Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I just bought a Querataro (Ruthveni) Kingsnake on tuesday and the guy said his colors arent bright cause hes goin to shed. Well now its Friday morning and i tried feeding him a pinkie and he ran away from it like he was afraid of it. I also checked his eyes and they dont look cloudy at all to me. What is goin on with him? What should i do? Thanks

Just give it some time. Their eyes will clear prior to sheding. Look at the belly scales if they seem "cloudy" just leave the snake alone until it sheds, then it should eat very well Do you have any place for the snake to hide, like a humidity box?

I'm sure some other more experienced breeders (more experienced than me)will also post their suggestions and helpful hints.

Good Luck,

Bob

I got a new Ca King just a few weeks ago. He had me nervous to start as well because he was so chicken about gobbling down the pinkies. After a few minutes of trying to chase him around with the mouse I realized I needed to chill out and give he/she some space to adjust first. Plus my lil' one is 2 months old so he is still learning to eat. He plays now tagging his food a few times before he goes for it.

I use paper towel as substrate and it allows him the opportunity to hide if the nasty looking pinky freaks him out. He comes out in his own time and then the next thing you know you can't see the pinky mouse anywhere.. Oh yep there it is. haha got it!

I have also heard that around shed time they become a bit inactive as far as feeding. I just tossed another pinky in the cage and he probably won't eat it until this evening or tomorrow morning. Luckily with pinky mice they cannot harm my snake. So they just wiggle around all nasty like until Lucky is ready to go in for tha kill.

Anyhow, good luck with you new snake. By the way don't do the chasing the snake around with the mouse thing. If the snake is running means he's scared, so if you want to get bit, Keep on chasin it. haha.