Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Would it be okay to force feed my king before winter? She is already going off feed, but is remaining very active. She has not eaten in almost a month and I am getting a little worried. What could explain her being very active, but refusing food? She has been sharing a feeding bowl with a northern pine, could this be doing it?

I WOULD NOT JUMP INTO FORCEFEEDING YET UNLESS YOUR FEMALE KING IS VERY THIN. pOST A PIC HERE IF YOU CAN.

THERE SEEMS TO BE SOMETHING ELSE VERY WRONG WITH EITHER YOUR HUSBANDRY OR SNAKES HEALTH. i WILL BE IT IS SOMETHING WITH YOUR HUSBANDRY.

Does the king have undertank heating? What substrate are you using? Have you checked for mites? Has the snake regurged a meal in the past? Do you feel any lunps inside her body like tumors?

Give us an idea on how you are keeping the king. I doubt that the water bowl being scented with pinesnake has anything to do with it. You not keeeping them in the same cage are you?

Oh and where do you live and what are the temps outside?
-----
"Yeah ya told me, and ya wrote it down too. But how the hell am I supposed to remember!"

It keeps telling me that I need to resize my picture. No biggie though. She is not thin at all (she ate plenty all summer). My primary concern is that she has another big meal before winter and thanks bluerosy for the concern and help.

I don't use undertank heating for these guys. I use a lamp that is clamped around 8 inches away that usually keeps air temp between 75 and 85.

I use aspen which is making me think maybe she ingested some, but I put a papertowel under the feeding bowl. She is very, very active, so not thinking it is substrate ingestion. Has been burrowing a lot more though.

No mites, no lumps and never regurgitated a meal in the past.

They are not in the same cage. Just have been sharing a feeding bowl.

I live in New Jersey and the temperatures have been very variable. Two weeks ago it was really cold and today it is in the mid 80's.

My idea might be the food itself. I ran out of rodents (i usually buy in bulk) and went to petsmart and got Arctic Mice. She ate those right up, but wont touch the stuff she used to eat. She goes right up to it, smells it, looks like she is gonna eat it, but never bites it.

Thanks in advance,
Rich D

My king eats artic mice too (the petstore I was buying from closed up >_< ) but she prefers to eat alone, with the lights off if possible. Mine is also in aspen bedding with a heatlamp as her main heatsource (undertank heating is not convenient with my setup and toddlers.) but when I feed her, I put her in a different tank, without substrate so that there is no danger of her ingesting it while eating the mice.
-----
Holly

0.1 Lavender California Kingsnake (Lizzie Borden)
1.0 Bearded Dragon (Charley Manson)
1.0 Orange Marmalade Cat (Oliver)
1.0 Egyptian Arabian (Bagan)

2.0 Toddlers (Justice & Trevor)

I don't use undertank heating for these guys. I use a lamp that is clamped around 8 inches away that usually keeps air temp between 75 and 85.

Its the heat lamp you are using. That and a combination of the seasons changing. Even though the temps are high today they were low and the snake will adjust to whats going on outside. By having a heat pad under the tank the snake can properly thermoregualte. Overhead heating is bad for other reasons. Which has been discussed on this forum many times.

The solution is simple. Turn off the overhead light and get a heat pad under the tank and your king will start eating regularly.

Don't even think about force feeding until you have this problem solved. Forcefeeding should oly be as a last attempt and then only with species that refuse all food from the beginning (like snake or lizard feeding snakes). But your snake eats mice and HAS in the past which means that there is a reason you snake is refusing food. It's not sick but will be if you don't change the setup.
-----
"Yeah ya told me, and ya wrote it down too. But how the hell am I supposed to remember!"

Thanks for the concern and help Bluerosy. Will work on the heating pad, which will actually probably keep the whole room cooler than those lights, I am just terrified of one malfunctioning and burning the house down. Funny thing is, as I was reading your response she took down two small mice.

Thanks a million,
RD