Last time we explained how the shoveler should cultivate a relationship with the honey bag shrew if they are afraid of people when they first arrive home, which is actually a question that most novice breeders are more eager to know, as to why I said it last time.
In addition to how to have a good relationship with the honey bag shrew, there is another problem that the novice shovelers are very concerned about, that is, how the honey bag shrew should take care of after giving birth to the baby.
On this point, there is a word in the pet circle called "hand raising", which means that the shoveler participates in and pays a lot in the process of pet baby growth, and even more seriously and meticulously takes care of the baby than the mother of the pet baby, this kind of pet that is raised by semi-artificial breeding is called "hand raising individual", whether it is the degree of relatives or the degree of health is very good.
That's right, today we are going to talk about how the shoveler should "hand raise" the honey bag baby.
First, let's briefly review the steps from pregnancy to weaning of the baby. Female honeysuckles have a gestation period of only 12 to 16 days, giving birth to one or two cubs per litter.
The time of this pregnancy is really very, very short, resulting in the fetus being born hastily at all, so the newborn honey bag cub is only the size of a red bean (the color is also similar), and only has the ability to crawl and eat.
After being born from the cloaca, the honey baglet cubs will instinctively climb up along the birth canal opened by the mother to the nursery bag, at this time the female honey bag will lie on her back or sit in a state of lying on her back or sitting, and lick the route from the cloaca to the mouth of the nursery bag with her head down, so that the cubs can climb into the nursery bag while eating breast milk while continuing to develop.
Honey bag shrew pups are generally born in the nest at night, so most shovelers can not see this process, when you find that the stomach of your female honey bag shrew has been bulging, the cub has actually been born for at least 20 days.
Generally speaking, when the baby honey bag develops in the nursery bag for 20 to 30 days, the shoveler can detect it through the naked eye observation of the stomach of the female honey bag.
Around 40 days of birth, the honey bag baby will open the mouth of the mother's nursery bag due to its growing size, and at this time, the shoveler can see part of the limbs of the cub inside through the mouth of the bag.
Around 50 days of age, the size of the honey bag baby is further enlarged, and body parts such as tail and hind limbs often protrude from the mouth of the nursery bag.
At 60 to 70 days of birth, the honey bag baby will not be able to be contained in the nursery bag and crawl out of the mother's body, this stage is called "out of the bag".
After leaving the bag, the honey bag shrew cubs have not yet been weaned, or even opened their eyes, and need to stick their heads into the mother's nursery bag to eat milk, and usually cling to the father or mother's body for protection.
But for the female honey bag shrew, the cub out of the bag means that their own pressure is greatly reduced, after all, dragging the big belly for two months, the action is very restricted, the partial honey bag shrew is also a kind of animal that likes to jump up and down, so after the cub comes out of the bag, the female honey bag shrew will have a period of active period, the specific performance is to throw the cub to the male honey bag shrew, or simply leave the cub alone in the hammock or nest, and go to the cage full of parkour to play happy.
The pups will start to open their eyes for about 10 days (note that it is not birth, it is out of the bag), start to be curious about foods other than breast milk for about 20 days, and wean at about 30 days.
The "hand raising" initiative should be started after the honey bag shrew cubs open their eyes.
Hand-rearing does not mean letting it go out of the care of its parents at the first point, because at this time it has not yet been weaned, and it is crucial to choose this node before opening its eyes in order to enable it to become familiar with humans when it has just acquired visual ability.
The specific method is to take advantage of the female honey bag shrew to leave the cub in the nest and run out to play on her own, reach into the nest and take the cub out and gently cover it with her hands, so that it can begin to familiarize itself with the smell of humans.
But the shoveler should pay attention to the fact that the cub must be put back after a while, because the honey bag baby who has not yet opened his eyes needs a long sleep and high frequency of eating, and cannot stay outside for too long, so as not to starve the baby.
This stage can last until the pups are out of the bag for about 20 days, at which point the shoveler can start preparing to manually feed the honey bag baby.
Food should choose lactose-free, well-known baby milk powder, or well-known brands of puppy goat milk powder, of course, the most suitable is the Australian import of honey bag shrew special milk powder, can be found to use, can not find the two said above.
In addition, because the honey bag babies have not been weaned at this time and are not used to eating like adult honey bag shrews, the shoveler only needs to feed them liquid food.
The feeding method is to use hot water to rinse the milk powder and place it at room temperature, and use the pusher of the syringe or the baby feeder to push the milk powder into the mouth of the honey bag baby a little bit, four to five times a day, because the honey bag baby has not been weaned at this time, and also needs to eat breast milk.
If you start with a feeder, the honey bag baby may not be used to it, and the shoveler should be patient and try it a few more times.
This step can continue until before and after the weaning of the honey bag baby.
After weaning, the shoveler can still feed it manually, but in addition to the milk powder, some other ingredients should be added to the food, such as rice noodles. This rice noodle is not the kind of noodle food that everyone eats at the food stall, but a powdered baby food supplement milk powder.
Some baby supplementary milk powder will contain lactose, and when the shoveler buys it, pay attention to the ingredient list and choose lactose-free baby complementary rice noodles.
Rice flour and milk powder can be brewed one-to-one, and the water should be put a little less, so that the food is a thick paste. The feeding method can be the same as before using a syringe or a medicine feeder, or it can be placed in a small bowl for the honey bag baby to lick and eat by himself.
When the honey bag baby is out of the bag for 60 to 70 days, the shoveler can let it slowly get used to the food of the adult honey bag shrew, such as hpw, bml and other honey bag shrew brewed food, fresh fruits and vegetables, live insects.
When the honey bag baby may be afraid when first exposed to live insects, the shoveler needs to cut the worm body with scissors to induce the honey bag baby to eat.
Live insects can provide a large number of protein, amino acids, chitin and other nutrients, which can not be saved, nor can it be replaced by chicken breast, dried insects and other foods.
In addition to feeding, the hand raising process also requires the shoveler to play with it often, so that it trusts and depends on humans from a young age, so that the honey bag baby will be very close to each other when it grows up, and it is not comparable to the female honey bag shrew's own large cubs.