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First kingsnake - meet Aella!

DragonsDenSerpents

DragonsDenSerpents

Murphy's Guinea Pig
Yesterday I vended at the New England Reptile Expo and found this little lady. I was looking for a leonis thayeri, but the guy only had snakes with wider bands than I like. After asking about if he knew anyone who had them, he showed me this girl. He said she was still finicky and he had only fed live so far. Some days she took it, some days not. I decided to purchase her (for a REALLY good price since she was an iffy feeder) and see if I can get her eating F/T regularly. She looked to be in good weight, I double checked her gender, and she was the only thayeri he had who didn't try to bite me. :p

She's in her QT bin for right now, and I think I'm going to start her right off with a boiled pink in five days. I can also run to the pet store to grab some anole shed (they have a ton of anoles in stock!) if necessary.

Some quick photos of Aella at the expo - she's much closer to the full body photo in colour than in the close up. Very bright orange.

Aella_zps65f7b371.jpg


Aellaclose_zps1547c890.jpg
 
Ouu, she's a gorgeous little girl.. :)
I truly do hope that she ends up eating well for you!
 
They really are cool Kings. The only king snake I have right now is a Thayeri. She is really cool, and her name is Cleopatra. Also, the only person she has bitten, has been my wife..LOL
 
Calling these kingsnakes really is an insult... the whole Mexicana complex is just so docile, slender and visually more appealing than the Florida/Desert/MBK/California Kings.

These are by far my favorite species of kingsnake.

To get her going, you can purchase a feeder anole. Freeze it, thaw a bit, open up the belly and smear some of the ick on a f/t pinky(you can refreeze after).

Disgusting? yeah... but these wee guys usually eat small lizards in the wild, hence why some of them are seriously hard to start on rodent diet.
I did it though, and sure enough... 3-4 meals in, I didn't need the lizard blood scent any more.
 
a beautiful girl-- we got our thayeri hatchlings to eat F/T mice by giving them smaller meals..our thayeri all seemed to be picky about the size. when ours were first hatched we gave them pinky heads,mouse tails,etc. & they all grew up to eat f/t with no problems,still picky about size though. our 1 yr old keeper still prefers peach fuzzies when a corn his size would eat lg. fuzzies or sm. hoppers. Their heads don't stretch as wide as a rat snake's head & they seem to know that. not saying that's her 'thing' but it may help out :) I love Thayeri,they are such sweet snakes.
 
She is so beautiful! I've heard that washing machine rides work well for them, too.
 
Well no luck with baby Aella eating. I thought she did the first night I tried, but found the head stuffed in between a few paper towels. Have tried feeding just pink heads, boiling and Dawn-scented. I just got my hands on three Bahaman anole eggs from the PetsMart down the street and one looks like it is about to hatch. Hoping I can use these to my advantage, but this snake is TINY. I'm trying a live newborn pink tonight. I emailed the breeder to verify her feeding dates and that they were all live feedings and he said he didn't keep records and had no idea if she had actually eaten or not. He just throws in a live pink and doesn't keep track. :( Hoping live works, and if not, hoping the Bahaman anole eggs work for her.
 
I haven't had much luck using anoles for scenting. House geckos have worked much better for me. That being said, I've never had to use scenting for a thayeri. If it won't take a F/T warmed pink, try washing one with dawn soap. If that doesn't work try braining that same pink. If that doesn't work use a razor blade and cut the pink behind the front legs and offer the head using tongs/tweezers. Note: it's easier to cut the pink when still frozen. If that doesn't work, put the snake and the pink in a small paper bag overnight. If that doesn't work trying cooling the snake (50 to 55 degrees) for 2 or 3 weeks in a dark place. Move it to a warmer place gradually and then offer it food.
 
HeavenHell said:
I haven't had much luck using anoles for scenting. House geckos have worked much better for me. That being said, I've never had to use scenting for a thayeri. If it won't take a F/T warmed pink, try washing one with dawn soap. If that doesn't work try braining that same pink. If that doesn't work use a razor blade and cut the pink behind the front legs and offer the head using tongs/tweezers. Note: it's easier to cut the pink when still frozen. If that doesn't work, put the snake and the pink in a small paper bag overnight. If that doesn't work trying cooling the snake (50 to 55 degrees) for 2 or 3 weeks in a dark place. Move it to a warmer place gradually and then offer it food.
Click to expand...

Most of these did not work for me at the time, but there are a couple of interesting things I didn't think of trying.
Good luck!
 
Good news, Aella ate! Half pink, brained, nose dipped in boiling water and rubbed on my crested gecko for good measure. I peeked in her deli and she lifted her head and looked at me like "see? I'm a good girl!" Going to try not to humiliate poor Tacoma for her next feeding and go with unscented.
 
Congrats!! :D

that's great news, and the things a snake keeper will go through to get a baby to eat!
aha, your poor gekco! lol

hopefully next time she eats without the sentting! **fingers crossed for you!**
 
Haha, I have no idea if the gecko scenting made a difference or not, but I figured it couldn't hurt. Had to give Tacoma extra fruit mix to make up for it though.
 
Well, she took another meal scented and she ate a pink unscented last night! I think she's getting the hang of this f/t thing. :) Here's a terrible quality cell phone picture:
 

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