eggeating snake vs chicken egg.(DUW)

[dtknow]

Shot this neat series of my female tackling her first chicken egg...incredible to observe.

 

[skippy]

that's a trip... what do you feed the babies?

 

[kevin91172]

WOW!! man that is amazing! Thanks for sharing,very great pics,would like more to see this Live.BTW how long does this take?

 

[kevin91172]

guessing here??? you put down the paper to better from the substrate getting swallowed?

 

[dtknow]

skippy: The babies will eat finch egg-but I usually tube feed them with a syringe/catheter tubing a ml or two of egg-increasing as they get older. They are now over a foot in length.

Kevin: Quail eggs(smaller) are swallowed in seconds and take maybe 10-20 minutes to regurge. This chicken egg took probably 20 minutes to swallow and an hour till regurge. And you are correct on the paper...these guys are really good at getting substrate out of their mouths(if it doesn't stick to the egg shell when it is regurged) but I figure better safe than sorry. I can actually hold her in one hand and have her take a quail egg from my fingers...very tame and trusting.

 

[kevin91172]

skippy: The babies will eat finch egg-but I usually tube feed them with a syringe/catheter tubing a ml or two of egg-increasing as they get older. They are now over a foot in length.

Kevin: Quail eggs(smaller) are swallowed in seconds and take maybe 10-20 minutes to regurge. This chicken egg took probably 20 minutes to swallow and an hour till regurge. And you are correct on the paper...these guys are really good at getting substrate out of their mouths(if it doesn't stick to the egg shell when it is regurged) but I figure better safe than sorry. I can actually hold her in one hand and have her take a quail egg from my fingers...very tame and trusting.

Nice! let me know after the Holidays if you have any available for sale.

I usually take precautions when I Feed,Hell just in case.Especially when I spent a lot of time ,on .....well you know

 

[hassman789]

Wait? what does it regurgitate? I'm a noob with snakes, never mind one that eats eggs lol.

 

[Ookamii]

It regurges the egg shell, it has special muscles that break the shell and it only ingests the liquid.

 

[dtknow]

The snake also has downward pointing spines on certain vertebrae which slit the shell. It would be impossible to crush the eggs and keep the membrane intact otherwise. Still-as anyone who has tried to squish a chicken egg in their fist can attest-this takes some doing!

 

[the toe cutter]

Another great African colubrid, and awesome shots too! I'm working right now on getting a trio of D medici within the week(if the guy ever gets back to me) and a pair of D scabra and D atra here soon as well. I absolutely love these colubrids and its nice to see someone else breeding them in captivity. Great work!

 

[dtknow]

I am pretty much broke ATM but would love to take up another Dasypeltis species sometime soon. If you succeed with your medici I'd also love to trade bloodlines-they are one of the most beautiful Dasypeltis out there!

 

[Terry D]

Dtknow, I've always been utterly amazed by these guys! Thank you for sharing. Terry

 

[eruheru]

nature is beautiful!

 

[KnightinGale]

Oh, that looks so uncomfortable! I know it's not for them, but wow! Great shots. Cool to see the whole process. Thanks for posting!

 

[pouchedrat]

Did you ever get males with the babies? I still have my three females, all three doing really well (although my first one STILL will not eat on her own.. the other two eat quail eggs fine though).

That chicken egg is crazy.. I don't see mine doing that, but my largest female definitely looks about the size of yours, so I guess it's all possible!

 

[dtknow]

eruheru: indeed!:clap:

Knightingale: I've always wondered about that. I'm sure it is at least somewhat uncomfortable but it seems they figure its worth it at the end.

Pouchedrat: I have 2 babies ATM. I am pretty sure it is 1 male and 1 female. LMK if you are interested in him. If your female is over 3 feet in length, and about as thick as a 50 cent piece she could probably do the same. Try with a pigeon egg first which is a tad smaller.

 

[Cirith Ungol]

Very nice pictures! Thanks!

 

[Lucas339]

if i could find a steady source of eggs, i would be interested in getting some.

 

[dtknow]

Decent sized snakes can take button quail-coturnix quail eggs. Easy to find-ethnic markets frequently have coturnix quail eggs-button quail eggs can be had from pet stores/feed stores, etc. etc. It can be quite challenging to track down food for smaller snakes. Keep in mind that if mousers were not so commonly raised baby cornsnakes and similar would be just as difficult to feed!

Also-even without buying in bulk-eggeaters prove much cheaper to feed than other snakes.

 

[Lucas339]

how long do the eggs keep when buying in bulk?

and have you found any opposition when you buy the eggs from pet stores? or do you just not say what you are going to do with them?