Feeding Baby Grey Banded Kingsnake

Originally Posted by Runs_With_Wolves

Bought that. She ignored it.

Which scent did you try?

Originally Posted by WebSlave

Which scent did you try?

Anole

So would an egg not work?

Originally Posted by Runs_With_Wolves

Anole

That might be unfortunate for you. As I mentioned before, I have NEVER gotten a baby gray banded kind snake to eat an anole. You probably would have done better to get the gecko scenting, but I would ask what KING of gecko is being used. Never had any luck with leopard gecko scenting neither.

You know, you are racing the clock now. Eventually baby snakes do reach a point of no return if they don't get a meal into them soon after hatching and absorbing all the nutrients that were in the egg while they were developing.

When I was in the business, at one time I used to take non-feeding corn snakes to shows with me and sell them for $10 each, with a NOTICE on them that they were NON-FEEDERS, and likely to be a problem for anyone else. Everyone who picked them up to attempt to buy them, I grilled them about their experience with non feeding snakes. I refused to sell them to someone who appeared to be at risk of just having them die on them because of their inexperience. But at one of the South Carolina shows we used to do, we have a few other vendors buy up a bunch of these non-feeders before the show opened to the public. I thought they were just picking out the "good stuff" with the intention of working with them to get them feeding. Imagine my surprise when one of those vendors came around later on in the show asking me if I were interested in buying what he called a "newly hatched corn snake". Of course I recognized it as one of the non-feeders he had purchased from me earlier that day. He just forgot where it came from, or else it was someone else in his group that purchased it from me. And lying to my face about it being freshly hatched out, trying to unload it on someone unsuspecting of it's true nature. So I discontinued that practice when it became obvious to me that at least one of those other vendors (and likely more) were screwing their customers by selling kids and other novices a baby snake *cheap* (but at a profit to them) that would very likely die on the buyer not knowing what they were really dealing with.

Non feeding baby snakes can be a REAL challenge for even experienced keepers. And that is even with species that will normally take pinky mice as a first meal.

I think what you need to think about now is force feeding. But use something small like the base of an adult mouse tail, that will go down easily. If you don't do something SOON, you are going to lose that animal.

How long has it been since it hatched out? If it's been too long, you may very well have a dead snake on your hands that just doesn't know it yet.

Not at all trying to discourage you, just laying the cards as I see them out on the table.

Lord knows I have had my share of baby snakes that died on me that I REALLY wish hadn't, despite all my efforts.

Originally Posted by Runs_With_Wolves

So would an egg not work?

At this point I think you need to stop experimenting and get some food into the belly of that animal. BTW, if it regurges that first meal you can get into it, it's quite likely "game over".

At least that has been my experience in situations like this.

I teased her with a young mouse tail. It was two inches long and about 2mm at the base. Once it was half-way down her throat, she stopped trying to spit it out and stared to actively pull it in to eat. It's in her now. Gonna watch her to make sure she doesn't puke or choke or somethibg else stupid.

She turns 2 months on the 11th. She's active.

Photo attached

Originally Posted by Runs_With_Wolves

I teased her with a young mouse tail. It was two inches long and about 2mm at the base. Once it was half-way down her throat, she stopped trying to spit it out and stared to actively pull it in to eat. It's in her now. Gonna watch her to make sure she doesn't puke or choke or somethibg else stupid.

That's a start. 2 months is a pretty long time for a baby snake to be without food, so you are going to need to get food into it to keep it from dying on you.

When you use a mouse tail, feed it into the mouth in the direction so the hairs on the tail make it difficult for the snake to spit it up.

A little story here that might be pertinent. Years ago when I worked for the state, there was a guy there who caught a baby corn snake around his house, and knowing I worked with snakes, came to speak to me about it. During the conversation I asked him where he was getting the pinky mice to feed it. The guy looked at me like I had lost my mind. So I had to explain what pinky mice are. Still didn't help. He said he was feeding it earthworms and it was doing just fine with them. So I guess it was logical for him to assume that earthworms would be a natural feed item for a baby snake. And perhaps it is. Honestly, I never tried it myself, but maybe I should have on some stubborn feeders.

Originally Posted by WebSlave

That's a start. 2 months is a pretty long time for a baby snake to be without food, so you are going to need to get food into it to keep it from dying on you.

When you use a mouse tail, feed it into the mouth in the direction so the hairs on the tail make it difficult for the snake to spit it up.

A little story here that might be pertinent. Years ago when I worked for the state, there was a guy there who caught a baby corn snake around his house, and knowing I worked with snakes, came to speak to me about it. During the conversation I asked him where he was getting the pinky mice to feed it. The guy looked at me like I had lost my mind. So I had to explain what pinky mice are. Still didn't help. He said he was feeding it earthworms and it was doing just fine with them. So I guess it was logical for him to assume that earthworms would be a natural feed item for a baby snake. And perhaps it is. Honestly, I never tried it myself, but maybe I should have on some stubborn feeders.

How often should I feed her? How many tails?