Reptile & Amphibian Forums

helo im new to this form and have a few questions!! ok i got a baby scarlet king yesterday from a friend and was wondering what i can feed such a small snake! i hav experiance with other snakes and lizards but nothin so small! any help is greatly appreciated!!!

well you have one of the most difficult species to feed. Not just because of their small size but the fact they are lizard eaters and are difficult to switch over to pinkies.

There are lots of people here to give you good advice and tricks to get you small scarlet feeding. But I reccomend you get another tricolor snake that is easier. There are so many tricolor Milksnakes and kings to choose from. I know you probably want to try and keep this one but here is a list of other tricolors that are more managable in case you decide to get something else instead.

SInaloan Milk
Pueblin milk
Mexican milk
honduran (atcually any of the central american milks)
Nelsons milk
Quaretaro milk
Baja moutain king
Arizona Mountain king
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"Yeah ya told me, and ya wrote it down too. But how the hell am I supposed to remember!"

hey thanks yea i know it will be hard!! i have an anol in there now that is just the right size for it!! thanks for the other choices i love all those, but dont have a dime right now!! but i have a birth day comin up so just maybe!!!

Trya a small ground skink, if you can get one.
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Brad Chambers

The Avalanche has already started-it is too late for the pebbles to vote....

yea i thought bout that but i never find them!!

its only about 5in long could it eat a pinky?

No-but it MIGHT eat an anole or skink-scented pinky head or leg-IF you're very LUCKY
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Brad Chambers

The Avalanche has already started-it is too late for the pebbles to vote....

ok ill try that!! ill post some pics. after i weed eat!!!

I'm not positive - but I believe "sssshane" at

captivebredforums dot com

Someone at that place did.

has had success with baby scarlet kings.
I think (I do not remember for sure) they used lizard scented pinkie heads.

If you caught it, I recommend letting it go exactly where you found it.
If you bought it, whoever sold it to you should have had it feeding before they did. Enquire from them what they fed it.
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x.y L. getula californiae (Cal. King)
x.y L. getula nigrita (MBK)
x.y L. getula floridana (Brooksi)
x.y Pantherophis guttatus guttatus (Corn)
0.1 Pituophis catenifer catenifer (Pacific gopher)
0.1 Heterodon nasicus (W Hognose)
x.y.z Elgaria multicarinata multicarinata - (Cal. Alligator Lizard)

Those snakes are found in humid rotting logs, old moldy leaf litter, and tunneling in the hummus of very organic decaying plant matter. (or under concrete patio stones...) I believe they feed on grubs, lizard eggs, worms, blind snakes and very very small frogs. Until they get old enough and vary their diet enough to include pinkies, if they are opportunistic enough to find them. I would try small pieces of uncooked chicken, including hearts that come in the “giblets” bag of a whole chicken from the grocery store, slice the pieces long and thin like a worm. Also try very small feeder fish you can get at the pet store, and basically anything you can find breaking apart that damp vegetation as if looking for night crawlers. (or scarlet kingsnakes) Those grubs and stuff are what they eat in the wild. They are not like other kingsnakes until they are pretty good sized, which in captivity, is never. Unless you are a very advanced experienced keeper, it is going to die.

Although they are cute and VERY pretty, take it from me, I've bred and raised them, like the others posted, unless you are a VERY advanced snake keeper, odds are you won't be able to get it to feed.......and if you can't soon, you should let it go in some pine woods where it can thrive.

The last thing you want to do, is kill a perfectly good snake!!

best regards, ~Doug
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"Better to be silent and thought a fool, than to open mouth and remove any doubt!"

Although they are in the same genus as other types of "kings", they are actually "Milksnakes"(triangulum). Certain subspecies of triangulum are generally known to be much more nervous and finicky as compared to others in the genus "Lampropeltis".

They are one of the twenty-five subspecies that comprise the "Milksnakes".

They take MUCH MORE finesse than most others, though several other triangulum can be just as difficult, if not more so.

best regards, ~Doug
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"Better to be silent and thought a fool, than to open mouth and remove any doubt!"

A few years ago, I had a pair of Scarlet Kings that bred for me. Yes, the babies are a real pain to work with. They are so small...that's whay there are not more people breeding them. What I did have success with until they got big enough to take geckos was this: I removed their water source from their cage. Then I beat up an egg and fortified it with vitamins and calcium and use it to replace the water in their water bowl. The little rascals got to where they would drink it like water. Eventually, I got most of them on to small geckos and then on to lizard-scented new-born pinks.

They are a REAL challange and certainly not worth the effort from a commereical stand-point, but I found a great deal of personal satisfaction in having some success getting them started.
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Gerald Keown
Southwestern Center for Herpetological Research
www.southwesternherp.com

I have a care sheet. Contact me through these forums..
They prefer skinks as mentioned but have such a high response to them that they can most times be easily "tricked' into pinky parts etc. by scenting with a skink.
Keeping a live skink on hand is a good idea too. Either the tail or saliva can be used for scenting..

:Mark
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Surrender Dorothy!

crimsonking.piczo.com/