Reptile & Amphibian Forums

i have a california kingsnake, and it wont eat pinkey mice. We put it in with a whiptale and it ate the whiptale. Is there anything i can do to make it eat pinkey mice? what is the solution....

thanks...
a caring herpetologist

California Kingsnakes are usually no problem to get started on mice. However, this one apparently has a taste for lizards now. You will probably have to scent pinkies now. But, before you go to that extreme, try this:

Take a frozen/thawed pinkie and split its head open to expose the brain. Sometimes they will go for that.

If it doesn't take the split-brained pinkie, then you need to scent.

You essentially have two choices:

1. Catch some lizards and keep them around for scenting pinkie mice. You may be able to just put the pinkies in a small jar with the lizards and get enough scent on the pinkies that way. Rinse the pinkies off with water before you scent to get rid of as much of the mouse scent as you can. The most effective way to scent is to open the lizard up and rub the blood and body fluids on the pinkie.

2. Go to a pet store or go online and get some Lizard Maker. Ignore the instructions on the bottle..that doesn't work. Rinse the pinkie off with water and dry it with a paper towel. Now take anotehr paper towel and soak a small area of it with Lizard Maker. Now roll the pinkie up in the soaked part of the paper towel and let it stay like that for about 15 minutes. Now offer the pinkie to the snake.

The best way to feed in either case is to put the snake and the pinkie in a deli cup and place the deli cup in the cage and leave it alone for several hours. That way the snake can't get away from the pinkie. If it's in too large an area, it may just crawl to the other side of the cage and never really come into contact with the pinkie.
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We do not inherit the Earth from our ancestors; we borrow it from our children. Ralph Waldo Emerson