Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Letss ee some pics or at least post what you have.

Keith
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He is a 2003 male and is pretty tiny due to the fact he was hard to get started eating. He is going now though and he looks like he will be a nice one. Its a Bartlett stock animal.

Keith

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Nice snake & nice pic! (nm)

I love the snake, but I'd trade her in a second for a s. GA/n.Florida female to match up with my monster GA boy.

The pic is a little dark like the pic I posted of my blotched (I took them at the same time), so her true colors don't come out that well.

A full-body shot.

A close up head shot; again, too dark but you can see the pattern nonetheless.

-John

That is the best looking outerbanks king that I've seen. Feel free to post pics of it as it grows.

The photo really doesn't do her justice and when I can get some more, I'll post some nice shots. She's in ecdysis right now but is one of the most gentle kings I've ever had.

I just hope the snake recovers from Hillson's taking care of her LOL

Peace.

-John

Nice snake, John. What bloodline is she?

Bob Johnson
Reptile Artistry

Thanks for the comments...the pic came out crummy but you can see a better, but earlier pic of her on Keith's site.

It's Howie Sherman's "Striker" stock; the snake is a peach to handle and she's getting more speckling with each shed.

Peace.

-John

Thanks, John (nm)

Keith, I only have the two you sold me... the tiny one has eaten many times... the fat one STILL hasn't eaten! I got them from you in October! I've been trying to find a local small ground snake to offer up, but haven't had any luck finding one so far. By my figuring, he's got three more good weeks before he starts to seriously deteriorate.

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~Sasheena

Persephone (the other one)

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~Sasheena

HAve you tried scenting off one of your other snakes ? Try putting a piece of wet shed skin onto a pink . I know the one I have left was very stubborn as well but I got him eating using kingsnake parts from stillborn snakes. Go to a local petstore and see if they have small anoles or house gecko's . Put him a small brown bag with it sometimes they just want something thats live and coldblooded for dinner. If you are uncomfortable with that try scenting with them instead. Did you try and hibernate him thru the winter ? Usually if I habve a snake that refuses up until december I just cool it down for a few months and this will alot of times stimulate their feeding response. Let me know how it goes.

Keith
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I've tried a LOT of things with this snake.....

f/t pinkies
live pinkies
gerbil pinkies
lizard scented (all of the above)
snakeskin scented (all of the above)
In delicups and paperbags (all of the above)
Live fence lizard hatchlings
Live gecko hatchlings
f/t lizard/gecko
Mouse tails

I've even tried snake-gut-smeared pinkies

I hibernated him for four weeks in the dead of winter, and he still didn't eat. I'm down to wanting to offer him a small live snake...if I can only get my hands on one... I used to have a bunch of ground snakes, but they didn't survive the recent move my hubby and I made in august, so no convenient supply of groundsnakes. Last year at this time of the year my students were bringing me ground snakes they would find on campus, but we've changed campuses and I don't know that the kids will discover any this year! I can only hope I find one before it is too late so I can offer it to him. I know there are risks of a parasite load, but I am at my wits end as far as what to do to get him to eat. *sigh*
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~Sasheena

We've all had kings who go through this at times...usually kings will come around after a bit if the conditions are right and the snake is healthy; if he's just come out of brumation and has some weight, I wouldn't worry yet...I've had kings that I was about ready to give last rites too, but they came around.

I'm not sure where you live, but I would suggest getting your hands on a smaller cornsnake - even if you have to order some you could have them in a matter of days, and cheaply at that.

Now, I'm not one that likes to feed my kings snakes on a regular basis, but a OBK is a special snake and I'd want to keep it alive. Corns are also on the OB and environs so it's a natural diet for a OBK. Place them in a smaller container together well ventilated but perhaps nice and dark and chances are the OBK will eat.

Just some thoughts and good luck.

Peace.

-John

Keep in mind this little guy hatched in october or late september and has NEVER eaten. He was a SUPER FATTY when he hatched, so he had a lot of reserves. He's only just started to get slender. If I knew someone locally who had cornsnakes hatching anytime soon, I might see if someone would part with a very tiny hatchling with kinks or some other defect so that I can get this guy to eat. In fact, i might try to get a mouse tail down his gullet, just to get him SOME nourishment... I've heard that using a credit card to open the mouth is sometimes successful... And I have all sizes/ages of mice and even rats to get tails from if need be. If I can keep him alive for another three months, I'll have cornsnake hatchlings of my own (crossing fingers) but it's nerve wracking waiting for him to decide to eat! It's so funny too, because the female OBK I have was VERY tiny when I got her, yet she just pounced on every meal I have ever given her with serious gusto! She's still smaller than he is, because she's not growing very fast. I'm still giving her newborn pinkies. But she's never refused a meal, so I don't worry bout her.

I did leave a mouse tail in with him yesterday, to see if he would eat it. The severed end was all bloody... I'd whacked the mouse but it was only a moment later that i got the tail off.
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~Sasheena

Well you seem to ahve it mostly covered. I had a hell of a time here with some to the point where they expired and Ive gotten many of snake to eat in my time and these hands down where the worst. I thought Temporalis were bad lol. Anyway yes maybe a live snake is your best bet as the one survivor I have got going using snake meat (dead snake meat). One thing that I do also is force the snakes mouth open with something firm but not sharp and push a fuzzie tail down its throat (wet the fuzzie tail also with some pinkie guts for flavor and lubrication ). If you get it far enough back he will work the rest of it down on his own. I did this with some Coastal Plains milks I had and after a few weeks they started to eat on their own.

Keith

>>I've tried a LOT of things with this snake.....
>>
>>f/t pinkies
>>live pinkies
>>gerbil pinkies
>>lizard scented (all of the above)
>>snakeskin scented (all of the above)
>>In delicups and paperbags (all of the above)
>>Live fence lizard hatchlings
>>Live gecko hatchlings
>>f/t lizard/gecko
>>Mouse tails
>>
>>I've even tried snake-gut-smeared pinkies
>>
>>I hibernated him for four weeks in the dead of winter, and he still didn't eat. I'm down to wanting to offer him a small live snake...if I can only get my hands on one... I used to have a bunch of ground snakes, but they didn't survive the recent move my hubby and I made in august, so no convenient supply of groundsnakes. Last year at this time of the year my students were bringing me ground snakes they would find on campus, but we've changed campuses and I don't know that the kids will discover any this year! I can only hope I find one before it is too late so I can offer it to him. I know there are risks of a parasite load, but I am at my wits end as far as what to do to get him to eat. *sigh*
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>>~Sasheena
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Hi,
I bought 3.2 hatchlings this past summer. Damndest thing - none would eat ANYTHING for two months. I bought a pinky pump and started pinky pumping them every three days with gerber turkey bay food, fortified with reptile vitamins. 1st I did 1 cc per snake per feeding and then I gradually increased this. I would force feed for 2 weeks and then starve them for a week and then what I did was take fresh corn snake shedding and wrap it around a brained pink. This went on and on until they all started eating. Eventually I removed the snake skin and stopped braining the pinks.

Long story short - they are all eating like pigs now and two of the males are even on hoppers.

Don't be afraid of the pinky pump. Just make sure you lube the syringe with egg yolk and it works great. This pinky pump was really the BEST $50 I have ever spent on my snakes and my own sanity.

in reply to the recalcitrant feeding problem with outerbanks kings,after trial and error experimenting of all kinds i discovered that there is a magic formula to feed outerbanks kings and that is....tada.....ground skinks. as a matter of course now,i begin all my non feeding outerbanks babies with ground skinks which they take with surprising gusto right from your hand. give them a try and let me know if yours react the same way as the vast majority of mine.
Link

I have both Bartlett and Kane stock Outer Banks kings. They (along with Apalachicolas) are my favorite getulas. Pic below is from Bartlett stock, an F1 female that I got from you, Keith.

Bob Johnson

Reptile Artistry

Here's another one, a 2001 female (also Bartlett stock).

Bob Johnson

Reptile Artistry

n/p

She looked pretty beat when I sent her to you from egg laying. You looked to have whipped her into shape nicely ! Can I use that pic on my site ?

Keith
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Yeah, she has been feeding great for me since I got her - a little too good in fact, she tries to have her mate for dinner every time I introduce them!

Sure, you can go a head and use the pic on your site.

Bob
Reptile Artistry