Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I changed my 15" CK from pinkies to fuzzys 5 meals ago (4 day)and he is now every bit of 17' with a significant increase in girth. I'm picking out the small fuzzys to feed him as he seems to really have to stretch his jaws on them. Is there a "rule of thumb" on what size mouse to what size snake?
JC

with most colubrids you can go just a tiny bit bigger then the width of the fatest part of the snake. Cal kings aren't so stretchy, I would say keep prey about the same size as the thickness of the snake. Corns are stretchy as heck, they can take fuzzies double their thickness.

Just guidelines... I've fed kings some pretty big meals

Bottom line is that if they can get it down then its not to big!

I've been feeding my 45 g CK 15-20 g mice. Absolutley huge meals but I'm trying to fatten her up....alot. Other than that I agree with what Zach said. They can defintley take mice bigger than their biggest part, but feeding by Zach's scales is a healthy way to do it.
Sam

Any particular reason why you want to fatten her up?

My experience (limited compared to many here) is that Cal Kings are not as "broad bodied" as some of the eastern subspecies, and attempts to fatten them up may in fact be unhealthy.

Also - my experience is that they tend to put on some girth once they hit 30 inches or so, but remain fairly slender until then.

The risk of a meal that is too big is regurgitation. It may be able to keep it down, but it may regurgitate a day or two later if it is stressed in any way. Smaller meals, that is far less likely to happen.

It is possible to feed them meals that are too small, but I don't see any valid reason to intentionally try to fatten a king up. Am I mis-understanding what you are trying to do?
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3.0 WC; 0.3 CB L. getula californiae
1.0 CB L. getula nigrita
0.1.1 WC; 0.0.3 CH Elgaria multicarinata multicarinata

In my experiance cal kings tend to grow length wise and stay very skinny until they hit sexual maturity. As soon as they come out of cooling the first spring that they will breed, they really beef up fast. I also see another growth spurt after females lay their first clutch of eggs. I have noticed this with first time breeders of all ages...

I agree with you on the smaller meals. I am fattening her up for breeding. I have an off set brumation time for half of my herps. So I am fattening her up now, that's all. I've been feeding her big meals and usually she just gains length, like you guys said...but after a few of the bigger mice she's been eating...she is getting thick. I just don't like to put any snake into brumation if I hesitate about their girth.
Sam

Oh, I forgot to mention I have never had any snake regurgitate a meal. The female I feed is a ferocious eater and I take advantage of that.
Sam

Heh - I bought a lavender at the Sac Show on Sept 10th.

I bought her as a future mate for one of my WC redding locale males. At the time of purchase, she was about 30 inches, just a tad bit longer than them - about same girth.

Now - she's ate her last meal before brumation, but she grew both in length and in girth. She's about 35 inches now (just measured her, not scientific measure - but close enough). Basically - I brought her home from show, and she was a feeding machine. She's quite a bit bigger than her intended mate, who hopefully will not look like food to her in the spring. If he does and she tries to eat rather than let him get lucky, I'll have to breed her with my 4' male instead. Hopefully if I gorge her on mice before mating, she won't be hungry - but no way am I going to leave her unattended with him.

Anyway - it was a massive growth spurt. Hopefully the male will catch up next season while she's busy feeding her eggs (I hope to double clutch her).
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3.0 WC; 0.3 CB L. getula californiae
1.0 CB L. getula nigrita
0.1.1 WC; 0.0.3 CH Elgaria multicarinata multicarinata

Good deal. Hopefully it doesn't get ate. I picked up a couple cal kings a few months ago. One is a ferocious eater and the other just completely stopped eating. I'm going to put her in brumation..but she is thin...I think she can make it through. When I pull her out of that I'm hoping she eats like the rest of my herps. Here is some of my favorite CK's weight stats. None of this data was taken the day, or the day after feeding. I wait til the meal is digested to weigh them, for obvious reasons. Enjoy!
Sam

8/20 - 31 g
9/5 - 31 g
9/24 - 32 g Fed fuzzies up until the 25th.
9/29 - 34 g
10/2 - 36 g
10/16 - 39 g I fed her a bigger mouse the 17th.
10/22 - 48 g
11/2 - 53 g
11/7 - 58 g

I've just started taking weight stats.
I don't do it every feeding (I plan to with my future neonates - until they reach 18" - but when I do it, it is before a feeding attempt.

My current scale isn't terribly accurate, only to 5 gm.

I'm buying a jewelers digital scale to 0.1g accuracy (for neonates and food items) and a bird scale to 1g accuracy (larger snakes).

I had a snake that tested clean for parasites, but didn't seem to be gaining weight. So after several months, I had another float done - and they found hookworm eggs. Thus - I'm hoping that by keeping these records, it will be easier to find problems even when fecal floats don't before they go on for too long.

I don't expect my non infected snakes to catch anything, but since I do bring WC into my home, can't be too careful.

The idea is - if a young snake isn't retaining weight like my records show other young snakes of same species have done, then I need to get floats done etc. to see if there is a problem.

I'm also curious as to how weight has an impact on clutch size. That may be harder to document though because I wouldn't be surprised if genetics and other factors effect clutch size, but perhaps a trend will become apparent.
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3.0 WC; 0.3 CB L. getula californiae
1.0 CB L. getula nigrita
0.1.1 WC; 0.0.3 CH Elgaria multicarinata multicarinata

Yeah my scale isn't the best but it works for now. I'm not too picky of anything more sensitive than grams right now. I should get a new scale though. Yeah it's a wonderful indication to tell you if everything is on track or if something is wrong. Plus when I get rid of snakes, I have everything from each shed noted to the weight of each food taken. It's good to have and buyers love knowing what they are getting. Yeah we should exchance some data this next season and see some trends and weird things that pop up.
Sam

Thanks Zach, that was the rule of thumb i was looking for.
what a life he's got right now. Eat...sleep for 3 days...cruise the tank...get handled....sh!t....eat >>>>>>>>>
JC