Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Here is the backstory....
We got in a striped cali king a while back. Someone in the shop decided it would be fun to feed it a non-feeding corn while I was away. Normally I wouldn't care especially since the corn hadn't eaten in 3 months. But now my problem is that the king won't take pinkies and I don't know if we recieved him that way or if he just got spoiled. OR..... maybe he isn't hungry yet. He hasn't eaten in over a month but he still seems fat..... Should I wait it out or feed him another non feeder in a few weeks? He won't even take snake scented pinks.... Opinions?

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-David Harrison-
.1 Snow Corn "Hope"
1. Striped Anery Corn "V" or "5".....Has two names
1. Orange Albino Black Ratsnake "Chunk" (Goonies)
.1 Orange Albino Black Ratsnake "Peaches"
.1 Ball Python "Rocky Ballboa" (Didn't name her!)
0.0.1 Crested Gecko "The Crested Gecko"

"Have you ever tried simply turning off the T.V., sitting down with your kids... and hitting them?"

well try not to give him anymore non-feeder corns and wait. by having him wait will make him so hungry and he might take a mouse. if this dosen't work then you can try cooling your snake for a month or something and warm him back up slowly might trigger him to eat by offering a pinky. good luck and hopefully someone on here can help some more.

I would imagine its nothing to do with the corn snake or being spoiled. I would bet its more about its nearly being November and the temps are changing. That without question will cause them to stop feeding.

Consider, a normal healthy king will consume anything in its prey range without question. If not, then your not letting the snake stay healthy. We are talking a KINGsnake here, they eat and eat well.

You can adjust your temps or just not worry about it until it warms back up.

Oh by the way, Sweet striper and fat too. If your at a shop in Tucson or close, my good friend would take that off your hands in a heartbeat. Cheers

I would have thought he was wanting to brumate as well. But he is not near any windows and his lights come on and off at the same time everyday. Not really any coole in the shop either. I will wait it out though.
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-David Harrison-
.1 Snow Corn "Hope"
1. Striped Anery Corn "V" or "5".....Has two names
1. Orange Albino Black Ratsnake "Chunk" (Goonies)
.1 Orange Albino Black Ratsnake "Peaches"
.1 Ball Python "Rocky Ballboa" (Didn't name her!)
0.0.1 Crested Gecko "The Crested Gecko"

"Have you ever tried simply turning off the T.V., sitting down with your kids... and hitting them?"

That's a sweet snake. I don't see a lot of stripers that nice these days.
I wouldn't worry about it.
Snake looks like it has good weight.
Give it time.

And snakes can tell when it's time to stop feeding for winter.

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Mike
KingPin Reptiles Inc.
www.kingpinreptiles.com
^ Updated 10/29

You can fool most corns to stay awake by messing with temps and light cycles. Some kings seem to just know when they should be sleeping, and will confound any and all attempts to keep them fed and fully awake over winter. If he hasn't eaten in a month, I'd think about lowering the temps a bit now to get him ready to cool down.

I think its a combination of a really big meal and getting towards winter. I fed one of my yearling kings a corn that had a prolapse in mid october last year. He stopped eating after that for the season, about a month earlier than the rest of my kings slowed down feeding. Keep in mind that his last meal was probably 4x the size of his normal meals.