Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Ive had a hatchling pair of graybands for about two weeks now. neither of them have eaten. Ive tryed scenting them with a western fence lizard but so far they havent taken the pinky. Ive offered them food about 5 times now. Ive tryed live and frozen thawed pinkies. I would like to know if braining the pinkies has worked for anyone. If not what else would you suggest?

Presentation is key. Remeber these are crevice dwellers and it always helps to offer meals in tight quarters, because that's where they feed in the wild. Crumpled up newspaper with a board on top is good.

1) Repeat the presentation of new-born mice on a regular basis even if they have refused your last offering. Sometimes they will decide to take a food item offered in this manner on the fourth or fifth presentation.

2) Wash a new-born mouse with plain water and then offer it to the snake.

3) Peel back the skin from the snout of a new-born to expose blood, and then contain the hatchlings in small quarters with the food item overnight.

4) Cut open the top of the head of a dead new-born mouse, mush the brain material around and place this mouse in the hiding place of the snake.

5) The practice of scenting, rubbing a lizard on a mouse, usually will entice reluctant hatchlings to take new-born mice, or cover the nose of the mouse with a small piece of the Lizard's skin.

6) Lizard soup - grind up lizards in a jar with a small amount of water and keep them in the freezer. 15 - 20 seconds in a microwave causes the Lizard Oil to float to the top of the "soup". It's a simple matter to dip the pinkie nose into the "soup" for scenting.

7) Insert a new-born into the mouth of the snake until the snake bites down, gently put the snake back into its cage and wait for the snake to swallow. You may have to repeat this procedure a couple of times until it works (Mattison 1991).

8) Give the hatchlings the possibility to brumate for a month. Some specimens are willing to feed by them self after a short cool period.

9) EIDBO (1996a) also described another technique that has worked many time: Problem feeders he induced to feed by depriving it of water for 3 to 4 days. After this period he offered a newborn mouse dipped in water and when a snake started to drink the water drops, and end up eating the mouse.

10) Live lizards are almost always accepted, causing juvenile specimens to feed voraciously. Snakes, which have fed upon live lizards, should be monitored closely for parasites. If you feed Med Geckos, beware of tapeworms.

I've had some success thanks to your advice. I fed both the baby graybands two frozen thawed fence lizards(sceloporus), and offered a lizard scented pinkie after each feeding. They wouldn't take the bait. So on the third feeding I took a little peice of lizard skin and stuck it on the nose of each pinky. I also rubbed a little lizard blood and each pinkies face. I fed them a very small fence lizard so they might still have room for the pinky, and after taking the lizard they ate the pinkies too. Now i'll just have to see if they'll eat pinkies exclusively. thanks for they advice.