Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I have an '06 male thayeri that I received last summer. I've kept pretty good records of his feeding, shedding, and growth, and I wanted to know whether his progress is what most folks would consider normal and healthy for a thayeri. If not, I'd like to hear suggestions. Here's the chart.

A few points about the chart might be worth making. First, I've always fed him f/t mouse pinkies or small fuzzies. The largest single prey that he's taken was a 6 gram fuzzy, and that one left him with a big bulge for several days. He didn't move for almost two days after taking that one. Where the chart shows other prey around four to six grams last year, the prey usually consisted of two or three pinkies that I gave him at once. Two or three pinkies typically do not leave a bulge. When I was feeding him pinkies, I dusted them with calcium about every two to three weeks. He's currently eating four to five gram fuzzies. About twenty minutes after he eats, I can see a bulge, but he doesn't seem uncomfortable. Secondly, I know that I could feed him every five days, but he seems to reject more meals on a five or six day schedule. Seven to nine days works well for my schedule, and if he's not hungry in five days, I see no point in pushing him. Thirdly, I've had his stools tested twice over the past year (including this morning), and the vet has never found any evidence of parasites. I bought him from vichris, and I've fed him f/t mice from Big Cheese Rodent Factory or Gourmet Rodents. With those two factors of good quality, I wouldn't expect parasites, but I like to check.

In terms of behavior, he seems to be what I consider normal for a kingsnake. I've given him quite a few hiding places, and he uses most of them. He spends most of his time hiding but appears every now and then. He climbs occasionally, but he rarely soaks in his water dish. He's on paper and occasionally goes under the paper. He seems to favor the cool end of his cage which fluctuates from mid to low sixties in the winter to low seventies in the summer. His hot spot and hot spot hide are in the 83 to 85 °F range.

The real question is, "Does he seem abnormally small for an animal that is nearly two years old?" If he is small, is there any reason to think that he isn't healthy or happy? I'm not interested in being a major breeder. I'd like to produce a clutch or two someday, but my animals don't need to get big to fulfill my dreams. I'm pleased as I can be with him, but I want to be sure that I'm not doing something that is keeping him from optimal health.

Here are a couple of pictures.

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It's not how many snakes you have. It's how happy and healthy you can keep them.

Handsome snake and interesting questions! Based on my own experience, thayeri are slow growers compared to many other species. Physical growth is a function of many variables, including rate of food intake and ambient temperature.

I notice that in general my thayeri are not the chow hounds that my other kingsnakes and rat snakes are. I do have two exceptional thayeri that are more like Mexican black kingsnakes in their appetites and they are at least 50% larger in body mass than less ravenous thayeri of the same age. But on the whole, thayeri tend to grow more slowly.

I'd like to suggest that you alter your graph to make the horizontal scale uniform -- that is, make sure that the time intervals between two adjacent tic marks are the same (right now they are not). The new plot will give you a truer picture of any changes in growth rate, not just the general trend.

Thanks for posting the information -- and don't worry, the snake will grow. Thayeri just require more patience.

Good luck,
Tom