Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hi all,
So i've got a cali banana king and he's about 3 feet long(approx. the same size in length of a 20 gallon tank). And about 2 and a half inches around the biggest part of his belly. Got him from a show in the spring. He's constantly hungry. We feed him about 2 to 3 small fuzzies a week. But thats not enough for him! He's always out 'hunting' for more! How much should I be feeding him? What's the norm? I keep feeding him because I hate seeing him hungry, but I don't want him to get fat!

Thanks!
Katie

At 3 feet long your snake should be eating full grown mice.. Bump him up to appropriate sized meals and he will be happier!

Good Luck!

~ Mike Russo

But, his head is so small that he can barely fit large fuzzies in his mouth!
Even though he's about 3 feet, his girth is no where near as large.

Please post a photo of your snake with somthing next to him like a dollar bill so we can get an accurate idea of his size. Then we can tell you what size meals he should be taking..

~ Mike Russo

Sure, he's 30 inches to be exact. So, not quite 3 feet.

/Users/Katie/Pictures/iPhoto Library/Originals/2007/Roll 175/DSCN2003.JPG/Users/Katie/Pictures/iPhoto Library/Originals/2007/Roll 175/DSCN2008.JPG/Users/Katie/Pictures/iPhoto Library/Originals/2007/Roll 175/DSCN2011.JPG

Sorry!! Heres the best I could do

OK, after seeing the pix i can assure you that he is 100% ready to jump up to mice.. So, NO more fuzzies for him!! He will take small/medium mice with no problem at all...

Good Luck!

~ Mike Russo

Nice snake, but that's a Newporter not a banana.

haha a Newporter eh?
I should have known, the breeders could hardly give me any information about the snake. They seemed clueless.

Thats for the advice, I'll start him on bigger mice!

Katie

They were close though, Newporters are used to make banana kings.

Oh interesting.
Maybe I should think about breeding him. Which in that case, i'll be back to ask you guys a billion questions

I can tell you, because I am nervous and unsure every time I increase food size for Belle, that you just should ignore the size of your snake's head. Because they will surprise you.

I took this a while back because I was thinking, how the hell is she going to get those hips past her head?! But she figures it out!

I think watching them figure out how to deal with larger meals is one of the more rewarding things about our snakes. They learn how to use their body to fold legs back and get leverage and stuff. Fascinating.

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1.1 Florida Kingsnake
1.0 Kisatchie Cornsnake

Many folks are totally unaware how a soft rodent body will actually compress, and elongate when consumed.

~Doug
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"Better to be silent and thought a fool, than to open mouth and remove any doubt!"

Wow thats a nice snake you've got there. And wow thats a big mouse! Thanks for the help..It's funny how small their heads when their bellies are so big!! I guess I'll have to go completely frozen/thawed now. I have been switching back and forth for an occasional treat for him.

564564
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Diego

I feed my males 1 prey item of the proper size and females 2 of the proper size every 7 days with no problems, It is my understanding a slight lump in the belly is enough, However I have do to a lack of the proper size offered them prey bigger and they took it with no problems.
Foot Hill Reptiles

if you post a pic of yourself holding him then we could give you a better idea on how big to go. but it sounds as though you need to up the size of the food.
as a rule of thumb feed the snake a prey item that is
1 and a half times the size of the biggest part of the snake.
adam jeffery
p.s. dont worry about how big the head is he will get it down
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"CARLOS MENCIA FOR EL PRESIDENTE"
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Your snake should definitely be eating adult mice if your measurements are accurate. As stated before in an earlier post: a proper meal is approximately 1.5 times the size of the largest part of the snake. Furthermore, a snake's jaws are loosely attached, and they can "stretch" to fit over large prey.

Good luck with your snake.

It gives the "illusion" that the snake is a gigantic 30 footer in a cheap monster movie!..LOL

~Doug
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"Better to be silent and thought a fool, than to open mouth and remove any doubt!"

Thank you for the compliment. It took forever to get that shot because he wouldn't hold still.

Don't feel all alone there,.....I've taken many thousands of snake pics, and I agree that they can be very uncooperative a good part of the time!.....well, make that MOST of the time!..LOL

~Doug

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"Better to be silent and thought a fool, than to open mouth and remove any doubt!"