Reptile & Amphibian Forums

i finally satisified my urges on getting an alterna a little over 2 weeks ago and purchased my first (of many i hope) at a show. a breeder was offering a non-feeding non-locale specific neonate for such a price that i just couldnt turn it down. he assured me that getting them to eat wasnt as hard as it sounds. i think i wanted to hear that, no matter if i believed it. lol.

so i left her alone the first week and tried feeding her a small live pinkie after rubbing it on a banded gecko and she showed absolutely no interest. last nite i put the a fresh washed pinkie in a small deli cup w/ the banded for about 30 mins, figuring maybe it would scent it better. i then took the pinkie and the alterna and put them in a standard size deli cup w/ some crumpled papter towel overnite and this morning.. nothing. should i wait some time before offering another? any other ideas? skin the snout? i'm also a little concerned that she's too small to take a pinkie. one of my corns i got was that small, but i dont remember him having problems w/ the pinkies.

Scott

You sound like you are trying the right things... If you have access to multiple geckos you can freeze one and take a patch of skin off it and put it over your pinkies head.

FREEZE ONE?!?!?! freeze one!?!? no way!!! i'm a bigger gecko nut than a snake freak!!! how dare you!!!

lol.. kidding. if i had access to some locally i'd gladly do it, but here in connecticut i'm lucky if i see a garter snake or a frog. i think my hognose is about to shed so maybe i'll try using his shed. i never get to catch my geckos skin as they eat it faster than i could get the chance.

how long would she be ok without feeding? i also read that if i brumate her that she might warm up with a renewed appetite. i wouldnt mind trying that, but i wont see those temps (50-60?) for another month at least.

TIA
Scott

Hi,
I'm in Rhode Island and hatch out a few alterna yearly. I can usually get my neonates to eat any f/t anole or meditteranean/house gecko fairly easily. Not sure where in Connecticut you are but if you can travel to Rhode Island and go to one of the dealers up here, they will sell you feeder lizards fairly cheaply. I always have a dozen or so frozen lizards in my freezer at this time of year and haven't lost a neonate yet. After about 6 or so feedings of lizard, they will switch right over to pinkies. If you need more info on where to buy, email me privately.
Best...
Jim

In my limited experience with hatchling greybands,what worked for me was scenting with fence lizards.I have tried every type of lizard I could get locally,and what always ended up working was a fence lizard.There have been alot of hatchlings that were not interested in gecko scented,anole scented,skink scented,but would eat a pinky scented with a fence lizard,which is the closest thing in the east to the spiny lizards that are found in Texas.The way I scent the pinkies is to freeze the lizard,break it in half while still frozen,thaw the broken end of one half under warm water,and rub the pinky around in the guts.It helps to first wash the pinky with soap,I use a very tiny amount of dish soap,and rinse it really well,dry it out with a paper towel,then scent it with the lizard guts.The lizard can be refrozen and reused several times.Also,try it with live and with thawed pinkies.Some hatchlings are actually intimidated by a live pinky,but will take a thawed one.A few really stubborn hatchlings will refuse this,and need to hibernated for a couple months at about 55-60F.These will usually eat after being warmed up again.

i dont access to fence lizards or any local kinds of anything. i can get anoles or house geckos though, so i'm going to have to try that. my corn snake just shed the other nite and i kept that so i'll be able to try that too. should i try it on a f/t pinkie or a live? how often should i try?

One of the key behaviors is to not try and feed the snake too often with foods that intimidate it. These little guys kinda need to be "kick started" with a favorable experience and not scared by a unfavorable one. I usually don't even try to feed a newborn for about 3 weeks after it has hatched, just to give it that "hungry" attitude. If a feeding fails, wait about another week before you try again. As others have said before, a healthy baby could make it into brumation without any feedings so long as the brumation period is only about 6-8 weels long. Usually after that, they will voraciously attack a f/t pink fairly easily. Babies that I don't brumate and are eating f/t lizards usually come around to scented pinks at about the same time as a brumated baby. So whether I brumate or not, babies are usually eating rodents fairly regularly by the time they are 5-6 months old.
Best...
Jim

try rubbing a frozen thawed washed pink on the underside of a gecko. or if the lizard sheds stick some of the shed skn to the nose of the pink. use a dab of water to get it to stick. that alterna will have no problem getting a newborn, or day old, pink down.

Good luck

I just bought a hatchling GBK at the Daytona show. I talked to David Doherty, and he told me to wait about 10 days after force feeding it a mouse tail. I did this, then I put her in a deli cup with a baby house gecko and a pinky. She ate the gecko, but she did not touch the pinky. That was a good start. I tried all the scenting, braining, and all kinds of other methods, but that was the only thing that worked for me. Eventually, I am confident that she will switch to pinkies. Good Luck! Patience IS the key. Don't get worried. Derek

Force feeding a mouse tail is a good idea,I always do it with my hatchling red milks.A day or two after they shed the first time I give them all a mouse tail,with the syspilas I use a tail from a large fuzzy,instead of a adult mouse.Most people hate the idea of force-feeding,but all you usually have to do is stick the tail in their mouth,and set them down,and they eat it.It seems to stimulate their digestive system so they will be hungry in a week or so when you offer the scented pinky to them.