Generally speaking, here has been my experience with offspring. Depending on when the first meal is offered, I can get between 40 - 60% of the clutch to take a lizard scented f/t pink. Waiting on the first meal increases the percentage. The lizards I use are uta, urosaurus and earless. Usually, the remaining offspring will take a f/t lizard of appropriate size, but there may be one or two that prefer the movement and the scent of a live lizard. Once switched over to unscented pinks the offspring will take f/t lizards or mice, but this opportunism may be a function of size and age. I routinely make 8-10 lizard runs each year and drive up to 150 miles one way to put myself in a good position to noose lizards. Not only do I provide lizards to my offspring, I provide larger species like Plateau, Spiny and Zebra-Tail to my adults.

Here has been my experience with wc adults. The first two meals offered to an wc alterna are always lizard-scented and small (fuzzy/hopper), but I go one step further. I bring back the rocks. Yes, boys and girls, yours truly will pack up the rocks found in the snake's immediate environment and bring them back home to put in their enclosures. Am I a nut, or what. I figure that familiarity (lizard scenting the first couple of meals and the rocks) will provide a smoother transition to captivity. So far, all the alterna that I've collected are alive and doing very, very well. Call it a labor of love...

RP

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