Well - since you responded under my post, rather than under Jeff's, I'll answer you as well. I also would not use lizards for scenting immediately - but there comes a point when different methods should be tried. Why are some folks so ready to shoot down other folks' offers of advice, I wonder. I do have experience, and my thoughts are not empty words. This is the sort of thing that makes posting on the forums of this site so infuriating sometimes - (some) people always want to one-up you on anything, and everyone who has kept snakes for "X" years is an "expert". I have been keeping snakes since at least the late 1970's and breeding them since 2004 - but I still don't consider myself to be an expert - and I know I am still learning.



I would not wait 3 months for a baby rat snake of any species to eat - they are not fat ball pythons - so they (balls) don't really make for good analogy here IMO. I would wait a few weeks but not months.



I HAVE used lizards to get "stubborn" baby rats to eat - with success. I don't do this immediately, and it is near last resort, before force feeding - and yes, I've had some that would not eat EVER and had to be force fed to keep them from starving. Not obsoletus, but they were in the large group of snakes considered to be rat snakes.



Note to Jeff - yes, I would also "wait" a few weeks before trying scenting. I sort of felt this was "implied", but thought I would clarify...
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-Toby Brock

Southwestern Center for Herpetological Research

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