How long before feeding neonates?

I just hatched my first clutch of corns. How long should I wait before feeding them for the first time? Until their first shed or sooner? Thanks,
Jake Wallace

Some will eat sooner, but most will eat after the first shed. It does not hurt to wait for the shed and may even perk up the appetite. Some shed in as few as a few days after hatching others within a week to two weeks.

best of luck,
Glenn B

I would have responded exactly as Glenn did.

Glenn, a question for you.... if you had a clutch of, say, 20 hatchlings, would you wait and feed all 20 after the last one shed, or simply feed them as you go?

Another question I have on this same topic.... i'm having a serious mouse shortage at the moment. I hope to be up to optimal production by the time the eggs start hatching, but I doubt I'll be up to feeding them twice a week... I might only even prefer to feed them once every ten days or so until I have enough pinkies to go around..... would that be an unhealthy feeding regimen? I wouldn't want to damage them! BUT, I also hope to be able to not purchase mice whne I have a full barrage of mice just needing to get up to speed.

Also, how soon might you move up to feeding rat pinkies instead of mouse pinkies? Just curious, as my rats are producing well.

Sasheena - I'm not Glen, but I'll give you my opinions/answers to your questions.

Most of the hatchlings from a clutch will shed generally within days of each other. I usually wait until all have shed, then feed. Having quite a few clutches hatching and sheding at different times, I would probably go nuts feeding everyone as they shed. I feed everyone all at once, and if some hatchlings haven't shed yet by feeding day, I feed anyway and better than half of the "non-sheds" will eat anyway. I don't feed "just hatched", because that is really too early, but by the following week, they'll get fed.

Most of the time, I feed everyone once a week. Small hatchlings will often be fed a little more frequently (every 4-5 days), but not all the time. I tried feeding all my hatchlings every 4 days one year, but got many more refusals on an almost regular basis. Going every 5-7 days seemed better...the hatchlings had time to fully digest their meals and were quite ready for the next.

For the first 2-3 months, I don't like to go more than 7 days between meals unless I absolutely have to, and never more than 10 days. I want the hatchlings to have the best start possible and gain as much strength as possible before they get exposed to any stress (travel/sale/missed meals/extra handling, etc).

I have about 250 breeder mice and start saving pinkies when my adults come out of brumation. I usually have enough to feed the 100 plus hatchlings until I sell them in August, but start running low at about the same time. There have been several years when the mice just didn't produce like expected and I had to buy pinkies. And now that I'm expecting even more hatchlings, I have to expand my mice colony. I also breed rats to feed the older snakes (pinkies can't grow up to feed yearlings and beyond if they're fed to hatchlings), but even the smallest rat pup is way too big to feed the largest hatchling corn. Small rat pups are about the same size as fuzzies or even jumper mice, at least in my colonies. Perfect for the average yearling, and rat pups grow rapidly to the small, med and adult mouse size, which my older corns love.

Thank you for a very thorough reply! I think this year when I am in the "slow" months I'll start saving up pinkies. Managing the breeding colonies of mice and rats and snakes is like a juggling act.. .and I agree with you.. .those RATS REALLY help me with the feeding of the larger critters. Without them I'd REALLY be in a bind. Of course I produce more rats than I need, but a local store gives me GOOD store credit for the rats, so it's not that big of a deal.

Luckily my mouse colonies are just now rebounding and hopefully will produce just enough pinkies to get the hatchlings fed.

Boy that sounded like good advice to me. I too try to feed all my hatchlings at once, but it just hardly ever works out that way. I guess for a mlarge scale breeder it is just about a must or it would be pandemonum with all the other chores and feeding added on a helter skelter basis.

Now as for a breeding colony of 250 breeder mice, wow I like it but it sure must stink! My retirement dream is to get a place in the country with a large enough out building to house my herps and a large breeder colony of mice.

Right now since I only breed herps very small scale, I usually buy all my mice with the exception of some pinkies. I usually buy frozen - very inexpensive for the hobbyist, but sometimes need live pinks. In anticipation, I go to the pet shops looking for pregnant female mice. I rently got three for .99 cents each. Not bad since each had 8-11 babies.

Hey Jake, have you fed them yet or are you waiting?


All the best,
GB

Glenn, three of the hatchlings had shed by yesterday so I fed them last night. It's been a week since they hatched. Three of them ate within an hour. One of the two that hasn't eaten yet shed during the night so I'll leave the pinks in there until lunch time and see what happens. If not, I'll try again at the next feeding. Thanks,
Jake