Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Please if anyone could offer any feeding assistance/tips w/ an '03 pair of L.t. gentilis, I would appreciate it.....Thank you

But there's always an exception or two.
I've got a mass of Gentilis and have been offering hatchlings newborn pink heads overnight either in a confined container (like a paper towel tube folded over to hold the snake in)or stashed in the hide with the snake.
Approx half will take the heads within a month of hatching and the others will need a hopper tail pushed down after refusing the head overnight. Repeat the procedure every 7-10 days until the heads begin to vanish.
In general, Gentilis is not a difficult snake to get started on rodents, certainly nothing like Alterna. Be patient...
Jeff Hardwick

P.S. It may be as much as 6-10 months before your hatchling Gentilis is able to take a whole tiny newborn pink. JH

Thank you very much Jeff......I really do appreciate your help..
Two last questions....
1) Should I continue working w/ them through the winter or brumate them ?
2) Would your techniques above work well w/ Pale Milks also of the same age ?
Thanks again Jeff;
Greg

Actually, I'm dying to scan your inventory now. Are you Greg Longhurst??
Yes, Syspila, Multistriata, Alterna, Taylori, etc...all get the same treatment and the winner of the most obnoxious sp/ssp is (drum roll please!) ALTERNA!!! Yes folks, these guys can break your spirit.....there's always one that goes for 12-20 months before coming around. The others are a relative piece of cake!
The neonates will often begin eating before the cold room gets down to temp and I used to put obnoxious snakes in the cooler but when they came out, resumed the nonsense in short order. I now keep all the hatchlings warm (they're not as sensitive to seasonal changes as say, the 3 yr olds)and keep at it right through winter.
Here's an odd dilema you may find yourself in: you have 100 hopper mice(3 month supply)in the freezer all without tails and you have to buy MORE just for the tails??
The alternative is obviously lizards and earth snakes, ringnecks, etc.. but rodents are the ultimate goal.
Whaddayagonnado?? Jeff