Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I have had a nice year with a couple of cornsnake clutches, my son's and my firsts. Some of the hatchlings have needed to be force fed. Afew that were started this way took to pinkies eventually but I still have four that are growing slowly but will not switch to pinkies. How long might this go on?

Unfortunately for some neonates, forever. Some never switch to pinkies, or feed whatsoever regardless of what is offered. You can try lizards (geckos, skinks, etc.) or scenting with lizards to see if they will get them started. For some reason I think nature just naturally produces some of these "decoy" snakes in the wild to help the other viable animals to move away from the hatch site and get established in the wild.

I was hoping that was not the case. Guess that's just nature. Thanks anyway.

LOL

I had them thoughts at times....

anyways......

tuna water (didn't work for me...tried 30 once 0 ate it)
salmon water *(they say it's better for hognosed)
worms
guppies
frozen pinks(yes they smell differently)
pink live or thawed cut brain
lizards (most often used and prefered)

Peromyscus * (this is what I use...but noone breeds them but a few of us)

hamsters -all types *
gerbil
african soft fur mice/rat*
rat
mice fuzzy *** so runted it is pink sized but has hair...(hair makes a difference with ratsnakes other than corn ,so why not corn)
etc etc etc

....I feed them all live....you eat or you don't....hundreds live......dozens won't.........

...good luck.....

I marked the good ideas***
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Yeah, kind of a goofy term LOL!! Still, I am glad you got my meaning. I agree with you that hundreds are produced, and dozens just dont make it for whatever reason. Just a fact of nature I guess. Some just dont feed and thats the way it is. Some breeders even euthanize the non-feeders/picky feeders so that trait isnt propogated in their lines.

Thanks folks, I appreciate the input. Since this is our first time raising newborns I guess we still need to learn what is right and what is not.

Never heard of corn snakes eating lizards....at any age. However I do remember reading that baby corn snakes will often eat invertebrates, slugs and worms as hatchlings. Perhaps tossing in a cricket will prompt your babies to eat, or a waxworm. (though if the snake doesn't eat a cricket, take it out after a few hours so your cricket doesn't decide to eat the snake)
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PHLdyPayne

in the wild they probably eat alot of things that move......
in a cage I think 0 have ever eaten a cricket.....
yes I have heard they have eaten guppy,worm and fish scented pinks....

lizards are like the most common thing they eat....in the wild...they hatch and crawl into a tree or under stuff and what do they find hiding with them under bark and all?...baby lizards hiding too.....they eat them....I think they also eat a renuable resource in the wild too...adult lizard tails....figure they grab a liz and the tail comes off...they get a meal and liz gets away....?....

yes...liz works all too well......house geckos, sceloporous ,skinks and anoles...most common used........even odd stuff .....like leopard gecko or iguana skin.....eeeeew...iguanas.....yuk....
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Here in Florida, brown anoles are one of the top foremost prey for cornsnakes, especially young ones. I have fed corns thousands of lizards over the past decades, and they take them like there is no tomorrow.. Just yesterday I had to scent a pinkie with an anole to get it to eat on it's own. Without the scent, it wouldn't even look at a pinkie.

Most adult wild-caught corns in the Florida area will slam the heck out of a lizard or four as well. Wild Miami phase corns are renowned for being lizard eaters too. They are definitely an all around big part of their diet in the south, no doubt about it.

Yellow ratsnakes from the southern area relish lizards too. In central and south Florida, there are anoles on every single upright tree and bush you look at, on every fence, and on a warm sunny day, I have almost stepped on tons of these because they are zipping all over the sidewalks..LOL!

When I was growing up in Ft. Lauderdale, our yard alone had countless thousands of brown anoles, and some green anoles as well(aka Chameleons, but are not true ones at all).

~Doug
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"a snake in the grass is a GOOD thing"

I once heard that the if you take the skin off of KFC original recipe and rub a rodent down with it to scent.

I never tried it since I could never live with myself if it didn't work and I just wasted perfectly good fried chicken skin.

I do know that my baja cali kings will attempt to eat snake scented pinky.....fingers.....ouch.