Reptile & Amphibian Forums

i just bought my first gray banded kingsnake. i have wanted to get one for years but have always shyed away because of their notorious feeding habits(not feeding on pinks). but i went ahead and bought a hatchling about 3 weeks ago. he will not eat live or frozen pinkies. i have beeh taking frozen pinkie heads spliting them in half and forcing a half into its mouth and after agitating him he will usaully either try to sling it out or finish eating on his own. he usually eats on his own. i also feed him legs and tails of small fuzzies. but since each meal is so small i feed him about every other day. what kills me is that last year i found a nest of bout 15 five line skink eggs. i don't have time to go looking for any baby skinks. if it wasn't to late i could go and find so nest but they ahve all hatched by now. are there any methods of feeding that i can try. i would really love to get him feeding on whole pinkies. how long can i go on feeding him this way? any helpful suggestions would be appreciated.
joel todd

If I were you, I would quit force feeding it, if you continue, the snake will get really stressed, and might not want to eat at all. I think you should go out and catch plenty of skinks, and freeze them, maybe feed the snake 1 or 2 skinks as soon as you get them. Like a week later, take out a frozen skink, let it thaw and then break it in half, put the pinky body/head and everything inside the skink's guts and stuff, and then offer the pinky. If that doesn't work, put the "broken" skink in the enclosure and put the pinky right next to it. Hopefully, the king will eat the skink and then go after the pinky because it smells like skink.
Michael
Michael's Place

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www.freewebs.com/mikesnake
Michael_Fedzen@hotmail.com

i have the same prblem. my king likes to play dead so she doesn't have to eat the chopped up bits of pinkies. i can't seem to find any skinks but im looking for other ways of getting mine to eat. ill let you know when i find something.
Emily