Clumsy baby

[kibakiba]

I have nothing to keep him in overnight, the container I had is occupied by my crickets and their hundreds of babies. I've tried the assisted feeding and tomorrow when I feed I'll have some salmon on hand. The times he did eat a worm, it had been mixed with tilapia and salmon. Since garters in my area don't eat lizards ( lizards don't live where I am) That wouldn't work for me. I know a lot of different scenting techniques, that's how I got my babies on pinkies. I had a pinky part in one part of my finger and a worm behind it, guarded by my nail and they took the pinky

[Floof]

Well, fingers crossed he goes for salmon-scented worms again!

About the lizard thing--if you think about it, CB corn snakes never see a lizard, and, chances are, their ancestors for several generations back have probably never so much as smelled a lizard, either. Through the northern chunk of their range (they go as far north as New Jersey), there aren't exactly lizards around, either. Yet they all instinctively know lizards are their natural prey, sometimes even to the point of refusing to eat until a lizard (or something smelling as such) is presented to them.

My point is, there doesn't have to be lizards in the area the snake originated from for it to have the natural instinct to see them as food... If you have access to a lizard to scent the food with, it is still worth a shot...

Like I said, though, that idea was just from observations of wild Northwestern garters in one small chunk of their range. I could easily be way off...

[ae88weaver]

How exactly do you feed the worms? And how long are you going to feed them before serving them to the gang? I think that sounds like a wonderful idea but I'm clueless on what to do... I'm clueless on all this stuff actually so any advice on anything would help

[ae88weaver]

[QUOTE=kibakiba;143602] We're getting more worms at Fred Meyers, they sell them depending on weight but I normally get anywhere from 20-30 really large ones for 3 dollars. They aren't for the snakes though until I get them eating a better diet, it's hard to tell really what they've been eating! Mine eat fruit scraps, egg shells and all of that and they actually eat some of the food that's for my crickets and that's high in calcium so I'd assume them being healthier.

^^ sorry i forgot to put the quote that made me ask... I really am clueless and new to this hehe

[Selkielass]

Lots of websites like this one; European Night Crawlers, Fishing Worms, Fishing Bait, Turtle Food, Lizard Food, Snake Food, Frog Food, Live Bait,
Have information on raising your own earthworms and nitecrawlers. Giving really nutritious, calcium rich food to feeder animals before you give them to your reptiles helps ensure good nutrition for your reptile- I've heard it called 'Gut loading'.

I haven't managed to achieve the right temperature/conditions for either Canadians or back yard earthworms to thrive in captivity.

[guidofatherof5]

How exactly do you feed the worms? And how long are you going to feed them before serving them to the gang? I think that sounds like a wonderful idea but I'm clueless on what to do... I'm clueless on all this stuff actually so any advice on anything would help

A lot depends on the size of the snake. Babies can eat baby night crawlers or chunks of cut crawlers.
For my newborns I have to cut the chunks as small as possible. Sometimes I even have to crosscut the chunks to make them smaller.

[kibakiba]

Feeding night crawlers is easy, they eat whatever they live in pretty much. I keep mine in newspaper shreds that's damp and kept in the fridge and add organics in and lots of high calcium things, like eggshell bits, calcium enriched foods and bone meal. As for feeding them to your snakes, well Steve said it all. You can feed them within a few days I'm sure, I only use one worm per feeding, so most of them are in there for 1-6 weeks before being eaten.

[guidofatherof5]

I only use one worm per feeding, so most of them are in there for 1-6 weeks before being eaten.

Can you tell me what that's like.
One worm, Wow.
I go through 1000 a month + pinkies.
My kids make fun of me, reminding me of the time I though having 30 snakes was a lot.

[kibakiba]

I use other foods too :P I only have 6 snakes, the adults eat the babies left overs and all of them prefer salmon and tilapia, so one is good enough for me :P I only feed worm because of Tiny, he wouldn't take salmon or tilapia but if I mixed it with worm, he ate it.

[kibakiba]

He ate a tiny piece of worm that had been in a dish with salmon and tilapia. I had to hold him and push it to his face to get him to eat, but he finally did. He's looking so skinny anymore. I'm scared to hold him sometimes. Anyways, after eating a piece he got to snuggle up to my hand and relax for a little bit.