Because my Amy will eat pinkies, fish, or worms without hesitation. Doesn't matter if I mix them or not.

I'm also guessing that the snake you pictured is all but blind. My amy doesn't see anything moving. She acts blind as a bat. The only time she seems to "see" is when I cast a shadow on her, or if I am holding her and I bring her under a bright light. In both cases she launches herself into the air. She actually jumps.

But one thing is for sure, my past concinnus babies that see quite well, aren't interested in the smell. They are attracted to movement. For those, I used to get them started on chorus frog (pacific treefrog) larvae in their water dish. After that, a wiggling worm would do. After a few months, just the smell of fish, worms, frogs, or larvae would work.