Noob to breeding

[Izzy]

Hi all,

I'v been an avid reader of the website for some time now and always found all comments insightful and help full, finally it's my turn to ask the goeroes here for help. I am the proud owner of 16 little white lips born on the 3 Dec. This is great! Not so great is getting ready to feed them tho, I have read all over that you should use pinky parts or beef/chicken heart to get them going, but no one seems to be talking much about the scenting of this food. I might have missed a post on this, but can anyone please tel me what i can use for scenting( is it a definate nessesety), i have read about people using geckos and frogs for this, but what type and where in JHB i can get it? Like i said i'm noob to this so please take pity on the knowledge less. Thanks

[Whitelipp]

Hey Izzy

Well Ive been able to succesfully breed whitelips.
Getting them to feed is not that hard. I used pinky heads. Buy bulk pinkys and freeze them. You can just cut of the heads and offer that to the neonates on a tweezer and just put the bodies back in the freezer. I have had to force feed some of them for a few feedings until they started taking the heads by themselves. You can then when they are big enough and feeding by themselves offer the pinky bodies to them.

If you need help just give me a shout. Will come help you out if you need it...

[Izzy]

Sounds good, so no scenting then? just force feed if necessary. To be honest learning how to force feed should nearly be a requirement with white lips. I had the unpleasant task of doing it to my male white lip a couple of times in the past especially after he first met the missus. Will definitely press on your button if the little ones give me grief. Any other advise/comments from other white lip breeders?

[Whitelipp]

Ive never scented or had the need to... They all eat by themselves eventually.

[ExoticReptiles]

Thanks for this post Izzy. Like you I had my first baby white lips born on the 5th. I only got 6 babies of which one was deformed, but like you I have no idea about the feeding, and I also get confused by all the different statements that is made on the internet. I am just waiting for them to shed and then I am going to try the pinkies for the first time and hopefully it is going to work and I won't have to go over to the hearts.
I hope some more breeders will comment on this post to help us newbies raise our babies successfully.

[Serpent]

I have many baby vipers and also prefer to use pinky heads, my bigger ones always eat the bodies. You won't need to feed pinky heads for too long though, just a few months.

Feed every 5-7 days for the first few months to get them well established, and then you can reduce to 10-14 days intervals, obviously increasing the size of the meals.I breed my own pinkys, and freeze mine the same day they are born, as they can almost double in size in a few days. Your little vipers should be able to get day old pinks down after a few months.

Tease feeding them is the way to get them started, until they learn what a pinky is. Be patient and try not to scare the snake, some will take up to 10-20 strikes until they hang on, most of the time because they get tired. Some will take first time. Feed early evening. I warm my pinkys up first, they are pit vipers which means they will strike at something warm.

Keep them in separate tubs if you can, which will make it easier to record feeds, and its safer. I keep mine on coconut husk, especially neonates, as it retains water and keeps the hummidity up. Little vipers dehydrate very easily, which can lead to all sorts of complications like RI's.

Don't get bitten, white lips are far more dangerous than most people think. Best of luck bud.

[ExoticReptiles]

thanks serpent that helps alot, will be trying my first feed in a few days and see what happens