Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hi, I just hatched some baby cal kings for the first time! I got 5 of them to eat the dead pinkies already but 2 of them refuse to eat! Just wondering if their are any tricks of the trade to get them to eat.
Thanks

The picky ones will ALWAYS eat live pinkies (they always have in my case after about three to four tries with even the most picky ones). After a small while of feeding live you can easily switch to F/T pinkies. My CAl kings are just hatching too, so I'll have a few picky feeders again I'm sure, but it's never a big deal if you can get a few live pinkies. Be patient though, and after a few flicks of the tongue and a little ensurance that the pinkies are NOT full grown mice they'll take em' with gusto. . . Hope this helps (if not, I have even better methods)

Zee

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"I am an expert on everything, but I know so little and have so much to learn!" -Carsten "Zee" Zoldy-

Here is how I get finicky babies to eat:

1. Keep them in a cage with either a substrate that can be moistened, or a dry substrate but include a small plastic dish/cup/hide that can be filled with a dampened substrate that the snake can burrow into, put partially over the heater. I use Eco-Earth or Eco-Peat or similar. You can use sphagnum. Alot of times a well-hydrated baby will feed more readily. A wide temp range helps too, but since most people use deli-cups or plastic shoeboxes, it is hard to get a wide range in such a small container, so shoot for a humidity/moisture gradient as mentioned above.

2. Try live. Try thawed brained.

3. And in the case where nothing helps, I've simply cooled the hatchlings until Jan. The finicky (Cal kings) would feed for sure then, for me anyway. Good luck.

Unless it is a valuable morph, you could also use a non-feeding baby cal king as variety in diet for a larger cal king.

I wouldn't do that until other options are exhausted though.
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3.0 WC; 0.2 CB L. getula californiae
0.1 WC; 10 eggs (7/11) Elgaria multicarinata multicarinata