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Feeding Hatchlings Question

I pretty much never offer food until the babies are two weeks old anyway. As some of the others said, offering it earlier is usually at best a waste of time and at worst, can cause them to be more reluctant to feed later.
I personally don't think there's any risk of harm to feeding them prior to the first shed, IF they would eat, but the chances of that are very slim.

As for the question of starting them on thawed, I have never had a single hatchling ball python take a thawed rodent as it's first meal. I'm sure some have at some time or another, but I never have. Granted I no longer even try to start them on thawed, but I had plenty of wasted attempts in the past to show me it wasn't worth trying.
Raising ball pythons is what caused me to go back to raising rodents. The need for live prey on a routine basis makes is alot more difficult to work with them if you're not raising rodents.
 
Thanks all for the advice. I have had better luck getting younger animals to switch compared to older as some have said. I don't have a problem feeding live. However, I do like the price of the frozen much better. Plus I have most to the point that I just open the cage, drop in dinner and just check in the morning to be sure it is all gone. I love when it is a no trouble deal. Doesn't always happen that way but when it does... "How sweet it is" :thumbsup:
 
I don't listen to everything I hear either, so I tried it, of course, with a couple. They simply aren't interested in eating until a couple of days (at the earliest) after their first shed.

I haven't noticed the ones I tried early feeding on becoming problem feeders. Most have taken a first meal now. I used pinks, though, so they wouldn't bother the snake, and I've also noticed that if you leave the prey in for maybe an hour at most, then remove if it's not eaten, it seems to disturb the hatchling less than if you leave it in overnight. I haven't had any luck with leaving one in overnight yet, so I don't think I'll bother with that anymore--if they aren't eaten in an hour, they don't get eaten. I'm sure they are all little individuals, and I'll probably have one eventually that wants it left overnight. I have a Juvi male who used to insist on that with his crawler rats, but he's getting over it.
 
WingedWolf said:
I don't listen to everything I hear either, so I tried it, of course, with a couple. They simply aren't interested in eating until a couple of days (at the earliest) after their first shed.
Click to expand...

Yeah, i notice that alot of the info you read and hear online can be... a bit overdramatic at some points, or just plain out wrong. not all of it... but alot.

It dosnt help that its really easy to regurgitate what others say, and takes alot more time to gain experience. Ive definitely learned alot and have rethought ALOT of what i used to think i knew. As is the way of working with these animals though :) the info is always changing.

To everyone, THANK YOU

I had the final shed today, so i will Let you all know how they do in the next week or so on getting them to eat for the first time. :thumbsup: I really appreciate the responses.
 
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