Eric! Feeding videos galore.
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It is a bit of a video menagerie today, but much of it is a visual repeat of previous information regarding their early lives. This wonderful feeding spectacle is courtesy of red little number 1 who was the first to get the hang of this syringe tube business... Clearly, upon hatch the little flams had no reason to believe that allowing us to stick a bit of plastic tubing in their mouths would lead to food. It took an awful lot of gentle coercing to get that first feed, and here you can see the first successful exchange of feed mix! At just 3ml of feed, it is a minute amount of sustenance that they need to keep them alive. Their little crops and stomachs are still kicking into gear, and their digestive systems are waking up. Having just absorbed their highly nutritious yolk sacks, it is inevitable that their hatch weight (typical average 95g) will dip down before their weights begin to rise. It is a race to get them interested before they have no energy with which to digest.
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What an amazing difference 4 weeks makes! No longer is there any tentative wriggles, in fact all 3 flams are in a constant state of constant dire hunger and latch on to the tube of their own accord. The hunger is so acute in fact, that the next day we provide a shallow pond within which they could practice feeding. Although number 3 started stabbing at first and scaring himself with the reflection of its own head; eventually it was excellent fun, and a great way of cooling the toes... We placed a touch of Lundi feed in and the weaning process began!
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