Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I have a gray banded kingsnake that has not eaten on its own since I've had it, 3 months or so. I've force fed him pinkie parts and a product called Carnivore Emergancy Aid. The snake is no more big around than a pencile which makes force feeding extremely difficult. A sales rep. for the pet store I work at suggest I force feed it guppies. They are harmless to the snake and slide down effortlessly. This won't neccessarily help the snake to feed on its own, but if you must force feed, guppies make the task much easier.

I had to force feed a few babies their first few meals and I used adult mouse tails cut from the base of the tails of frozen thawed mice. I cut pieces that were just under an inch long. I then moistened the tails with water and gently force fed them to the snakes. I also made sure that the end of the mouse tails were smooth, because when clipping the tails off there would be a rough place where there was some bone. After a few times doing this all three of my graybands are now taking pinks on their own. I would not use guppies as a food source, especially if they came from a petshop. Guppies are mass produced and are probably treated with some chemicals to ward off infection, and parasites like fish lice.
hope this helps
Barry