Picky eater - suggestions on the next try

Hello all (sorry about the length)

I have been reading this site and many of the forums plus the many other wonderful forums out there about similar breeds and difficult feeders.

I recently purchased a nice albino Nelson's milk as a hatchling from the local Petco. Caught them at the right time as it was mispriced and I got a good deal. Supposedly it was eating f/t pinks. The first weekly attempts with a f/t pink and Starburst in essentially a butter dish failed. The 2nd week I attempted a live pink in the smaller container again, no good. The 3rd was surprisingly immediately successful with a f/t as all the local stores were out of live pinks.

Since then the 1st attempt of another f/t pink was refused - he was left in the feeding container at the temp of 80 degrees overnight. The 2nd week I tried tuna scenting of the pink, again no go. 3rd week was a live pink, nope. Since he was still looking strong and not emaciated I decided to keep trying 4th week I tried chicken scenting and he seemed interested so I left the room to insure no interuptions, next morning no luck. This week being the 5th made me worry - he still looks strong and is mellow but exploring his viv a great deal more. So I tried anole scenting - extreme interest but didn't eat.

Boosted by his interest in the anole scenting and not wanting to wait another week and risk having to force feed him I decided to try purchasing a decent sized live anole, just 1 day later. I put it in the feeding container and put the feeding container sealed in his viv. He came out and started exploring the feeding container. After about 15 minutes I picked him up and set him in with the anole. After 5 minutes of exploration of the small container he started licking the anole on its tail then began looking for the head. 5 more minutes and I heard what sounded like the lizard scrambling to get out/away. I peaked and he had the anole by the head and was constricting like a pro. He has finished the anole and after an hour of rest I removed the lid from the feeding container and will allow him to crawl out into his main viv at his leisure.

The anole didn't leave as big a bulge as I had expected. But I don't care he did good and has some nutrition in him.

Any suggestions as to what should be my next feeding after this? I am hoping to not have to go through the several week process again. Any thoughts?

www.applegatereptiles.com has great info and Bob is a perfect guy to talk to. He is really helpful and fun. I personally have no experience with them, sorry I cannot help any further.

I've had better luck feeding picky eaters in their original cage, they are less disturbed and more willing to eat. First I'm assuming it's in a small shoe box or smaller sized container with some kind of paper for substrate. I would gently and quietly remove everything (water, hide, branches, whatever) from the cage 20 to 30 minutes before feeding time.

Now, quietly place the largest live mouse you think your snake will confortably eat and go away for 30 minutes or so, don't watch it, don't check on it, go away. I'm saying largest baby mouse because the older they are the more active they are, a pinky is not very active but a crawler or hopper will move around a lot more and entice your snake to strike.

After you feed your snake a couple of times you can start to switch it over to F/T because you definitely want to stop feeding live as soon as you can.

I know the above isn't exactly rocket science but maybe it will help. Good luck.

I agree with Don, my first instinct would be to stop moving him around to feed him, just make sure he's on a substrate he won't accidentally ingest along with the prey item.

The second thing that occurs to me is that if you have gotten him to eat a mouse pink in the past, I wouldn't try giving him anoles and chance getting him "hooked" on those unless it's an absolute last resort.

I have very little experience with Nelsons, so this is just my opinion from keeping snakes "in general", FWIW.

Thank you all for your suggestions. I will definitely try leaving him in his viv with no distractions at the next feeding. I'll update as he eats/doesn't eat.

Jonathan