Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I recently purchased a juvenile female Arizona mountain kingsnake about 13 days ago and it has refused to eat the pinkies i provide it. I have heard that they can be picky and only eat lizards, or lizard scented pinkies, however i dont have access to either of those. Will it give in to pinkies before starving or not. This whole thing suprised me as i had another baby of the same species that was a voracious eater and would nab pinkies the second i put them in the tank. Any help would be much appreciated.

Are you giving it frozen thawed or live? If they are F/T try giving it a live pinkie if you can get one. If you are trying live then place the snake and pinkie in a small deli cup overnight.

There are many things you can try if the above does not work but that is where I would start. You can search the threads for trouble feeders/feeding problems and find a lot of information on the subject also. What are your temps/caging/ect. Does the snake have hides? Could be a number of factors involved. Most breeders will not sell juveniles until they have eaten pinkies. (some will though)

i am feeding live pinkies and am not exact but hotside is around 85 and cool side nearer 77 with a thick ceramic cavelike hide that is nice and cool inside. The breeder told me juveniles like lizards so i am trying a small green anole (yes i know their ranges don't overlap geographically but its the only small lizards i can find for sale) just so she gets something in her as she hasnt eaten in over 2 weeks. She has attempted to eat the anole but it got away and shes following the scent trail as i type this. I will try the "sleepover with a pinkie" approach if the anole fails or next week regardless. Thanks for the tips, her strike at the anole gave me a sign of hope.

additionaly i am noticing due to the anole's speed and glass climbing ability the snake is getting frustrated. Western Fence lizards are common in in my area and fairly easy to catch if you have a quick hand, but what are the risks associated with feeding wild caught lizards. Obviously mites and other parasites are a possibility. Does the fact that these terrestrial lizards would be an easier catch outweigh the potential cons. Also I have never been big in F/T'ing but could an f/t trigger a feeding response that a live pinkie could not. sorry bout the big posts just trying to cover all my bases.

Most of the time the feeding response is triggered by a live vs. f/t. You could try "braining" a f/t which means you just open up the head of a f/t pink and smear a little brain matter on the head. Sometimes this will trigger a feeding response. Don't forget that those anoles will carry parasites as well. I find it is always better to freeze lizards first and then use that lizard to scent many pinks by breaking off pieces. Saves money and the freezing kills most parasites. I made the mistake of spending lots of money on lizards when just one frozen one would have done the same. Some of those snakes went through a rough period afterwards and I treated them for parasites. These snakes catch these parasites in the wild but do not have the stress and caged environment to let these parasites take over their digestive systems as happens in captivity. If your snake eats that anole I would get another one and freeze it so you can start scenting pinkie mice and eventually wean the snake onto pinks alone.

ahh thanks for the tips, i currently have the snake in a small plastic container with the pinky. Hopefully the close contact will cause a response. If not i will try a "braining" tomorrow. At what point do i have to become really concerned and consider force feeding?

...chances are the Anoles you find in your pet store are wild caught. They can be just as full of parasites, if not more so.

Relax and let your snake eat f/t.
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Diego

SWCHR

Relax!
Give it another 10 days to get use to it new home, It also might be getting ready to shed. alot of the time they are slow to shed, and don't show hardly any signs of shed when there young. Most Az. King won't eat 7-10 days before a shed.
Give it time, it will eat.
-Bob

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R.Bichlers Colubrids
http://www.webspawner.com/users/rbichler/index.html