Reptile & Amphibian Forums

A while back at Daytona I purchased my first alterna, along with a few thayeri. These were the first snakes that I had to get started on pinks. Anyway, what im getting to is that I need help getting my alterna started on food. I have tried FT and live multiple times with no success. Any suggestions?

Thanks

1. You can try braining the pinks. (This means use a razor or knife to cut a slit in the head of the pink, squeeze out some brain and leave overnight in the cage)
2. Skin graft some gecko skin on to a pinky. (use a med or house gecko). Note: If you skin graft, you may also want to wash the pinky with very simple, unscented soap. This helps wash the pinky smell away.
3. Force feed with chicken or beef baby food.
4. Pinky pump. (difficult sometimes in my opinion)
5. You can try scenting with other lizards, utas, scelops, etc...
6. The bottom line, each snake is different. No magic tricks, just keep trying different stuff. Keep the humidity up a bit in the cage. This always seems to help.

Good Luck,

SXO792

Also try feeding at night, in the dark, or in a dark small deli cup. Try putting 3 pinkies in a tight space with it. Try many things until something works, but try not to overdo it or stress the snake. LOL, that sure sounds like an oxymoron!

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Todd Hughes

Thanks for the help, Ill see what works.

Another thing to try is a wild mouse nest. Every year while field collecting I pickup a wild mouse nest and put it in a deli cup. I then wash a couple pinks and place them in the nest for several hours. Just another trick to get a few more started. BE AWARE that wild mouse nest can harbor some bad viruses.

Did you see the "documents" link on the main page? Some good info there you can print off. I think there's a paper that offers some helpful ideas for trouble feeders. Hope this helps.

Stu