Reptile & Amphibian Forums

hello everyone, my 7 month old cal king stopped eating 2 weeks ago, i know they can go awhile without eating but its not like her to do that at all she normally eats twice a week!, she always seems cold too, i never find her under the hot spot could the hot spot be too hot? it's only 85 at the most, i noticed she was quite gurthy i wonder if she just decided not to eat because of her being so fat? i know i probably shouldnt be worried but if somethings wrong with my husbandry i wanna fix it asap, any advice would be appreciated..thanks in advance

It could be that she was to fat. I have a 3 yr old male black mex king that ate like a pig and I fed him like one. then he stoped eating for about a mt. now he will not eat weeners or adults...only smaller mice like fuzzes. I only eat f/t so why he only likes smaller mice is a mystery. I can only think of the time he grabed a larger mouse out of the tweasers before I had the chance of lowering it to the ground and his front half with the mouse dropped down hard. He will still take the smaller mice out of the tweasers before I have the chance of lowering them to the tank bottom...and crash...but with a less of a crash than with the big mice. sigh. I just have to be faster than he is. keep trying to feed your snake. it could be she has eaten enough for a bit.

I think you're probably okay if it's only been a couple weeks. Sometimes there's no telling why they just decide to stop. It often has to do with improper climate, but that doesn't appear to be the case here. Do you normally feed live mice, or f/t? If live, it might have had a bad experience with the last one (those mice can be ornery!), so maybe a fresh-killed or f/t will be accepted. When I had a similar problem (not a king, tho), others suggested the fresh-killed route. Also you might try tossing a temporary cover (blanket, towel, whatever) over at least part of the cage. If the snake is stressed for some reason, it won't eat; the cover will restore some added level of privacy, and thus reduce the stress.

But I wouldn't worry until/unless it goes on for, say, a month or more. michaelb

she readily takes f/t mice, maybe i'll just wait a little longer and see if she comes around, thanks