Reptile & Amphibian Forums

i have always wanted to get a gray banded kingsnake but have shy away from them because of their reputation for not eating pinkies. well i found a beautiful male hatling for a great price but now i am having trouble getting him to eat whole pinkies. what i have been doing is taking frozen pinkies ,cuttig off their heads and splitting the heds in half and forcing a haf ata time in his mouth and he will usually finish swallowing by himself. i never force the food completl into the snake. i need some skinks. but i don't have time to go out and hunt for five lined skinks. is their a skink scented spray i could buy to scent the mice wihtout having to hunt down some skinks? any feeding suggetions would be very appreciated.

Far as I know there isn't a product that can scent mice with the scent of skink. What you could do is capture one skink and rub it all over a pinky or two, then freeze the skink. You can reuse it a few times till the snake is eating the pinkies regularly. Or you can use the tail of the skink and once your snake is nearly finish swollowing that, add a small pinky mouse right after. The snake will be in feeding mood and should just take the pinky without hesitation.

There is a lizard scent stuff that may help, it's called "Lizard Maker" by T-Rex products, just rub the liquid to a pinky and it should do the trick. I've never owned kings before but i guess you should give it a try.
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-Miki

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