Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hi,
Here's the issue at hand--
I purchased a Black Milk hatchling from the Chicago NRBA show In October. I have not yet gotten this snake to eat a thawed pinky. I've been keeping him at room temp mid 70's.
The snake appears like it needs to shed its skin. This may explain why he won't eat since some snakes I own refuse to eat prior to shedding. I've noticed some milky white spots on a few of the scales and overall the snake has a grayish cast on the upper third of the body. One thing that is bothering me is that it appears that he's rubbed off some of his black scales on his neck, not skin, but actual scales. These areas look like bald skin. Possibly this is from the snake rubbing along the top of the enclosure (rubbermaid shoe box, with air holes) .
I tried raising the humidity by moving his enclosure over a small portion of heat tape. That did raise the humidity but didn't help with his shedding process. I have since moved the water dish because I don't know if this might be making matters worse for his overall health.
I should also note that I've been using aspen shavings as a substrate. Tonight I replaced the aspen with newspaper just incase there's some reason that the aspen may have something to do with his skin problems.

To let you also know I am not new to keeping milks but this is my first Black Milk (waited a very long for these to become affordable!). Currently I have one Corn and an Andean Milksnake yearling (which thrives in the same room with no supplemental heat).

Any thoughts or advise on what I can do to help this little guy? Putting the snake thru brumation has crossed my mind but I'm worried since I haven't gotten him to eat a single meal.

Let me know what you think. As I would hate to lose this guy.
Thanks in advance.

Paul

couple of things you can try...

- make sure the f/t pink it very warm, and also try rubbing it on a dead lizard, preferably a skink
- offer a live pinky instead of just f/t
- offer a live pinky w/skink scent
- don't try to feed it every day. Try every 3rd day or so.
- raise the temp on the warm end to 80-82. Though gaigae usually thrive at room temp, a little warmer temp can get a stubborn hatchling to eat.
- for the shedding problem, give it a humid hide box. You can use a small Gladware container with a small hole cut in the side. Put in some damp sphagnum moss or even a damp paper towel and keep the container on the cool end of it's cage.

Paul

Thanks for the tips.

All thawed pinks came straight from a zip lock that was placed in warm water. So I think I have the food temp good.

I also forgot to note is that I have tried the deli cup method and once tried split braining a pink.

I never heard of having to scent pinks for Black Milks but at this point I'll try anything. Any substitutes for skinks? I could probably pick one up at a swap. Although I really think these guys are big enough as hatchlings to not have to resort to eating lizards. Unlike our native milks.

Thanks again.

I know it sounds odd, but I've had several types of milksnake hatchlings that wouldn't take a pink (live or f/t) that would gobble them down with a little skink scent (either ground skink or 5-line blue tail). These included nelsons, hondurans and black milks.

Was able to get my male black milksnake to eat f/t by teasing him. My new female however needs live to kick in the feeding response. Didn't eat for a month, put two live pinks in and she gobbled them down. Couldn't get live pinks, so missed a week feeding (tried f/t and braining but still didn't work). Put a live pink and she ate it. Put a warm frozen/thawed after the live and she ignored it. Put a second live pink in the same container as the thawed and she grabbed and ate the f/t by accident. If live didn't do the trick I was going to resort to buying a lizard to scent it.