Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I've got a beautiful little female blairs that just won't eat.
I have tried scenting, braining and any other method I can think of. She has only fed voluntarily on med geckos but they have become all but impossible to find with the arrival of winter. I have considered anoles or house geckos available at a few pet stores, but the ones I've seen are too big. I have resorted to force feeding to keep her alive, but it's very stressful for both of us. Any ideas?
Thanks in advance,
Perry

You're not alone if that's any consolation!
This can go on for some time but you can get house geckos from Glades Herp. They freeze well and the bugger will eat thawed geckos every time. I've had some luck with extremely obnoxious hatchlings when letting them get very hungry (3-5 weeks) and offer a well scented pink. Unfortunately, these Alterna just don't grow very well (sure won't get fat) and it tests your patience. The snake may or may not turn on to a rodent diet eventually. If you want a few more like yours, drop a line! Jeff

Thanks a bunch Jeff. If things don't improve soon I'm gonna take your advice about ordering some house geckos.
All the best,
Perry

They do seem to like house geckos. I live in Baton Rouge, LA and find house geckos around my home at night. So its fairly easy for me to find them. I catch the small ones and use as food for the alterna babies. If you can get them to eat and establish the feeding pattern, its easier to start switching them over to scented pinks. After a few meals with small live geckos, some even take tails from larger geckos. Thats a good sign they are "hooked" and you can start scenting pinkies.

I feel your pain! I have the same problem with my male blairs gray band. I've had him since late October and after trying scenting, braining, washing the pinkie, live, frozen/thawed, deli cup method, brown paper bag method, etc. etc. he's only ate one anole since then. I really didn't want to give him the anole because their more expensive and harder to find but I had no choice. I finally ordered a pinkie pump and am going to try it out tomorrow. I posted another question about this situation in the general snakes forum. You might want to check it out. Hopefully all goes well. Let me know if you need some info about pinkie pumps.

Thanks for the info. I checked out the posts you recommended. I've been thinking about resorting to the pinkie pump for a while.
I wonder if it is actually any easier on the snake than force feeding? I was under the impression it is mainly for use with snakes that are too small to consume a whole pinkie. Still not sure. Hope it works out for you. Let us Know.
Thanks again,
Perry

What is your cage set up? How big is the cage? What are the temperature options? What kind of hiding spots do you have? Do you provide water, a humidity gradient?

Give us some info to work with and we'll see if we can help.

I've used mouse tails on small reluctant snakes. If you feed them the bloody stump end first they go down pretty easy. Most of the snakes I've done this with will eat it once they get it in their mouths.