Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hello All,

For the last couple of months I've been doing some research on A. Prasina attempting learn as much as I can about them before purchasing a pair and I've run across some conflicting information regarding their feeding habits.
For those of you that keep them, have you had any success switching Wild Caught Prasina to rodents? If so is there any benefit to feeding rodents over lizards? Some of the literature claims A. Prasina should be switched to rodents for better health, others claim they should be kept on a diet of reptiles.
As I've found quite a few places that sell feeder House Geckos and Anoles I'm not too worried about providing a pair with a steady supply of food. What thoughts do you folks have on the matter?
A little about me...
I've been keeping reptiles for nearly 15 years, over the last 10 years I've been involved in Reptile Rehab and Rescue, as of this year I'm letting others do the rescuing and rehabbing for a change and I'm endeavoring in building up my own herp collection.
I've never kept a Rear Fanged snake species before, however I've worked with many colubrids and constrictors over the years.

Thanks for any insights and advice you can provide,

-Kit

if u have no trouble getting geckos then u can stick to that. i haven't tried switching to rodents. i don't think its necessary...geckos or anoles are sufficient.
others that have tried switching said its very hard but not impossible. u might have to scent feed for a few months till it gets used to rodents.

Iam sorry but I have to disagree with the pre-scenting...It does not work in my opinion. These animals are purely visual based hunters, and rarely even flik the tong during hunting. They just point it!! I think for better aiming and depth perseption. Like maybe a scoop of a rifle, or the end of a blowpipe is used for aiming. It focusses on movement of small objects. They for example hardly notice me if I stand absolutely still in front of the cage, but once I blink my eyes they go aggressive and sometimes even strike at the glass (my eyes).
However back to feeding. The feeding response is triggered only by sight. The two juviniles (1year old now) are feeding on pinky mice but only if I poke them in the nose with it, after also a year of force feeding. The strike is now triggered by anger. Once they feel something in the mouth they usually swallow. Dead gekko...dead mice...no matter. However a normal striking response is based on sight. The WC adults I have, will not eat mice....but If you persist they can be trained to eat dead lizards. I feed my adults normally on live gekko's with tongs. I hold the gekko in the tongs and then place them on the wall of the cage. They then pick them of the cage wall. I used to place them on the wall by hand, until I got bitten pitty bad by my big female...didn't even see her comming...lol. She always anticipates live lizards, so she doesn't even bother to look anymore. She occasionally takes dead lizards from the tongs, but if she notices that the lizard is not moving she will not eat it.
So, long story short...WC adults no mice. Some people however have succeeded, but most WC will never eat mice. CBB will eventually take mice after a regime of force feeding.

Anywhay....good luck,

PJ

PS I'am by no means an expert. These comments are based on MY animals and based on the behavior I have noticed. I'am sure other prasina keepers have noticed other and different behaviors with their animals. I think a lot can still be learned.

Hey,

I've got three ahaetulla prasina, only one will eat mice.
mice from 4 weeks old.
the other 2 do strik to the mice and one kills them, but won't eat them.

Giel