Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hello, I recently posted about my large WC King Cobra not excepting food. Thanks to the many replies and great information I have obtained from many people on this forum I was finally able to get her to feed and has been fully dewormed and clean and is in excellent condition! However there is a catch. After trying numerous snake species it has turned out that she only excepts red tailed rat snakes and wants nothing else. My question is what would be the best way to get her to switch to North american rat snakes and other more common snake species. I really don't have a problem offering her snakes but red tailed rat snakes are hard to come by and pretty expensive. I have several stored in the freezer and have ordered more in attemps to switch her over. My question is what method should I use to switch her over? Is it better to make a red tailed rat snake puree and then dip the snakes in the mixure and over time reduce the amount until she excepts the food item by itself. Or is it better to chop the red tailed rat snakes into pieces and tie them to other snake species? Also is it best to sidestep feeding snakes complety and scent mice and rats instead? Also is feeding them rodents proven to cause any nagative impacts on them as they are Opiophagus by nature? If so I will not even consider it. Any positive information on how to go about switching the snake over would be greatly appreciated. Please I am looking for positive intel not negative opinions. Sincerely, Tony Baez.

You might try "O. hannah---captive care notes" at VenomousReptiles.org. Hope it helps.
Bill Huseth

Reminds me of a King Cobra they had at the Chicago Zoo many years ago that would only eat Eastern Indigoes (this was back before they were protected by law).

Personally.... I prefer the Red Tailed Rats. Cheaper to feed, handleable and (in my opinion)better looking)

Had to say that (lol)

Frank
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"The luxury of not getting involved departed with the last lifeboat Skipper..."

Chop the rat snake into 2-3" pieces and cut thru the belly, then peel the skin off in one piece. Wrap the skin around the head of whatever you are trying to feed it (also rub the skinned part all over the the first 1/4 of the prey item). This has always worked for me, but there have been a few smart ones, but with persistance they will eventually take. After you get them to feed this way, FEED OFTEN, the more you feed them the better your results will be in switching them over to your preffered food item (once they get a good feeding responce they will usually grab & swallow anything offered).

I always used rodents, and my animals bred & thrived for me. The oldest King on record is a rodent feeder. It's your choice.
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Chad Bachman

Thanks for all the great information but I still have one more question. When I skin the snake do you use the whole thing or do you cut pieces of it so it can last longer. Also I am asumming it can be stored in the freezer for later use. I have decided to start scenting the rats instead. It's really amazing what keepers do just for the sake of doing anything to make their captives happy and I am no exception. I am really going to have lots of fun skining the snakes. Sincerely, Tony Baez.

I would always chop or break off pieces of the frozen snake, thaw it, then skin the pieces, this way should help with keeping a certain scent that a picky feeder wants.

Good luck
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Chad Bachman

I use snake blood. which works incredibly well without losing your piece of snake. I can make a 3 foot racer last almost a year.
Just thaw a small piece on top of your rats, the blood drips and right before feeding time give it a good squeeze over the rat. refreeze and use again next week. You can usually use the one piece several times over. Once the blood is used up, then use the skin and discard.
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It's what you learn AFTER you know it all that counts!

Terry Phillip
Curator of Reptiles
Black Hills Reptile Gardens

www.reptilegardens.com

I've done that, but some (the picky ones) would not touch it unless it had the actual skin wraped around the head of the rodent. I used the skin method on babies I produced, and I could also get about a year out of a 3'-4' feeder snake. It would usually take me about 2 months to have a CBB Thailand King baby feeding consistently on unscented pinks. Alot of work, but well worth it. If the blood method works for him thats great, cuz it's much less time consuming, and not nearly as messy...LOL.
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Chad Bachman