New arrivals

[kibakiba]

Well.... you could always send them to me... Haha. I'm kidding. Mama was like that when she was gravid. (it's gravid Richard, not preggo! you said something like that to me before ) She would only really eat pinkies, with the occasional left over worm, and would reject the fish I had left.
I kind of want to raise some slugs, Snap actually went crazy for the one I fed before. Maybe the babies would like some baby slugs.

[mustang]

And another picture of pumpkin, he was sleeping on my belly and when I moved my hand he fell over on his back and looked at me like "hey! I was having a good dream!"

isert MANLY "awwwww"

[kibakiba]

They ate!! I figured tonight, like every night they would act like the food is going to kill them, but they were all giving me some sort of "I'm starving.. please give me a little scrap" kind of look. Sooo... not being able to know what they wanted or resist a cute face, I stuck the hemostats in with a chunk of salmon (the only thing I have for food right now..) and to my surprise, they acted scared and hid, then popped their heads out... And when I stuck it in ones face he did this little vicious latch and shake thing before gobbling it down. Every single one of them took it after I pushed it in their faces, even little frail silver. I'm worried about him. He's been getting a little weak looking... But I cant make myself think I'll lose him cause that's just not how I am. Gotta think positive and things will be positive. He did eat pretty ravenously, didn't even hesitate to steal from his brothers/sisters when I was trying to cut another piece for them.
Each of them got 3 pieces, with the exception of Pumpkin, who got 4 due to being very large and didn't have any sort of bulge before the last piece, and the runt, who got 2, because he's so tiny and had to eat pieces meant for the bigger guys since I couldn't grip the smaller pieces.

I kept getting "the look" from Pumpkin and the runt, I almost couldn't even resist giving them more, but I didn't want to do anything bad... But those little faces! I keep looking back at their tank and they keep staring at me.

[PINJOHN]

really enjoying these updates on the little ones, keep them coming Chantel

[kibakiba]

Thanks, I got some video of some of them eating and begging, but I'll have to edit it a bit and upload it later, it's 4 am right now

[ConcinusMan]

Don't worry about getting a bulge right now Chantel, go easy on them. If you can get them to take a little bit each day or a bite or two twice a day that will be good. Meals that are big and make them buldge too much can be deadly this early in the game. They need to build their strength gradually and get their systems growing and strong before going to big bulging meals.

Glad they ate for you. That's good news.

[Mommy2many]

Hi Chantel,

I've fed my crew the sock-eye salmon. I only buy it fresh from the fish dept. of my supermarket though. I don't buy anything frozen ('cept pinkies)

Great news on the little guys eating finally! They have the cutest little faces, don't they? It's like they are all eyes

[kibakiba]

It didn't make a huge bulge, just a small one. I'm not worried about feeding them a lot for their size, 3-4 pieces doesn't seem like much. They're all thin right now and seem like they're wanting more, all five of them were slithering on top of each other and giving me that little begging look. I'm assuming they really like the salmon. That said, I'm going to try to get them on pinky parts on Friday or Saturday. I have some pinkies coming to my house on Friday, so I'll be scenting some parts heavily with the salmon. It'll be nice being able to feed them again, I enjoyed spending time with them

Le Ann, I also buy from the fish dept. of our supermarket 100% fresh. Since my worms all died off and Mama doesn't like fish, I gave her my last mouse, so fish was all I have until Friday. I'd prefer them eating mice or worms instead.
Their little eyes are so big and sad, too, when you say feeding time is over. These little guys have really dark eyes, so it's hard to see anything, but Pumpkin actually has really bright eyes and a little white line in front of his eyes, so when he looks up... It makes him look so innocent and sad. I almost couldn't resist feeding him more.

[ConcinusMan]

Hi Chantel,

I've fed my crew the sock-eye salmon. I only buy it fresh from the fish dept. of my supermarket though. I don't buy anything frozen

99% of that, if not all of it, was frozen at some point. That stuff simply doesn't keep more than a day or two at most if not frozen. It takes them that long to get it to the market. I asked them about that. The stuff is frozen at the time they catch it, until it gets to the market. Some of it stays frozen until they lay it out in the case, all fresh-caught looking. Nothing wrong with that. It's just that once thawed, if it doesn't sell that day, it's thrown out. You end up paying for that through their pricing.

You know what's funny about that, is the price of tilapia fresh thawed in the case cost a lot more than the tilapia fillets I found in their freezer which were vacuum sealed and packaged. The price was much lower for the same thing, just because I pulled it from the freezer instead of buying it thawed. Seriously. Well heck, I would have had to freeze it anyway!

Don't scent the pinky parts Chantel. These guys are an open book right now. They'll likely eat anything scented or not. This is the best time to get them on eating food that's new to them. Once they get stuck and used to fish only, then it takes scenting. But these are babies. They will be willing to try just about anything. You shouldn't have to scent. The more things they're willing to try and eat, the better off they are if it comes down to releasing them or making them easy to get food for if they are kept in captivity. Once my northwestern babies start eating well like that, they'll eat just about anything offered.

This reputation for only eating worms and slugs comes from wild ones. That's what is available, they get used to it, and won't eat much else.

[kibakiba]

For starters, I really doubt I could ever put them outside to die. I'd rather send them to a good home. At least I would know they'd be alive and well.
I know the slugs and worms come from wild ones, but if they don't want the pinky parts I think it would be easier to just scent them. Besides, I only have one cutting board that's the size of my hand. They're going to smell like fish anyways.