baby praire kingsnake

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beardeddragonlover1

Hatchling Member
i have a baby praire kingsnake and was wondering what they can eat when they are babys?

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Floof

Juvie Member
Wild caught, or captive bred? If it's wild caught, I would recommend releasing it back where it was found and, if you want a snake, get a captive bred one that's eating well on mice.

In either case, you can try pinky mice to start, and raise the size as he grows (always aiming for a mouse about as wide as the widest part of his body). I'm not 100% sure about Prairie kings, but I know some snakes (especially when wild caught!) can be stubborn about switching to mice. If yours is being stubborn about taking mice, you can look up Prairie king care sheets and information on their wild diet. I know a lot of kings eat a fair amount of other reptiles in the wild, so, if he is very stubborn, you might try scenting his mouse on a small lizard (i.e. anole) or even your beardie's beard (I tried this, and, surprisingly, succeeded once, with a non-feeder corn snake).

You should do a great deal of research online about Prairie King care, just like you did with your bearded dragon. Do a web search and read as many prairie kingsnake care sheets as you can find, take everything with a grain of salt, even consider finding a good snake forum, even if it's one centered around some other species (a corn snake forum is usually a fair choice when desperate for colubrid information--seems like everyone who has a corn snake is knowledgeable in some other species, plus many North American colubrids have very similar care needs).

Best of luck!
 

Floof

Juvie Member
Basically, "scenting" is rubbing or dipping the mouse on/in something that smells more appealing to a snake. A few different ones you can try are dipping in chicken or tuna broth, rubbing on dirty mouse bedding (to make it smell stronger--I'm talking about a frozen/thaw pinky here, though, as live pinkies usually have a stronger smell), or rubbing on a native/"feeder" lizard like an anole (beardies usually don't have the right smell, so while worth a try, there's no guarantee it will work).

The first thing to try is, of course, to simply offer a plain pinky mouse. Either get one frozen or thaw it out, or try a live one. Whichever you prefer. I prefer frozen because some snakes can be a real pain switching from live to frozen, but live might give you a better chance of him taking it.

Lizard-scenting is generally regarded as one of the last resorts, as snakes that naturally eat lizards very easily get "stuck" on the taste and don't want anything else (aka, you'd have to maintain an anole, or whatever, to scent the mouse on every week). The VERY last resort is to use an actual lizard, because, quite frankly, they're a little hard to come by and tend to be loaded with parasites. However, lizard-scenting is usually the best guarantee of success with king snakes and related species (without resorting to whole lizards).

Hope this helps clear things up a little. And, remember, if you really want to insist on keeping the snake, RESEARCH, RESEARCH, RESEARCH! Just because their care is more simple does NOT mean you shouldn't put just as much effort (if not more) into researching your snake's care as you did into researching your beardie's care. Always, always, ALWAYS research the care of ANY animal (even dogs and cats!) thoroughly BEFORE deciding to get/keep that animal.

I'm going to say that again, to stress just how important it is: RESEARCH, RESEARCH, RESEARCH!!! Read as MANY Prairie king care sheets as you can find!
 
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