Tube feeding and egg size

Tube feeding and egg size

Postby Jimmygarcia » Wed Jun 17, 2015 7:13 pm

Hello everyone,

I have had a d.medici for six months now. She is around one year old approximately. The breeder was feeding her from birth with a syringe and tube, and she hasn't accepted any fresh whole eggs yet. I have offered finch and quail eggs but with no response from her. I am from spain and i am not lucky enough to have a climate like that of south africa's, so i have to heat her cage. But from my experience so far, and the research i have done, her conditions seem correct and she is very active at night. My question is, how can i get her to start feeding on whole eggs? At about what size will they start accepting quail eggs?
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Re: Tube feeding and egg size

Postby Mitton » Thu Jun 18, 2015 8:09 am

Welcome.
Try and wipe the eggs after you handle them with your hands or try and only handle them with tissue paper.
What has worked for me and others is to put a birds nest in the cage and put the eggs in that. The snakes go crazy when the smell of a nest is in the cage.

Give that a try and please post some pics of the snake.
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Re: Tube feeding and egg size

Postby Jimmygarcia » Thu Jun 18, 2015 11:15 am

Hello Mitton thanks for your great advice,

I will try a scented birds nest. I constructed one for my d.medici and I place the zebra finch eggs I have offered (which are as fresh and scented as can be) in there. Normally she just ignores it and pays no attention, as if it did not exist. Hopefully a smelly birds nest will spark her instincts. Here are some pictures of her, sorry for the terrible quality but it had to be reduced to be able to upload a photo of small enough size. Hopefully you can appreciate her size in the foto. She was sold to me with a small kink a few cm above the cloaca, but from what I have seen this does not affect her motor functions and she seems healthy to me.

Thanks again
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Re: Tube feeding and egg size

Postby Ruan Stander » Thu Jun 18, 2015 3:29 pm

Very pretty snake, I love egg eaters, they are such fascinating snakes.
Good luck.
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Re: Tube feeding and egg size

Postby Jimmygarcia » Fri Jun 19, 2015 4:24 pm

Thanks predator678. She is my first snake and I am very proud of her! Does everyone agree that she is still too small to egg quail eggs? or should I try offering? If not the alternative is zebra finch eggs.
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Re: Tube feeding and egg size

Postby Ruan Stander » Mon Jun 22, 2015 3:05 pm

I guess it depends on the species of quail. The only eggs I've seen and used are from Chinese painted quails and I'm positive that your snake will manage them.
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Re: Tube feeding and egg size

Postby Dasydude » Sat Aug 01, 2015 7:11 pm

Probably eating at this point but if not a 16 gauge bulb tipped feeding needle is what you need....attached to luer lock syringe. Makes tubing them much easier than catheter tubing.
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Re: Tube feeding and egg size

Postby Jimmygarcia » Thu Aug 13, 2015 6:34 pm

Thanks Dasydude. In case I still have no luck with natural feeding...how long of a needle would be required? Ive seen from about 3.8cm to 15cm. I would imagine the longer the better? Also, they sell them curved and straight. On a positive note, since I was having no luck with the finch or quail eggs, I offered some freshly laid Chinese Quail eggs following Predator678's advice and after a few nights I found one of the eggs in the bird nest cracked in very small pieces and leaking all over the place. Could it be she gave it a try and it cracked because it was too big? Hopefully with this summer heat in Spain her appetite will have increased a bit. Thanks a bunch guys, In spain there are not many experienced keepers of this species.
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Re: Tube feeding and egg size

Postby Dasydude » Mon Nov 23, 2015 11:00 pm

Jimmygarcia: I have found some eggeaters-especially those who have refused food for a long time will swallow an egg and lack the strength to cut into it fully...and then regurg the whole egg with some chips taken off but sometimes the membrane isn't even punctured. No idea what happened with yours though.

I use the ones that are about 10cm in length. Straight or curved does not matter-I use straight ones.
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