Reptile & Amphibian Forums

How many mice does a typical full grown California Kingsnake eat during the warmer months?

I feed mine 2 large mice to my 4 footers at a feeding. Except in late summer when I offer 3 and sometimes they take all three, sometimes they don't, but I offer to give them a little extra fat before winter.

I tried 4 once with a 4 footer and it took them, and then regurgitated, so I don't do more than 3 now.

These are large mice I use.
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3.6 L. getula californiae - 19 eggs (Cal. King)
1.1 L. getula nigrita (MBK)
1.0 Pantherophis guttatus guttatus (Corn)
0.1 Pituophis catenifer catenifer (Pacific gopher)
3.3 Elgaria multicarinata multicarinata (Cal. Alligator Lizard)

btw - I suspect he could have handled 4 large had I provided enough of an extreme warm spot - with large enough of a caging, you can provide really warm spots they can utilize to properly digest really large meals. I am not able to provide such an ideal large setup for all of my kings. My thermostat is set at 86 for warm spot, which I suspect is too cool for such a large meal, and I dare not go warmer because then I'm not cool enough on cool side for when the snake doesn't want to be warm.
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3.6 L. getula californiae - 19 eggs (Cal. King)
1.1 L. getula nigrita (MBK)
1.0 Pantherophis guttatus guttatus (Corn)
0.1 Pituophis catenifer catenifer (Pacific gopher)
3.3 Elgaria multicarinata multicarinata (Cal. Alligator Lizard)

How many times a week do you feed him?

I offer adult kings food about once a week.
When they don't eat, which does happen occasionally - they generally aren't offered food again until the next week.
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3.6 L. getula californiae - 18 eggs (Cal. King)
1.1 L. getula nigrita (MBK)
1.0 Pantherophis guttatus guttatus (Corn)
0.1 Pituophis catenifer catenifer (Pacific gopher)
3.3 Elgaria multicarinata multicarinata (Cal. Alligator Lizard)

OK, so two big mice once a week. I feed mine two medium sized mice a week, and I can't pick him up anymore, because he goes into feeding mode and tries to eat my hand (and sometimes himself). I'm wondering if I should feed him more, or if he's just a crazy snake.

If he goes into feeding mode he's hungry - feed him more.
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3.6 L. getula californiae - 18 eggs (Cal. King)
1.1 L. getula nigrita (MBK)
1.0 Pantherophis guttatus guttatus (Corn)
0.1 Pituophis catenifer catenifer (Pacific gopher)
3.3 Elgaria multicarinata multicarinata (Cal. Alligator Lizard)