That was many years ago...that particular W. longnose had been kept in a Calif. museum in a jar, & they kept trying to feed the poor thing insects... They finally turned it over to me, & "none too soon" it was starving & I only hoped I could save it. They prefer tiny lizards, but those non-viable newborn pinkies from my freezer turned out to be just "the thing" for that little snake to eat...& eat he did, every couple days, until he caught up. For anyone who doesn't know, "longnose" snakes are called that because they have a very narrow face...they need small prey for life, & it takes patience to talk most of them into rodents, but apparently they can live just fine on them. That W. longnose snake remained in Calif. with a new owner when I moved away.
My current & only (TX) longnose snake is over 18 years old now...it was in a pet store & wouldn't eat...I swapped them a nice c/b king snake that would be a nice easy pet for anyone, & rescued their pretty tri-color but starving & stressed longnose. I only needed to tube-feed him once...it gave him enough energy for his appetite to return, & within a week he accepted his first pinkies from me, & has never looked back...
Experience helps with these little ...my TX longnose is about 40" long, & for a meal, eats about 6 f/t fuzzie mice. That's about as big as he'll eat, & to compensate for size he needs multiple fuzzies to make a "meal". I've never known any scarlet snakes, but I'd imagine it's a similar situation.
I was thinking the same thing when I noticed this thread...it's been quite a while & I'm glad to see you're still "around" too.