Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I purchased a 3 1/2-foot Speckled Kingsnake in June from a local pet store. He appeared healthy and well-fed, but since I have had him, he only eats one small meal every one or two months. Although he is large enough to eat an adult mouse, the largest meal he has had was a hopper; now he will only eat a f/t pinkie. I have tried live and dead mice, hoppers, fuzzies and pinkies. Once I tried rubbing an anole on a dead pinkie, but the snake showed no interest. I have not tried a split-brain pinkie, but that is what I will try next. I'm not comfortable with force-feeding, as I have no experience in doing so.
I don't know what the snake was being fed before I bought him. According to the store owner, she had to go out of state to find the snake, and she didn't know the feeding history. She told me that he was captive bred, but I didn't verify this.
Although the snake is still acting otherwise healthy (alert, active, shedding regularly), he is starting to look pretty thin.
The snake's enclosure is a 20-long glass aquarium with a screen lid. As for furnishings, he has repti-carpet for substrate, fresh water in a bowl large enough for soaking, and a cave. In the summer, I would occasionally take him outside for sunlight, but with the weather getting cooler, I have put a UVB lamp over his cage (reptilite 5.0). He has a 100-watt lamp, a 100-watt ceramic heat emitter, and an 8-watt heat mat under the side of the terrarium with the cave. During the day, the cage temperature is 80-85 degrees F. with a basking spot of 90-95 degrees F. At night, the temperature drops to 70-75 degrees F.
I appreciate any suggestions. If any more information is needed, just let me know.

I would ditch the heat emitter and all the lights, get rid of the astroturf and put in some cypress mulch or aspen. These guys live under rocks, in crayfish holes, etc. and it would probably benefit from burrowing. I would also suggest it is winter, and an adult snake in the wild would brumate, or find a suitable spot to its' liking. If you put it down for a month or two, it will probably come out feeding like a true king. 80 sounds high for a daytime low, imho.

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Todd Hughes

First of all, I understand your frustration. I've had a similar situation. Your temps could be slightly high. I like a gradient of 75 to 88. I also do not care for the "reptile carpets." They're a pain to clean and that needs to be done for the health of the animal. I've had very good luck with aspen bedding. For Kings I like bedding over the carpet or newpaper because it's easy to "spot" clean, it's attractive, and the snakes REALLY like to burrow through it for hide spots. Depending on the "cave", some have a huge hole and it allows too much light-defeating the purpose of a hide spot. The bedding allows you to "resize" the hole smaller by setting it in the bedding more. Since they burrow alot in the aspen I like "flatten" hide spots. I like the tera cota (sp) pieces that Robert Applegate uses in his set ups, and I've also used the Plastic saucers, the bottoms of the flower pots, that you can buy at Walmart for about 70 cents. Sometimes I cut a hole in the top, when it's flipped upside down, so it's like hiding in a hole ground. Or I just leave them "as is" flipped upside down and the snakes burrow underneath it like they would a rock.

These factors may make the snake more "at ease" with more hiding options.

If you have another snake, female, near by the snake maybe it's in "breed" mode which will cause it to go off feed. I've got one male that is a "horn dog" and if it's not breeding it has to be on the other side of the dang house to eat. How is the "light cycle"? If it's too dark or light, for too long, that can also goof them up.

You're getting too the point now the nature conditions of the weather can effect it too.

Try some different things with the set-up, something may work. It's also natural to want to offer food alot. Don't-that can be a stresser too. Once every 7-10 is enough. Keep clean water available and hang in there. As long as it's active it's still healthy.

These are just some things I've done that worked for me.

Hang in there and keep us posted.
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Greg H.
1.1 Albino Cali's

Thank you so much for the advice. I will certainly try the aspen. I've lowered the temperature, and I'll wait before trying to feed the snake again. The cave is larger than I would like, but the hole in it is pretty small. He hasn't really been hiding in the cave since the temperature was lowered, but now he is just soaking in his water dish. Crazy snake. Maybe the house is too dry. Is misting a bad idea?

No need to mist, it will soak when it needs to, it is normal behavior. Is this a c.b. snake or wild caught? Soaking is a natural winter behavior as well as pre shed activity. I would suppose the snake is telling you it is going into a shed cycle.
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Todd Hughes

The store owner told me captive bred, but I'm starting to have my doubts. The snake actually just shed less than a week ago.