Feeding baby Honduran milk snake, first snake question
 

Tuesday morning 10/17/17 I took delivery of a baby Hypomelanistic Tangerine Honduran Milk Snake. I put him in a 36x12x12 terrarium as a starter setup. I installed a ZooMed heat mat but I'm waiting on a thermostat so right now he's relying on an 50w "intense basking spot" in a mini-dome. The cheapo liquid crystal thermometers read 80/warm hide and 75/cool hide, but the infrared reads 86/73 degrees respectively. He stays in the warm hide except for a few minutes late at night.

I'm leaving him alone, no handling or disturbances for a week as instructed but Monday he'll be due for a meal. The breeder BHB Reptiles (Brian Barczyk) said he was on on fuzzies, but the pack I picked up at the store looks way too big for him, and the pinkies I got subsequently look too small.

Questions:
If I hold the warmed pinkie in the enclosure on long feeding tongs, will he smell it and come out? Or do I need to lift his hides to expose him? If I pick up his hides I assume he'll be panicked, so once he's out, how long do I wait for him to calm down to offer the thawed pinkie? If he does take it, do I offer two pinkies to make a full meal? If he refuses do I try again later or leave it in there? Thanks

EDIT: Terrarium is 30x12x12

If he's reliably in his hide, rather than exposing him (he won't come out on his own), simply place the prey item in the entrance of his hide without disturbing him. Do this in the evening and leave it over night. Chances are it will be gone in the morning. I did this when I was breeding Hondurans and it worked well, and it's working well with the Stuart's I'm keeping now.

Hondurans are usually pretty aggressive feeders. Heck, I remember once I had one that had hatched and seemed to be reluctant to come out of his egg. Just on a hunch, I threw a live pinky mouse in a container with the shy Honduran and it leaped out of the egg to grab the pinky. That gave me the opportunity to take the egg away from him..... :hehe:

THAT is the best story I've heard in a long time!:rofl: