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A couple of questions..

Jenn

Jenn

New member
I used to have an adult corn, but this is my first time having a baby and I have a couple of questions:

Can someone recommend a good, moderately priced, scale? I want to be sure I'll be choosing appropriately sized food.

Handling: I just got her today so I know she needs to chill out in her viv for a week, then feed, then let her digest. But, when I am good to start handling her, is it true I should only handle 5 minutes or so at a time at first? The vendor said she was up to two pinks now, and is not super small so I don't think she's super young. I did handle her a little bit before I bought her and she's definitely no hateling.

Thanks in advance!
 
As far as scales go I have this one from Old Will Knott scales and I love it.

http://www.oldwillknottscales.com/my-weigh-3001p-black.html

As far as handling, I don't handle my baby ones much. They have had their 3rd feeding here, but seem to still be settling in. I make sure they are fed, their bins are clean and they have water, other then that nothing much right now. After they get a bit bigger then I will handle them more.

Hopefully someone else will weigh in with more advice.
 
Any of these will work great, and if you are a Prime member most ship for free. Free is good.

I agree with the handling advice, give her a week or so to settle in, then just a few minutes a day and work it up to about 10-15 minutes, depending how comfortable she is with you. Some LOVE to be held, I have one girl who cannot WAIT to get back in her viv.
 
smigon said:
Any of these will work great, and if you are a Prime member most ship for free. Free is good.

I agree with the handling advice, give her a week or so to settle in, then just a few minutes a day and work it up to about 10-15 minutes, depending how comfortable she is with you. Some LOVE to be held, I have one girl who cannot WAIT to get back in her viv.
Click to expand...

Thanks! I do have Prime, gotta love the free 2 day shipping. Scale is on the way. The woman who sold her to me said she just upped her to two pinkies. I'm planning on weighing her before I buy mice to make sure pinkies are appropriate. I have no idea about what food size she should be eating by looking at her, since I have no experience with babies.

Weighing her will be interesting. She was very active when I held her at the reptile expo. And every night she cruises all around her viv. I keep telling myself I'll have her for years and to just leave her alone but it's so difficult to not handle her.
 
My scale came in today. I know I'm not supposed to handle her yet (just got her Saturday morning) but I wanted to weigh her to find out if I needed pinkies or the next size up. Well she totally freaked out on me, biting like crazy and trying her best to get away.

She was so calm at the reptile expo, and calm when we got home. I held her for a couple minutes at the expo and when we got home I took her out of the deli cup and put her straight in her viv. Never coiled or attempted to bite. Total 180 from today. She bit me probably 6 times while I tried to get her. Then I became conflicted because I knew I shouldn't be handling her anyway but I didn't want to "reward" her by giving up and leaving her be. I ultimately got her out, put her straight in her deli cup, weighed her, then opened the deli cup in her viv and let her crawl out on her own.

Her temps are great. She is in a large home for a baby, 20 gallon, but there's plenty of hides and clutter.

So what gives? Is it likely because I tried to handle too soon? You would think she would have been most stressed after the drive home when I took her out of her deli cup to move her in the viv.. Any ideas of what I can do to prevent or stop this behavior? I'm surprised at how much it startled me. I had to stop for a sec and calm myself down before I went in to try and get her again. What's the best method to getting her when she is in total attack mode like that?
 
I may be wrong, but it since they are so small they are scared more easily. Like being prey, and you being so much bigger and reaching for her could have triggered the fight or be eaten response. Taking her from a "safe" spot and grabbing at her probably freaked her out.
 
My guess is at the expo she was a little cold. Now she's warmed up and ready to go :)

It is not uncommon for babies to b defensive but they grow out of it. Just go in the cage and pick her up with confidence. That way she doesn't learn that biting makes you go away.

Consistent calm handling will help. For babies I tend to keep it short. About 10-15 minutes at a time. Once they calm down I return them to their house.
 
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