Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Every season I have whole clutches of rat snakes ( P. obsoletus and P. guttatus ) that I must ,,, uh ,,,er ,,,, recycle, terminate, off, destroy for legal reasons.
These hatchlings have been offered to a small handful of adult and juvenile GBKs, Rutheven’s Kings, Mex Milks, Eastern Kings, and Brooks Kings.
All above aggressively eat these calcium treats (sorry… that was cold) with gusto except the GBKs.
I’ve never had one GBK eat one hatchling Rat Snake!
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I know this subject has been breached here before. I’m real slow, so I’d like to ask:
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Has anyone here witnessed a GBK eat another snake of any kind, that was not a case of feeding responses peaked and the victim had small mice on it’s breath?

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Regards, Bill McGighan

Hi Bill, I've had it happen one time. I had some Langtry hatchlings in a shoebox container after hatching and one hatchling ate another after they all just shed. This is the only time for me.
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Steve W.

Hey, Steve,
Now that's really interesting.
Similarly, I've had hatchling Emory's Rats chow down on hatchling Corns in a shoe box.
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Regards, Bill McGighan

I've meant to mention this for some time. Some years back, a friend on the (former) Mississippi Gulf Coast aquired six wild collected adult Langtry males from a student going off to school. Every one of these snakes relished young and newborn Eastern Gartersnakes. When I witnessed this I immediately went back to Jackson and tried my adults and babies. They all loved them. You never know. Checkered Gartersnakes are very common in Val Verde County and may figure significantly into alterna diets.

Cheers,

Terry Vandeventer

Thanks Terry,
Poor Garters… Number one on the smorgasbord. Everyone seems to like them!
I’ve seen even Bull Snakes eat them.
It’s not surprising GBKs don’t like my Rat Snakes, except for Baird’s and Trans-pecos Rats, there ranges don’t overlap much, if any.

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Regards, Bill McGighan

>>except for Baird’s and Trans-pecos Rats, there ranges don’t overlap much, if any.

Emoryi is fairly common throughout the Chihuahuan Desert as well.

Forky

Oh, wow,Joe,
That was my most senior moment in a while.
Of course, Emory.
I'll try those next year on the adult GBKs.
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Regards, Bill McGighan