Reptile & Amphibian Forums

If you going to try and lizard scent a pinky to get a baby zonata to eat what types of lizards can you use? I have been told to use fence lizards but I live in Minnesota and the local pet shops I have contacted can't even order one. I have also tried scenting with an anole with no luck. If you have to use fence lizards does anybody have a source that is reasonably priced? Thanks

Doing a search on lizards Minnesota there are 3 lizards there, Racerunner and 2 species of skink. If you can't get those I would try to find a commercial dealer in Nevada or Texas and see if you can order one of each of the 3 basic catagories:
1) FINE-SCALED
a. sideblotch
b. zebratailed
c. earless
d. canyon
e. whiptail

2) ROUGH SCALED
a. fence
b. swift
c. spiny
bluebelly

3) SMOOTH SCALED
a. skinks

Often individual snakes will have a preference for one particular lizard smell over another so if you have to make an order it would be good to order a few different species and freeze them.

Thank you Aaron, that advice is very helpful. Any other thoughts on brumating a baby that has not fed yet for a couple months if scenting does not work. How long should I hold out trying to feed her before I brumate? I brumate my snakes in a wine cooler so I could get the temps in the 50 degree range right away.

That's a tough question because the time will vary greatly depending upon how much yolk the baby absorbed in it's egg and the conditions it has been kept at since hatching. All I can really say is if the baby looks skinny or has weakish muscle hibernation is not a good idea. In that case I would recommend pinky pumping, only use cat food instead of pinkies. I use Fancy Feast beef & liver or chicken & liver. The cheaper brands sometimes contain tiny bone chips. I've never seen bone chips in Fancy Feast brand. I also have 2 inches of rubber tube stuck on the end of the pinky pump and cut at an angle so it easily pries the snakes mouth open. This also helps prevent jaw injuries because the rubber tube is softer. If the snake is weak start with small amounts, about 1/2 the mass of a normal sized pinky meal, about once every 4 or 5 days. Gradually increase the amount. The cat food puts weight on them much better than pinkies and the snakes tend not to regurge it. Pinks they often regurge and that that is a death knell because once they start regurging they rarely come out of it. I have pinky pumped them on cat food successfully for up to 9 months before they finally came around and ate pinks but once they did they did fine.
Try Bean Farm for a pinky pump and either find some sugical tubing or get the "feeding syringe with feeding tube" and cut the tube like I described and attach it to the pinky pump.
Hope that helps.

I purchased a emerald swift to try and lizard scent a pinky. Do use use a livee or f/t pinky to scent? Just cut the stomach open and dip the pinky in the stomach contents, correct?

Try live first, if that doesn't work try frozen/thawed.
I usually try breaking the lizards tail off first and scenting with the blood first.
Next you can try freezing the lizard, once it's frozen open the mouth and rub the pinkies head around inside.
The lizard gut technique hasn't worked that well for me but others have reported it works.
Basicly use any variable you can think of, including environmental. Offer at night, hide box, no hide box, in the cage, in a deli cup, humid cage, dry cage.

Also, I've had success washing a pink in water and mild soap, then dropping it in the dirt,push it around for a second, get some dust on it,etc., then offer, its weird but works from time to time.
jeff

Another thing that's been working for me is using a frozen lizard w/its head chopped off, thawed out a little, and rubbing the thawed pinkie in the lizard blood where I cut the head off. It's kinda gross, but whatever it takes is my motto. Lastly, if that all fails and in lieu of using a pinkie pump, you can cut off the tail of an adult mouse at the base of the mouse's tail and gently pry open the mouth of the hatchling with the cut part of the tail and gently massage it down the hatchling's throat. This has worked great for me this year on a few very reluctant agalma hatchlings.
Juarez Wonders

I agree with Allan, an adult mouse tail DOES come in so very handy and can be very filling for a small zonata. The only concern I have with this, and yes, it's from experience, is that the cartilage/bone at the base of the tail can be sharp and can potentially lacerate the linings of the snakes' mouth/throat. It's a delicate process, but for those who are leary, I'd suggest cutting the tail of the adult mouse mid-way to avoid the aforementioned. I would also suggest that prior to insertion of the tail, a quick dip of the base part into vegetable oil to ease friction as well as a slight rotating motion after inserting the tail works best in my opinion to gently work the tail part-way down as opposed to just shoving the tail straightaway. I also start by placing the tail into the mouth and allowing for the baby to take it voluntarily. Most often this is not the case, and a squirm followed by a quick whip of the head is enough to dislodge the tail. After a couple of tries, I then insert gradually further down until success. It CAN be time consuming, however.

Jerry Kruse

Thanks to everybody for all the tips. I tried scenting a f/t pinky with the emerald swift but she still didn't eat it. I am going to pick up some live pinkies in the next couple of days and try scenting one. If she still will not eat within the next couple weeks I am going to brumate her for a couple of months and try again. She is still lively and healthy, she doesn't look much thinner than the male who has eaten four times. If she still will not eat a scented pinky after waking her up then I will force feed, first trying mouse tails. It seems like force feeding is a last resort sinceif they regurge many times they die.