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Grey-band feeding inquiry

H

hcarlton

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Hello,
Now to preface: I'm a long ways yet from needing to try anything drastic, but I'm the kind of person who likes to get all their ducks in a row long beforehand if I can. Recently acquired a gray-banded kingsnake who I was told was eating scented pinkies, and last night offered food for the first time (starting with a non-scented just to see). At first he seemed interested in just the non-scented pinkie, grabbed it and started to munch a couple times before then letting go of it and ignoring it. Tried putting a recently collected anole skin on the pinkie, turned him off completely, and then tonight I tried offering one that had been rubbed on a house gecko also with basically no results.
Among things coming up that I will try: giving a few more days to see if I can just get him hungry, then I also have a source for frozen Sceloporus to scent with which I will bet will work, but just in case my real question as I am slightly wondering about the size of the pinkies I have (sold as X-small, but they may well be more than new-born or day old), is has anyone had success with scenting of adult mouse tails with lizard scent to feed? If size may perchance be the off-putting thing for him, I wonder if something slimmer might be more intriguing.
 
Posted this elsewhere years ago:

Lordy, I remember the first year I bred graybands and produced around 40 babies, if I remember correctly. Not a one of them would go on pinky mice. I had to wind up catching baby fence lizards (which I absolutely HATED doing), and buying a bunch of Mediterranean geckos to get them feeding. It was VERY slow going getting them to switch over via scenting the pinks.

One trick I tried that seemed to help somewhat was to get a bunch of those clay pot bottoms for holding water for plants and drilling a hole in the bottom and putting it upside down in the cage for the baby grayband to crawl into. I would moisten the clay pot bottom frequently to raise the humidity inside of it. By putting scented pinks on top right near the hole, it seemed to enhance the feed response of the graybands. But that was right before I got fed up with messing with them and got rid of the entire bunch in frustration, so not sure anything was proven trying it that way. But it might be worth a shot for you to try it out.

I have heard some people having luck with pygmy mice (peromyscus), but never tried it myself.

Good luck!
Click to expand...
 
I saw that thread already, yes (unfortunately I do not have terra cotta water trays). However, it also doesn't answer they question I posed.

He has as of tonight ignored both a Sceloporus-scented pinkie as well as the tail itself that was used, so leaving him alone for a few days before trying again, but my original inquiry stands yet.
 
hcarlton said:
At first he seemed interested in just the non-scented pinkie, grabbed it and started to munch a couple times before then letting go of it and ignoring it.
Click to expand...

If you know these details about how the feeding went, I'd suspect that you're in the snake's personal space and the snake isn't comfortable feeding because of it. Almost always, timid/new feeders want seclusion at eating time. Also, no handling until it eats, be sure the enclosure itself is suitable and not too large, etc.

Exactly what was the pink scented with when feeding for the breeder? That's what I'd try. I'd also find out exactly what the feeding procedure was (in a deli cup/plastic bag/moist hide, overnight/daytime, scented PK or FT, etc.
 
Do you have a time line? Last meal from breeder? Frequency of meals? Your feeding timeline?
 
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