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Tiny Speckled Kingsnake- Advice Please

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baron2628

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I have had the opportunity to have this extremely young and tiny Speckled kingsnake. I have it set up in a small enclosure with aspen substrate. Also have water bowel, hides and a heat pad connected to a thermostat.

This is the smallest snake I've ever had. It weighs 3.82 grams. It's so tiny. Small pinkies are too big. I don't even think newborn pinkies would be small enough. The width of this snake is probably close to .25 of an inch. What on earth am I supposed to feed this thing? I have offered it a small pinky head cut in half, but no go. I don't know if I should offer again in a couple days or if I should go ahead and start trying to scent the pinky parts with various things like frogs and lizards?

Any advice would be great. Thank you!
 

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Baby snakes that small can be started on mouse tail sections until they grow large enough to take newborn pinks. DO make sure the hairs on the tail are pointing the right way (away from the mouth), and you may have to assist feed a few times if the snake won't take it on its own. Scenting the pieces of tail may help.
 
You could attempt what Todd suggested.

However, I have had a baby or two, that hatched out slightly smaller than yours, able to take tiny newborn pinks.
Fed them f/t and, if I thought the head was slightly too large, would squish the skull with tongs. Although the pink's body is larger, than the head, it would flow naturally after the head was in the hatchlings mouth/throat.
If I thought the pink's belly may be too large, I would gut the pink prior to feeding.
'Course, if your baby won't accept f/t, you can try live newborn pinks. Newborn, not day or two old.
If such is not available, you could purchase a pregnant female mouse that is due to deliver within days.

Another option would be to try getting pinks from a smaller rodent (such as Pygmy mice or other rodent that is smaller than feeder/domestic mice).

....
 
BTW You could order a bag of frozen extra small pinkies from Rodentpro. I say Rodentpro because I know that they sell extra smalls (not many other frozen mice companies sell, specifically, extra small pinkies) and I know that, in the bags of extra small pinks, there are usually plenty of pretty tiny pinkies.
The only thing is that their bags, of pinks, only come in 100 count (each bag).
Right now they are on sale for .15 apiece. Making one bag $15.00 plus shipping.
Just a thought.

....
 
Thank you for the great replies! I ended up offering this snake a small mouse tail. I had rubbed it on a toad my kids caught, just to see if it would go for it. No go. (We released the toad!) So then I rubbed the mouse tail on my corn snake. The little King snake ended up striking the tail. But I think it was a defense strike and not a feed response. It was really mad at me. It couldn't spit the tail out of its mouth so it swallowed it! I have left it completely alone to hopefully digest its meal. I will check later to see if it kept the tail down. Hopefully it will eat again in a few days. I think if it takes 3 consecutive meals, it will earn a name. :) I've been holding off naming it just in case I couldn't get it to feed. Fingers crossed!
 
Glad to see you were able to get something in your baby's belly. Wishing you the best in getting it to feed, consistently, on its own.

....
 
I offered again yesterday but no luck. I'm positive now it was pure luck that it struck and ate last feeding. I'm definitely feeling bummed out. I don't have access to any live newborn pinks. I also checked with local pet stores and they will not sell pregnant mice. I've heard sometimes breeding mice can take several weeks, which I don't really want to do. I have someone who may be able to send garter snake sheds to scent with. Other than that, I'll keep trying anything I can think of. I am going to move the snake into an even smaller tub to see if maybe that helps. It is currently in a small critter keeper, but may still be frightened and not feel secure. I haven't tried leaving anything in with the snake overnight yet. I will try that this weekend.
 
What temperature is the heat pad set for?
Do you have a thermometer in the enclosure? If so, where is the thermometer probe located, inside the enclosure, and what temperature does it read?

Are there any breeder's (snake &/or rodent) near you?
You could see if they have a pregnant mouse that they would sell to you. Also, you could look on Craigslist (doing a search for mouse or mice) to see if anybody is selling mice near you.
If there are any reptile shows, near you, that would be another place to look into.

....
 
The heat pad is set to 86. The ambient is room temp. 72-73. Maybe too low ambient? I don't have an actual thermometer in the enclosure. But the thermostat probe controls the heat pad, which I check with an infrared thermometer.

I have local rat breeders, but am still searching for mice breeders. I may have found someone who can sell me a pair to breed, but not sure yet. Apparently the local pet stores only carry male mice because they don't even breed their own, they order them in each week.
 
Is it warm enough that you get house geckos where you are? Try a newly hatched gecko or a gecko tail (or I've used gecko legs).

You might also find it useful to read through this thread: http://www.faunaclassifieds.com/forums/showthread.php?t=466510

Chris made a really good document of how he fed a litter of tiny Jamaican boas, and it seems Quail legs were a good option for many. You can also scent with chicken skin for some species.

I'd also say don't be too frightened of the size of the snake - I've found that they can usually take prey with the same size head as their own, and it looks to me that the snake you have should be able to take mouse pinkies no problem.
 
baron2628 said:
I will try scenting with chicken though. I did tuna but not any kind of chicken yet. Thank you!
Click to expand...

I must state I HAVE NOT TRIED THIS... but in other discussions I have seen people say they have scented with the inside of KFC chicken skins (really!) with great success. Must be the secret recipe...
 
Temps, on the warm end, are good between 83 to 85 degrees. A temp, of 86 (at most), isn't bad.
Temps should be taken from under the substrate, just over the UTH. That would still be ideal, if using a temp gun (or similar), but just on top of the substrate, directly over the UTH, can work (especially if taking into consideration that it is likely warmer under the substrate).

Yeah, pet stores are not the place to get pregnant female mice. A breeder, etc., would be the way to go for that.
Wish we lived closer. Then I could help you out with mice &/or pinkies.

Aside from lizard/frog scenting:
Helen mention KFC scenting. It is true that, as odd as that may seem, it has helped some people with their non-feeders. Other chicken &/or turkey scenting has worked for some others. I have used chicken flavored bullion cube broth, with success, before. Some people try tuna scenting. Another thing, that has been successful, for some, is washing an f/t pink with unscented Ivory dish soap. Could also try braining an f/t pink.
Wait, at least 4 to 5 days between feed attempts. If you try ever day, or every other day, the belief is that you could ingrain refusals (if snake continues to refuse).

....
 
Hello, still no success for this little snake. I had the opportunity to grab a live pinky to offer, but it was still refused. I think perhaps the best thing would be to let this little one go free. I feel mentally exhausted because I get my hopes up that maybe *this* time it'll eat, but then it doesn't. The little snake is absolutely terrified of me. He rears up every time I open the tub to offer food or even just change his water. Then he darts back into his hide. I have raised 6 other snakes, I know they don't look forward to seeing me, but they at least are curious about me. So I feel bad frightening the little one so much.

It's been suggested to me to attempt assist/force feeding. I've only had the snake a short while. I don't believe it has lost any weight yet. It's much too soon to be worrying about that, right? I feel like releasing it back to the wild and letting nature take it's course would be the kinder option. What do you think?
 
If you're planning on returning it to the wild I would do it sooner rather than later. The weather is changing and it will need to find a place to over-winter.
 
be careful and check laws in your area, it's generally not advised (and sometimes illegal) to return a snake to the wild that has been kept in captivity.
 
Please don't release it. You may just have a picky eater. Have you tried scenting with anoles?

Sent from my C6743 using Tapatalk
 
I have to say, I did once release a wild caught native snake I couldn't get to eat, I couldn't bear watching it starve, and I wanted to at least give nature a chance, so I am in full sympathy with the impulse to do this.

However, there are good reasons for not doing it, particularly if you have kept the baby in an area with many other snakes of different origins - there is a real danger that you might introduce a parasite or disease into the wild.

I suggest you consider a few points before making your decision:

Did you collect this baby from the wild, and from the same location you would think of returning it to?
Has it been kept away from other snakes or enclosures other snakes have recently been in?
If it is not actually losing weight it is not yet really having a problem - can you bear to wait a little longer?
 
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