Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I've got a large ( over 5') WC California King.
I collected him as an adult in 2000 - and he was big then, so I'm guessing he must be at least 9 or 10 years old.

He's been somewhat of a picky eater - usually he only eats one mouse a week, though last two feedings he's taken 3. I'm not sure why he suddenly has started feeding more, but I'm glad he is.

He's always taken fuzzies though, and I've used those to try and make sure he gets a square meal in the past.

I'm thinking about moving my snakes to F/T. My smaller guys - it really shouldn't be too difficult, but I'm not sure about this guy.

How easy is it to move an old wild caught snake to frozen/thawed?

Most of the time, he won't even take a mouse if I'm right there - he has occasionally, so I think the trick of dangling it in front of him won't work.

When I feed him fuzzies, I just put the fuzzies in a paper bag - and he goes in and gets them, so I'm wondering if maybe F/T fuzzies in a paper bag is the best way to convert him?

It should not bee too hard to switch him over. I caught my California King as an adult as well, and he readily accepted the F/T mice the first time I offered them.

Kingsnakes in general are good eaters; there are some, however, that will not accept anything but live foods. My suggestion is to make your snake wait a few weeks after his last live meal so that he is extra hungry when you go to feed him the F/T mice. If he doesn't take them immediately, you might try braining them.
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- Natalie
(San Francisco Bay Area)

1.0.0 Banded California King
1.0.0 Mexican Black King
1.0.0 Bay of LA Rosy Boa
0.0.1 Kenyan Sand Boa
1.2.0 Rubber Boas

My concern is this specimen has never been a great eater, except for fuzzies - which are expensive to feed to a snake of his size (he needs a lot). Last two feeding he did eat well - but last two feedings there was another male in a cage next to him, I don't know if that effected his appetite or just coincidence. That male is gone now (released exactly where collected).

I was going to try to obtain a female to breed him next year, but I think I'm not going to - if his poor feeding is genetic, I don't want to pass that trait to other herpers, so I think he'll just remain a pet. My two young kings are much better about feeding in front of me - they take mice from the hand.

I think I'll try frozen hoppers first, in a paper bag like the fuzzies he takes when he refuses adult mice.

Hello--
I have an adult calking who won't take anything larger than a rat fuzzy, so I understand. Even though she's CB she's never been a fabulous eater. When I switched her to f/t, the difference in her taking/not taking the food item was the temperature. For the first several (dozen?) feedings, the food item needed to be very warm.

I'd put the warm f/t fuzzy mice in his paper bag as usual, making sure that he's really hungry as suggested. Best of luck with the process--kingsnakes rarely will starve themselves to death--not in their nature!

rgds,
althea

> For the first several (dozen?) feedings, the food item needed to
> be very warm.

That reminds me - growing up, we had burmese pythons. We bred rabbits (and then chickens when rabbits proved difficult to reliably breed) to feed them.

On a really hot day, a couple rabbits expired from the heat despite having ice blocks in their cages that were in the shade.

The pythons refused to eat them.

Mom put them in the oven for 15 minutes on warm (real oven, not microwave). After that - they took them.

The warming thing is a good practice.

Keep in mind that most snakes react to live prey better than alternatives. But, like the others stated, Cal kings happen to be very accepting of just about anything mouse.

Also, older males will eat alot less food than younger, growing snakes. Older males just do not need as much food to exist. I've had adult male milksnakes that would only eat young mice unless the adult mice were live or freshly stunned.

So, just try the F/T fuzzies. I think he'll accept them just fine. Then you can try weanlings.