Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Long time ago in 5th grade or so, I found several California Kingsnakes in Walnut Creek CA, and they readily bred for me. My hatch rate was low (~ 50%), but I used a homemade incubator - not a reliable commercial. The young were given away, I did not have a reliable source for pinkies (mom didn't want to drive to the good pet stores that often, local often didn't have them).

When I went to college and found new homes for my snakes, and other than a male kingsnake I found as an adult in 2000, really haven't had any since.

2 years ago, I found two hatchling wild cal. kings up here in Redding where I now live. I haven't "properly" sexed them, but from looking at the tails, it looks like I have a potential breeding pair.

Currently they are about two years old. I'd like to breed them when they reach proper size.

Anyway - I just measured them, they are both about 22" long - judging from what I've read, a lot of people have them at a much bigger size by the time they are two years old, some even seem to have the males at breeding size by 2 years.

They are not skinny, they are about the same girth as similarly sized kingsnakes at pet stores - but am I under-feeding them?

I know some breeders like to encourage growth to get them to breed faster, and some herpetologists disagree with that - I feel no need to rush their growth, but I want to make sure I'm not restricting it by underfeeding.

I currently feed them 3 fuzzies each about every 3 weeks - I bumped them up from 3 pinkies each about 4 months ago, and they are definitely looking for more, so I think I need to bump that up again to maybe 4 or 5 fuzzies each (I have a 5.5' male that gladly consumes any these babies don't eat) - but do I need to feed them more often, or is it fine to feed them about every 3 weeks?

Thanks for suggestions.

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Un-Related story - my 5'6" male will only eat one mouse at a time. He will then refuse mice for at least a week. He eats fuzzies though as fast as he can get them. I *just* caught a female ~ 4' long, very skinny (I'm thinking she just laid eggs). I'm not going to try to breed them this year, but she's in a different cage - yet she's near him. The male suddenly became very active, he ate 3 mice in one day, etc. - I think the years I've had him alone w/ no mates has made him very horny and hungry

I'm going to try to breed them next year, but I'm worried about him being so much bigger than she is.

feeding every three weeks is not enough for young growing snakes!

They are starving!

When people talk about overfeeding and extreme growth rates they are talking about feeding every 2 or 3 days. Try feeding at least once a week and (if your doing other things right) they should easily reach breeding size by next year.

let your snakes tell you how much they want to eat. If they are looking for more, then feed them! As you know with your larger guy, they'll stop when they're full.

OK - thanks.
I'll feed them more. Weekly it is.

I probably won't breed em next year though, even if they are big enough. If I breed - it would be just breeding for fun (I think you need a permit to breed native snakes for profit, and these are generic banded anyway - the young won't be worth much).

I'd hate the female to become egg bound because she's barely big enough (when I bred them in junior high, my smallest female was eggbound and died). They are pets first. Big enough a year sounds safer to me

i,if anything,err on the side of caution when it comes to overfeeding usually...but yeah i agree with the above poster-those guys can take more,much more...it's a lot harder to overfeed a baby/youngster than an established adult...i feel baby COMMON KINGSNSAKES-Getula-(certainly not true with some other species e.g. most pituophis) can probably handle almost as much as they want per feeding...as long as they're holding it down as of 3 days after eating,they'll usually even show signs of wanting more....learning/gauging each individual's(yes it varies from one specimen to another,for sure) feeding response is the key indicator here..i think a real common problem is feeding oversized food items-keep 'em small,not much more than the girth of the snake itself-and they will take a couple per feeding,digest it easily,and be ready for more in no more than 2-3 days....of course this is before breeding size,by then,make it every 4-6 days...just my opinion,there's lots of variables like temps/ability to thermoregulate...maybe some others will have moer to add to this?
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"with head raised regally,and gazing at me with lidless eyes,he seemed to question with flicks of his long forked tongue my right to trespass on his territory" Carl Kauffeld

If they are about 22"...

I say give them two hoppers every 4-5 days...
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Mike
KingPin Reptiles Inc.
www.freewebs.com/mikesnake
www.captivebredforum.com

By hoppers do you mean what I've always called popcorns?
Just past fuzzy but not adults, when they jump all over the place like popcorn popping?

I'm going to stick with fuzzies but increase number for two more shed cycles, and first get them use to eating on a more frequent schedule - then I'm going to try to get some popcorns and see how well they do with them.

That certainly would be cheaper - local pet store charges $1.25 per feeder mouse regardless of the size.

Thanks for the advice.