Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I have two frozen pinkies for my 15 inch eastern milk, yesterday he didnt eat the live pinky, i've had him for about 5 days. I also tried feeding him a baby garter snake about 4 inches long. Any ideas?

I had this very same problem several times. Any Lampropeltis species is going to be very anxious and jittery when it's young, as well as having an innate inclination for reptile prey. I've pinkie pumped a few, but the pump is expensive, somewhat gruesome, and most of all stressful for the snake. I have had a lot of success with feeding kings and milks other snakes and weening them to mice, I'm wondering how he liked that garter snake. If you're feeding frozen, which is generally preferred, I would thaw them in a bag in the fridge overnight and when I'm ready to feed them, I like to dip the bag in some very warm water for a few minutes. This simulates living flesh, but make sure the bag is closed so the pinks don't get soggy. You can rub the warm pinkies on another reptile to make them smell reptilicious. You can scent live pinkies in the same way. When your snake gets used to mammal prey, you can skip scenting and even warming sometimes, I've gotten one of mine to eat cold ones out of my hand, but I always place him on his heat area after feeding him cold.