tyflier
[Insert Witty Commentary]
I bought Spot in August 2007 fresh from the egg from a friend of mine. He was exactly 4 days old and full of egg-yolk when I picked him up...
This little SOB has been the most difficult snake to get feeding. He refused rodents right off the bat. He wanted nothing to do with them at all. I tried washed, brained, slit, scented, live and combinations of them, but he wanted nothing to do with rodents.
To keep him alive, I gave in and started feeding him lizards. He got to where he would take f/t lizards, which was pretty good...but still not rodents.
After he ate, I'd say...roughly a dozen f/t lizards, fed every 5 days, I started scenting pinkies with live lizards. I kept 5 lizards in a small plastic jug with air holes. I let them poop and shed all over the jug. When it was time to feed Spot, I just dropped in a live pinky, and the lizards would kick it around, getting it covered with smelly, icky, lizard odor.
He would eat heavily scented live rodents...sometimes. Only about every 4 weeks, would he eat a scented rodent. It was getting frustrating...
This winter, I brumated this little fella for 4 weeks. A very short brumation cycle, but...I had to try something new...
After brumation, his first meal was an f/t lizard. He ate it straight away. I knew he would...he LOVES lizards.
His next meal...an f/t pinky that was washed and scneted using only old lizard poop. I washed and defrosted a pinky with hjot, soapy water, and then dropped it in a deli cup that had lizard poop in it(yes...I save lizard poop. it works for scenting pinkies...). Wouldn't you know it...he at that pinky. It took some time, and he really had to think about it...but he ate that f/t scented pinky.
The following week...same thing. Washed, f/t pink, scented with lizard poop. This time...no hesitation. He ate it straight away.
The week after that...live pinky, washed with hot water and Dial soap. I washed it to remove ALL rodent scent and to remove MY scent from the live pinky. After deep consideration...HE ATE IT!! It was the very first, unscented pinky this snake had eaten sionce August 2007. Yes...I was happy...
This week...just yesterday, as a matter of fact...I gave Spot a single, small frozen/thawed pinky. I did not wash it, did not scent it...I did nothing to it but defrost it and give it to him. My little pain in the arse ate it! FINALLY!! After a year and a half this dag-nabbed snake finally decides that rodents are food, and ate an f/t pinky with no assistance, no scenting, no washing...nothing. Just a single, f/t pinky.
WOOOOOOHOOOOOOOO!!!
Anyone wanting advice on getting picky greybands to eat...let me know. I got tips out the hoohaa to try...
One good thing about all this...I have an experiment i want to conduct, and this little bugger will be the perfect father for the clutch. I want to experiment with scenting eggs during the last 2 weeks of developement. Greybands are known lizard specialists, so I knew getting into it that this could be a test of skill and patience for me with this greyband. My experiment will consist of breeding known lizard specialists, and scenting the eggs opf the offspring with "mouse juice" in an effort to convince the babies inside the eggs that THIS is what they want to eat. It is something that has worked with Indigo snakes, King Cobras, and Crocodiles in experiments. They actually hatched crocodiles that prefer strawberry scented meaty to regularly scented meat. Shoot...greybands eating mice should be easy, right??
So at least I know, for a fact, that the genetic predisposition to eat lizards will be present in the offspring of this male. I have his story as a control for the experiment...
Thanks for wading through this nonsense!!
This little SOB has been the most difficult snake to get feeding. He refused rodents right off the bat. He wanted nothing to do with them at all. I tried washed, brained, slit, scented, live and combinations of them, but he wanted nothing to do with rodents.
To keep him alive, I gave in and started feeding him lizards. He got to where he would take f/t lizards, which was pretty good...but still not rodents.
After he ate, I'd say...roughly a dozen f/t lizards, fed every 5 days, I started scenting pinkies with live lizards. I kept 5 lizards in a small plastic jug with air holes. I let them poop and shed all over the jug. When it was time to feed Spot, I just dropped in a live pinky, and the lizards would kick it around, getting it covered with smelly, icky, lizard odor.
He would eat heavily scented live rodents...sometimes. Only about every 4 weeks, would he eat a scented rodent. It was getting frustrating...
This winter, I brumated this little fella for 4 weeks. A very short brumation cycle, but...I had to try something new...
After brumation, his first meal was an f/t lizard. He ate it straight away. I knew he would...he LOVES lizards.
His next meal...an f/t pinky that was washed and scneted using only old lizard poop. I washed and defrosted a pinky with hjot, soapy water, and then dropped it in a deli cup that had lizard poop in it(yes...I save lizard poop. it works for scenting pinkies...). Wouldn't you know it...he at that pinky. It took some time, and he really had to think about it...but he ate that f/t scented pinky.
The following week...same thing. Washed, f/t pink, scented with lizard poop. This time...no hesitation. He ate it straight away.
The week after that...live pinky, washed with hot water and Dial soap. I washed it to remove ALL rodent scent and to remove MY scent from the live pinky. After deep consideration...HE ATE IT!! It was the very first, unscented pinky this snake had eaten sionce August 2007. Yes...I was happy...
This week...just yesterday, as a matter of fact...I gave Spot a single, small frozen/thawed pinky. I did not wash it, did not scent it...I did nothing to it but defrost it and give it to him. My little pain in the arse ate it! FINALLY!! After a year and a half this dag-nabbed snake finally decides that rodents are food, and ate an f/t pinky with no assistance, no scenting, no washing...nothing. Just a single, f/t pinky.
WOOOOOOHOOOOOOOO!!!
Anyone wanting advice on getting picky greybands to eat...let me know. I got tips out the hoohaa to try...
One good thing about all this...I have an experiment i want to conduct, and this little bugger will be the perfect father for the clutch. I want to experiment with scenting eggs during the last 2 weeks of developement. Greybands are known lizard specialists, so I knew getting into it that this could be a test of skill and patience for me with this greyband. My experiment will consist of breeding known lizard specialists, and scenting the eggs opf the offspring with "mouse juice" in an effort to convince the babies inside the eggs that THIS is what they want to eat. It is something that has worked with Indigo snakes, King Cobras, and Crocodiles in experiments. They actually hatched crocodiles that prefer strawberry scented meaty to regularly scented meat. Shoot...greybands eating mice should be easy, right??
So at least I know, for a fact, that the genetic predisposition to eat lizards will be present in the offspring of this male. I have his story as a control for the experiment...
Thanks for wading through this nonsense!!
