First time breeder

[andyoconnor83]

you'd be better off seeing if any other snake breeders have any corn snake non-feeders they could sell for a cheap price and ship them to you frozen... grass lizards would be ok, but I'd probably pull the tails so it isn't such a long meal, probably longer than the kings...

[Strawberry swisher pt1]

Originally Posted by Sylvias

I can get anoles from work =/ for $6 -.-
the problem with live pinks is that i have to drive over an hour to get them... and then they are freaking $1.30 each! ridiculousness -.- have tried to breed mice before but the damn things never reproduce for me....

Black oil seeds will get them to reproduce. I had the same problem, tried the seeds, now I have baby pinks.

[Ophiuchus]

Also, I don't know what your temps are, but mice don't like breeding at warm temps. A lot of folks mistakenly try to keep the feeder mics in the same room with their herps (which is typically warmer with heat lamps and UTHs, etc.). LOL...mice aren't herps and warm, humid environments are not conducive to rodent reproduction.

This was a mistake I made. If you did decide to try again, keep the mice separate in another room and keep them COOL! Like no more than 75'F, ideally less.

When were the snakes born again? Ive had hatchling corns go 4 months before finally eating, so don't fret too much.

[jguyer1]

Are the babies starting to lose weight yet? What kind of temps are you keeping them at? How often are you attempting to feed them? How often are you handling them?

Sometimes it'll take baby kings a while before they really take off. Most feed like champs from the start, but there are some stubborn ones.

I would suggest NOT feeding baby non-feeder corns to them. That's an awful big meal for a baby king...perfect for a yearling king though....baby kings can and will get a baby corn down but a lot of them will be regurged, which is much worse than missing a feeding.

Scenting with a corn or another snake might work though.

[Sylvias]

well leaving the pinks in there for 2 nights a few of them have vanished... and shockingly some are still alive, i discarded the dead and put the 3 living in with a new snake I have yet to announce here (who is also not wanting to eat -.-) so at least some of the babies ate! but still have one or two that haven't had a first meal yet.... i may just try breeding again... paid way to damn much for those pinks and to far to get em....
I try not to handle them at all, have tried feeding once a week. they all still appear healthy as i said so not terribly worried just getting there... since its my first clutch.... the room right now its probably in the 60's since my damn heat isn't on yet -.- but I have them lined up on some heat tape that keeps one end of their tubs at 85, usually like to keep my kings warmer than that when their not brumating but the heat tape isn't actually getting any warmer.....

[jguyer1]

I'd wager that they'll feed just fine once you can get the ambient temps up.

It's not too uncommon to have a couple of babies out of a clutch be stubborn feeders and some clutches are better feeders than others, but the fact that none of them were eating pointed to something in the environment being the problem.

[Sylvias]

Getting there!
At this point in time I only have 2 babies that have not eaten anything yet... will see if that changes tomorrow >.> got live pinks these past 2 weeks and that seems to have worked.
I have also changed their tubs to something just a little smaller and more secure (had another escapee that i couldn't figure out where the hell it got out -.- but at least I found this one!) and got my temps worked out in my room so everything is happy
SO... heres hoping....
luckily my one little hold back has been eating well from the beginning so that's exciting.
and maybe it's pure coincidence but interesting to me that the two speckled belly kings I got are the two that haven't eaten yet.