Reptile & Amphibian Forums

i have a couple of questions regarding nutritional values of lizards and mice...

a: are they comparitive in values?

b: is a sole diet of lizards for a king good?

the reason i ask is i have a king still not wantin anything to do with rodents..poundin anoles.. just doesnt appear to be growing or seems to be benifiting from her diet

thanx for any help...and please, be gentle

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Lew...

What are you going to do when she reaches 4-5 feet?? Anoles wont sustain her for ever and in all actually could quite possibly slow her growth once she gets to a certain size ...

Have you tried scenting a live mouse with an anole? Or a F/T mouse with anole?? A F/t mouse with anole brains on it?? A live mouse with anole brains on it? lol ... see where Im going with this?

I bet if you brained an anole and put it on a mouse she would nail it ...

tried it tried everything washed the pink free of scent and smashed an anole got it all gooked up and nothing..brained pinks and scented..i know i need to get her switched to rodents and believe me i cant afford to feed her anoles forever but she is so disinterested in rodents
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Lew...

I don't know if this would work, but here's what I would do.

Offer an anole tail (or other small piece). Then, offer a small pinkie scented with anole juice immediately after the snake eats the anole tail. Once a kingsnake gets into the feeding response, it may be more willing to take the pinkie.

Good luck!

Have you tried a small rat pup?
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I decided my old sig was too big.

i'd have to get some good size on her first...right now, she's too small and i imagine it would be difficult for her to take something that size but i will give that a try when i feel the time and her size is right
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Lew...

If you offer a dead pinky with crushed Anole tail juice rubbed on it concentrating on mainly the face, stuff a small piece of Anole tail in the dead pinky's mouth, it will then BECOME an Anole to the snake. Offer this Only when the snake is in the hide box(hopefully you ARE keeping one in the enclosure). DO NOT let the snake know about your presence to avoid spooking it, while slowly, and carefully taking the lid off(assuming it has a lid), slowly put this Anole scented offering right at the hide opening with with a long pair of tweezer/tongs with the pinky head just inside the hide,.......give this a few light twitches, when the snake gets wakened to this, it should get violently "HAMMER-SLAMMED!!!"

~Doug

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

Doug, you could take a picture of an unrecognizable lump of mush and make it look good. LOL!

How old is the snake in that picture? Any interesting genetics?

That color is amazing!

The snake pictured in my above post is a normal "Brook's" phase male floridana that was hatched from W/C parent stock from extreme southern Miami/Dade county(het for nothing). It was hatched in early Aug. of '07, and the pic was taken a couple months ago,........he's put on a little more size since then. He and his female sibling are voracious eaters that always rush to the top of the cage hoping to devour anything that moves...LOL!,....yes, typical floridana!

Thanks again!

~Doug

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

That beautiful yellow king. To me, that is visually more stunning than albinos, snows, anerys, etc.
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Mark

LOL!,...thanks, man!,........I also agree with a lot of that as well, I do have a bunch of morphs of other types of snakes too, but I also really like the natural color of a nice looking brooks phase too, not to say that some of the other stuff isn't nice as well. I really enjoy taking them out and handling the two on a regular basis too, their demeanor is a lot more relaxed and placid than many others types I have, once I get them out of the enclosure that is!,.....they will attack anything that moves in the cage first, and THEN worry about what it is afterwards,......in true typical "getula" fashion!..LOL!

Thanks again!, ~Doug

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

this sounds like a good idea.. i'll give it a try at her next feed....i really am willing to try anything to get her switched over to rodents...

thanx for your suggestions
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Lew...

Got this from the forum last year and it worked like a charm for a grey band that would not eat: I took a prekilled anole, took some skin from it, wetted the skin and placed it on the pinkie's face. The anole skin stuck on the face and, like Doug said, the pinkie became an anole. My grey band did not even hesitate but took to it right away. He's been feeding on unscented f/t ever since and has doubled his size.
Joel

Doug, by the way absolutely beautiful animal. Those brooksi are growing on me.

Firstly, lizards & snakes will have more calcium than pinkies & fuzzies, which are made mostly of cartilage. Only adult mice begin to supply significant supplies of calcium.

In the wild, many Kings eat large quantities of reptiles. Studies of desert phase Cal Kings showed that up to 80% of their diet was rattlesnakes.

1. What is abundant will be taken most often.
2. Iindividuals will have preferences just as Humans do.

I recommend a balanced diet of mostly rodents, with lizards & snakes, and birds occasionally given.

It would surprise me that your snake is not gaining weight. It may be time for a fecal sample to see about parasites. Either type of prey item should be fairly comparable in nutrition, and should promote noticeable growth across months.

thank you everyone for all your responses, suggestions and info...all suggestions will be attempted and hopefully something will work at getting her over to rodents.. i really never had a picky feeder before her so this i'm new at

as i said, thanx

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Lew...

..would you recommend I start feeding Eddie hoppers instead of fuzzies? He took one for me the other day, with no problems. I'd prefer he get the extra calcium, especially if you guys think I should.

I'll be ordering feeders next week for Eddie and the cornsnakes.
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Holly

0.1 Lavender California Kingsnake (Lizzie Borden) (missing )
1.0 Florida Kingsnake (Eddie Gein)
0.0.1 Okeetee Cornsnake
0.0.1 Cornsnake
1.0 Bearded Dragon (Charley Manson)
1.0 Orange Marmalade Cat (Oliver)
1.0 Black Cat (Shadowfax)
1.0 Egyptian Arabian (Bagan) (Deceased )
1.0 Tennessee Walking Horse (Durango)

2.0 Toddlers (Justice & Trevor)

Step up to small hoppers and watch him take off!
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Todd Hughes

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Holly

0.1 Lavender California Kingsnake (Lizzie Borden) (missing )
1.0 Florida Kingsnake (Eddie Gein)
0.0.1 Okeetee Cornsnake
0.0.1 Cornsnake
1.0 Bearded Dragon (Charley Manson)
1.0 Orange Marmalade Cat (Oliver)
1.0 Black Cat (Shadowfax)
1.0 Egyptian Arabian (Bagan) (Deceased )
1.0 Tennessee Walking Horse (Durango)

2.0 Toddlers (Justice & Trevor)

how old is eddie anyway.....oh and you got a couple of corns huh... are they unsexed hatchlings
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Lew...

Eddie is probably 8 or 9 months now. He's about two feet long and can easily handle a f/t hopper.

The corns I 'rescued' from a friend of mine who needed to offload them. One is about 2 years old or so, the other is about a year and a half. He had never had them probed, so didn't know their sex. I'm going to take them to the vet this week when I get paid, get a general checkup on them and get them probed. They're awesome, but he really didn't take very good care of them. I posted pictures in the General Snake forum.
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Holly

0.1 Lavender California Kingsnake (Lizzie Borden) (missing )
1.0 Florida Kingsnake (Eddie Gein)
0.0.1 Okeetee Cornsnake
0.0.1 Cornsnake
1.0 Bearded Dragon (Charley Manson)
1.0 Orange Marmalade Cat (Oliver)
1.0 Black Cat (Shadowfax)
1.0 Egyptian Arabian (Bagan) (Deceased )
1.0 Tennessee Walking Horse (Durango)

2.0 Toddlers (Justice & Trevor)

Holly, I know this is a little off-topic, but are you planning on breeding those two corns if you end up with a male and a female? I was worried about their condition when you mentioned what the previous owner had said about them, but they look great!

I have to say, the enclosures are all wrong. You should have mini lawn chairs, a pool, a mini plasma TV, an XBox, a .......

Congrats on acquiring such nice animals!

I think I might breed them if it is a pair. They're very good-natured snakes. Even the one that the previous owner said was a little "difficult". He's younger and smaller than the other corn, of course he's nervous when first picked up. Ah, anyway, they're doing very well and don't tempt me, I still have some old Barbie furniture from when I was little, they could easily get a jacuzzi.
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Holly

0.1 Lavender California Kingsnake (Lizzie Borden) (missing )
1.0 Florida Kingsnake (Eddie Gein)
0.0.1 Okeetee Cornsnake
0.0.1 Cornsnake
1.0 Bearded Dragon (Charley Manson)
1.0 Orange Marmalade Cat (Oliver)
1.0 Black Cat (Shadowfax)
1.0 Egyptian Arabian (Bagan) (Deceased )
1.0 Tennessee Walking Horse (Durango)

2.0 Toddlers (Justice & Trevor)

I just moved one of my '07 corns to weanlings - she's about 25 inches or so, she handles them no problem. Takes her longer to get them down but she's ready to eat again in four days - I'm going to have to move her to two soon.
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I decided my old sig was too big.

Awesome. I think I'm going to keep these two on medium to large mice for a bit, at least until I'm certain they're comfortable in their new home.
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Holly

0.1 Lavender California Kingsnake (Lizzie Borden) (missing )
1.0 Florida Kingsnake (Eddie Gein)
0.0.1 Okeetee Cornsnake
0.0.1 Cornsnake
1.0 Bearded Dragon (Charley Manson)
1.0 Orange Marmalade Cat (Oliver)
1.0 Black Cat (Shadowfax)
1.0 Egyptian Arabian (Bagan) (Deceased )
1.0 Tennessee Walking Horse (Durango)

2.0 Toddlers (Justice & Trevor)