Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Just curious as to how others are doing with their EK offspring from different locales on getting them to eat. I know Keith has stated his S GA EKs eat great from the start but Kevin Enge's Mosaic line seems to be quite difficult. My first clutch this year has had about half eat their first meal but my second clutch was even better. They all had their first shed around the 23rd and last night I offered them their first meal, f/t pinkies. 11 out of 13 (two have already been given away) ate on the first try...some took 3-4 pinkies each!! Gotta love great feeders!

Mine have been iffy at best Sean. The feeders are strong pinky eaters though. (and spoken for as well) A little on the small side (but larger than others I've hatched, this year's clutch has been offered only live so far. I think Kevin pumps his reluctant feeders but I'm not sure. I will try a few on scented (w/baby watersnake) then give them mouse tails for a bit if they do not take scented. Actually, I'm off to grab a skink or two this a.m. to use for scenting too
:Mark
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Surrender Dorothy!

www.crimsonking.funtigo.com

Yeah I hear Kevin's been pump feeding some of his for a year now. The man has got some patience!

Congrats on your kings. I had an adult pair of SC Mosiacs that I purchased from John Cherry about 4 years ago- bred them one season and had to sell due to space (I regreat it alot now).

I recieved a pair of regular Chain King hatchlings a few weeks ago in a deal... Both refused live pinkies (both in cage and left in a deli cup overnight)...both refused Frozen/Thawed brained pinkies (again left in cage and in a deli cup overnight). I went out and caught some local 5 fined skinks (probably any species would do) for scenting....

Here is what I did to get mine to eat-

- froze the skinks
-defrosted and cut into 1/2 (this was a very small skink)
-Brained a f/t pinkie and used the 1/2 skink as a kinda paintbrush (cut side with insides touching the pinkie) for the "brain juice"...and coated the pink in this mixture (brain and skink smell) ..we all know baby snakes love the smell of pinkie brains for some reason...
-then stuck part of the skink in the pinkie's mouth...
-put scented pink and snake in deli cup ...left in the dark...VOLA- success!

The Chain King was on it before I left the room... Repeated process for the other one...also worked.

Once you get a few meals in them like this I begin using less and less skink scent... soon you'll have them on brained pinks... then a few feeding laters on regular pinks.

Make sure:
-Temps are right for your hatchlings
-They have somewhere to hide (I just use a folded up papertowel ontop of the shavings...simple and they fell secure).
-Do not dusturb them during the feeding process.
-Try to keep handling to a bare minimum.

This is just MY method...there are alot of great keepers here that will give you other tips...these work for me..

On a side note...like crimsonking mentioned... water snake scent... EK's have been the only getula sp. I've ever kept that have ate baby water snakes...nothing seems to want to eat those stinky little snakes other than EKs...LOL!

Good luck...it'll be well worth your effort!

I've tried all those things in the past too on reluctant feeders and I've never really had much difficulty on getting mine to eat. This year has been good though as most have taken f/t right from the start.

Thats a good method Ive also tried with some success.

Ive always wondered what became of John Cherry's Mosaics. Do you have any pics of them ? Would love to see some if available. Do you know what became of them ?

Thanks!

Keith
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Hey Keith, Yes, I was th eone who purchased John Cherry's Mosiacs. I beat myself for not keeping them but I had alot going on in life at the time and ended up selling off my entire collection. They are unreplaceable. The pair sold to a random person on faunacl@*****eds (don't know if I can list other sites while on www.kingsnake.com)... I had a clutch of babies that I sold locally (I was managing a pet store at the time). Wish I could find some of those snakes now.

They had THICK banding that was white (or at least white"ish".

I didn't have a digital camera at the time so no pics.

Sorry- wish I could have been a bigger help.

I went to Edisto Island, SC this past year and spent 2 days looking for them without any luck... I'm in Texas...wish I would have had a full week out there....

Graham

Graham, where you be in the Lone Star State?
Todd Hughes

The pair of Greenville, N.C. easterns from Peter have taken live pinks the day I got them and have chowed every meal. I guess Peter did all the hard part for me! Thanks, Peter!
Todd Hughes

I think you meant Greenville, SC., but I knew what you meant.
Post some pics of your Greenvilles when you get a chance. I have a female Greenville on order from Peter. How big are the little monsters?

Steve

>>The pair of Greenville, N.C. easterns from Peter have taken live pinks the day I got them and have chowed every meal. I guess Peter did all the hard part for me! Thanks, Peter!
Todd Hughes

OOps! my bad you're right! They are tiny little buggers, not what you expect from these monster easterns they post here but they grow quickly, they were about the same size as my speck hatchlings but surpassed them in 3 feedings! I will get some pics after my last trip to alternaland in a few weeks.
Todd Hughes

Todd, Thanks for the compliments.

Those snakes are from SC and not NC though

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Peter Jolles
East Coast Colubrids
www.eastcoastcolubrids.com

Yep, my bad my geog was off!
Todd Hughes

Sean, With mine it is hit or miss. Last year all of my Maryland Easterns ate within a couple of months - and this year they are being difficult.

I rounded up a bunch of worm snakes and skinks in Southern MD today and Friday and may just had their first meal today. It's funny because they will grab herp prey from your fingers while they will crawl over pinks and starve to death.

One of my four Mosaic Kings from Enge ate a pinky the night I brought them home from Daytona. Go figure.

My routine is to try brained frozen thawed first, then live pinks, then I try scenting --- and then, if that does not work I will pinky pump or go and catch small snakes for food.

This is the same for Eastern Kings that I breed from Maryland, South Carolina, and North Carolina.
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Peter Jolles
East Coast Colubrids
www.eastcoastcolubrids.com