Feeding "Schedules" + Technique

Normally I try to feed the clutch of hatchlings the day they shed for the first time and I offer two pinks to each baby. These are fed individually in eight ounce deli-cups so the food items can not be ignored. Most babies consume at least one the first time and the rest "come around" by the second attempt.

Twenty minutes or so after feeding I return them to their cages and make a point to leave them alone to digest. This means "no handling". I use disposable water bowls to ensure they always have fresh clean water to drink.I check water bowls daily for contaminated water from shavings or waste.

After they digest their first meal I offer them food twice a week for 10 weeks leading up to mid August. Most Okeetees consume four pinks each week although some skip a week if they are in shed. I do offer food to "blue" (in shed) snakes and usually they eat one instead of two. By the time these guys are 10 weeks old most are ready for small fuzzies and some even "hoppers". This jump start really helps them do well for their future owner - you.

One thing I wanted to do with this format was to put in writing answers to the most commonly asked questions regarding feeding baby gray-banded kingsnakes,however many of these tips will work with other baby colubrids as well . These observations are simply my opinion based on twenty years of keeping these challenging yet rewarding animals.The first thing about Alterna I want to emphasize is they come from a very harsh, hot habitat and so they are built for survival. They start out with a lot of yolk reserve compared to corns etc.;and they use this resource up more slowly than other species that grow faster because of the larger adult size than Alterna. What this means to you is that most of these guys are not even hungry until they are at least one month old...so patients is key with graybands and mountain kings compared to other colubrids that seem wasted away if they do not feed within the first month due to their higher metabolic rate.This is why I like to hatch my babies out earlier in the season so I have time to get multiple meals in them before they find new homes. The majority of my Alterna begin feeding during the second month of life and one thing you may find most surprising is the size of the first meal.Conventional wisdom is to put the smallest newborn pink along with some of the mouse nesting material in one corner of the hatchling's cage or deli-cup them together;although this works in many cases after multiple attempts what seems to work even better is to offer what I call a fuzz-pink;a small fuzzy from an oversized litter that weans smaller than a typical lab mouse weanling . Apparently;it is the hair on the little rodent as well as the increased movement they find more attractive than a wiggly naked pink.Graybands are again like mountain kings in that they are crevice dwellers and are very attracted to rapid horizontal movement in their proximity.I think because the fuzz-pinks walk around and even sometimes hop they are more like the nimble lizards a hatchling would find in the wild.

I have also noticed a strong tendancy for male hatchlings to prefer haired over naked pinks compared to the same number of females but I can not explain why; only that this has proven out over many years.During the second month I also begin to offer scented rodents to the hatchlings that have refused the previously described offerings.One of the most succesfull and easy to obtain scent sources is the House Gecko , introduced here in Florida and available at any wholesaler or pet store nationwide ,usually for less than five dollars .One gecko can be kept in a sandwich bag in the freezer and will work for an entire season on virtually any stubborn colubrid;simply rub the nose of the rodent on the slightly thawed gecko, exposing the flesh under the tissue-paper like skin of the lizard seems to elicit an even stronger response.Now hold the food directly in front of the nose of the hatchling or deli-cup the two together.Another inexpensive/common lizard is the Cuban-brown Anole ,a small one left running around in the cage often causes the pink to be eaten that was previously ignored or the snake can be allowed to consume the lizard as well.Although not native to west Texas about ten percent of Alterna consume anoles offered live or frozen/thawed;I know there is literature about parasites in wild Alterna from consuming lizards ; let me just say I have never lost a grayband that took lizards for a first meal and most convert to unscented prey after a half dozen meals or so. If you prefer that your snake does not consume lizards then you must continue to try different approaches such as leaving the hatchling in a deli-cup for a couple of days on a table-top under a warm bright lamp .I think this works sometimes because this simulates the hot/dry bright sunlit environment they come from ''juicing them up'' like some monitor species when exposed to natural sunlight. Also bear in mind that these nocturnal desert snakes are very sensitive to night-time lows below seventy-five degrees so if you live in a northerly area of the country and your snake that was feeding suddenly refuses all attempts you may have to brumate/hibernate it with your adult breeders ; although you should check the little guy more often for weight loss and perhaps try warming it up sooner to see if it had the desired effect.Often times the feeding response is stronger in hatchlings in springtime than it was during the fall ;this is why I think they are born with so much egg-yolk to survive in the wild in case winter arrives early in a given year .One other characteristic about Alterna is their intolerance for ''left-over'' pinks from other cages unlike the other types of kingsnakes that think food when they smell other snake species.Alterna will react with fear to any rodent that smells like a desert king or any other potential predator just like a ratsnake would. Sometimes I suggest wearing disposable rubber gloves when handling pinks if you keep a lot of snake eating types of reptile and this may even keep them more palatable in case of other odors transferred from your hands to their food-colonge/perfumes for example.Now that your hatchling is feeding offer a second pink each time.Very much like their cannible king cousins,Alterna have great capacity to digest very large meals as long as their temperature requirements are met and they are not handled at all or disturbed for a week after feeding.One fuzzy at a time is enough for fuzz-pink feeders until several months old.The last life saving technique I know is for undersized/thin hatchlings, all of the Mexicana kings,including Alterna, have a ''bite-down'' instead of a gag reflex when something small is gently pushed into their mouth-small frozen/thawed anoles are ideal for this purpose.Push the head only into the jaws of hatchling and slowly lay it down in a paper-towel lined container;next the snake will ''chew''on the item and then slowly swallow.Using this method should be a last resort but it is far less stressfull/risky than actual force feeding. In conclusion what I would like you to take away from this is if you work with ball pythons,boas,or colubrids you will face challenges getting every baby to feed-no species is a perfect captive-and if you avoid the extra effort it sometimes takes for your animals to thrive you may not learn the rewarding experience of getting to know what makes your animals ''tick''. There is no substitute for experience through persistence-enjoy the ride. please feel free to contact me if you have questions about feeding your hatchlings at Lee@leesokeetees.com