When do I start feeding baby Tiger Snakes

[m.punja]

Hi all. At the start of the year I bought my first Tiger Snake. Turns out, I bought her gravid. I've never bred snakes before so I was excited to see she had given bith to 27 healthy babies at the start of March. I've been told, with baby pythons, not to feed them untill they shed, which is meant to occur about three weeks after birth. I assumed it was the same with the elapids but it's been over a month now and they havn't shed. What should I do?:| Also, what should I feed them? I've been told to scent rat's tails. I've also heard to try feeding them large crickets.

 

[Jonno from ERD]

G'day m.punga,

You've definitely got a challenge on your hands! First of all, a lot of elapid species, especially live-bearers will shed their skin within 24 hours of being born. I'm guessing you missed all the tiny little shed skins amongst all the afterbirth and gunk that comes with live-bearing snakes.

If they haven't had a feed in a month, you need to get on top of them straight away. Once they lose condition, it is near impossible to get them to put it back on. Another thing is, don't get attached to them. Even the best elapid keepers lose a few juveniles, especially Tigers and Copperheads.

I'm not sure what your elapid experience is, but by the questions you are asking I'm going to assume that keeping them in captivity is a new venture for you. First of all, make sure they are seperated into individual enclosures, as they will definitely eat each other. They won't need heating, as long as day time ambient temperature is around 26 or higher. The first method of feeding I would try is small fish, which you can get from a pet store for pocket change per scoop. Dangle the fish in front of them using a set of forceps. They won't immediately grab it like an adult Tiger will, so keep it in front of their nose and let it wiggle about. Normally they will raise their head up, and you'll see their tongue will be darting in and out quite rapidly. When they do that, stand real still, because after a few seconds they usually nuzzle up to it and slowly open their mouth and clamp down on it. Almost all of them should take fish - after a few feeds of it, try feeding them on washed pink mice, covered in fish slime. They will normally take it.

If the fish thing doesn't work, send me a PM and I'll give you some other methods.

Hope this helps,

Jonno

 

[dpeica]

They should've shed within the first week..my litter this season started sloughing as soon as they popped out.

Offer them live mouse pinkies, if they don't take them scent with skinks or fish..if they don't take those force feed small fish or mouse tails.

Edit..bah..too late.

 

[m.punja]

Thanks fella's, going to have to get my *** into gear and try them fish and live pinkies out. I have owned a red-belly for over a year now, but it's only now that I've really knuckled down on my elapid collection. I bought a partner for the red-belly, although now I fear that it too is a female, after probing. I also bought the Tiger and two Death Adders. Got to love them Adders. I did see the shed skins but thought they were just after birth and expected them to shed again. I'm not getting attached, but there are a few that are really banded, so I hope they don't die. I'm surprised that non have died already, I'm asuming that this Tiger must have given birth before. Thanks again.

 

[TrueBlue]

Ive used to breed tigers and copperheads for a number of years up here in qld and found tigers to be very easy to get feeding, copperheads can be a bit trickier.
Just get some garden skink tails, freeze them for a few days to kill any nasties, mash some up in a few drops of warm water to make a thick soup and smear it over some live pinkies. Most will feed easily. Ive raised 100% out of each clutch of tigers doing this and never had a problem.
Every now and then youll get 1or two that can be a pain but they are very easy to force feed and after a couple of feeds they realise its food and take them by themselves.