Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Have a male Scarlet King that I got in FL during a recent visit. Upon arrival at my home in Ohio this past August, he ate two pinkies in the first week. They were F/T and unscented.

Now he is not eating... leaves the pinkies untouched.

He is in a 20 gallon tank with a temp gradient during the day of 70/85, using a basking light. He is on aspen bedding. Small cup of water. treebark hide that he does not use in the cool end.

At night, the light goes off. Temps probably go down to 70.

Questions:

Will a light that remains on in the other end of the 40 ft long room at night, interfere with feeding, since he is a nocturnal feeder?

Will a temp as low as 70 at night make him less likely to eat?

Are my temp gradient readings too low during the day?

Any other suggestions?

Forgot to say...

I have scented F/T pinkies recently and that has not worked. Using a frozen dead collared lizard for the scent.

I did get him to eat one meal about 10 days ago - a very small anole put in the tank live, and disappeared four days after introduction.

I had a Scarlet King, we recently traded it for another snake because it was too skittish and never came out of it's hide

I would recommend a UTH (under tank heater), the kind that stick to the bottom of the tank and stay on. Put one hide on the heated side and one on the cool side. Scarlets don't get very big, so live pinkies should be sufficient. When the snake gets bigger, maybe switch to rat pinkies. Scarlets only get to be about 24 inches full grown, and not very fat. They are pretty snakes, just too skittish and secretive. Good luck!
Here's a pic of the scarlet we had...

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Lisa

0.0.1 50/50 California Kingsnake
0.0.1 Candy Cane Kingsnake
0.1.0 W/C California Kingsnake
0.0.1 Normal Cornsnake