Reptile & Amphibian Forums

hello every one,
i recently aquired a beautiful female cal-king . she is wild caught and about 10 in long. ive had her about a month and she has eaten 6 young garter snakes, i would like to get her on pinkies as the garters will be harder to get with the onset of winter. she has yet to take a pinkie i have tried 2 different times. right now i have her in a paper bag with the pinkie, i rubbed the pinkie with another snake hoping that this does the trick. i would like to have all the suggestions i can get to switch a king from snakes to pinkies and mice!!! pretty please!!
any info would be greatley appreciated
thanx chris

May I suggest it is never good to feed a king other snakes or lizards because of the parasites they carry.

Try and switch over to mice.

Sounds like you snake is large enough for fuzzy siize mice and NOT PINKS. How big is your cal king and can you post pics??

hey there ,
i agree with what your sayin thats another reason i want to get this baby eatin some mice!!!!!!! here is a pic of the belly its bad but just use it for a sight reference.
thanx

you need to be feeding hopper mice to that size snake. Pinkies offer practically no nutrition as they are made up mostlt of water. No calcium or muscle. Get a live hopper or small mouse. You snake might take it because it is larger and alive.

are you serious. how big are the hopper mice, cuz the pinkies are bigger than this snakes head.

Yes I am serious. You snake can easily digest hopper or weaned mice.

This will give the snake the nutrition and GROWTH SPURT it needs to have a healthy life.

Personally, if it was my snake I could have it eating full grown mice in two weeks. So feed away!

I think the point is, they are having trouble switching the snake to mice, right? Try rubbing a FT pinkie or fuzzie with fresh snake feces. It sounds kind of gross, but I've had it work. You can also try doing this right after you have fed it a snake(when its feeding response is best). Once you have got it switched(hopefully) to mice, then you can worry about offering larger, more neutritional meals. Good luck.
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Matt Kauffman

And don't forget descenting the mouse with unscented bar soap. Of all the techniques I've used, this has worked the best for me, including with a stubborn Cal-king.
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thanx for all the advice, the snake ate the pinkie in bag last night. i had scented it with a garter snake musk sent. sweet i will be going to a fuzzie or a hopper next by looking at those picks of hoppers i'm pretty sure she can get one down. once again thanx everybody!! chris

You will be amazed at the growth rate of you Cal king after it eats a hopper. Remember, in the wild they eat and digest large snakes and can handle it. I have been raising and maintaining a large collection of kingsnakes like this for decades and people are always amazed at HOW I can get them up to size so quickly. A larger king early-on means a healthier snake in the long term!!!!

ridiculous. no snake that size can take hoppers. pinks are fine.
period.

I agree larger fuzzy type mice would be fine. However, your snake may refuse them...so you may need to trick it. Try washing the mouse thorughly with ivory soap or dish detergent and rinse well, dry. Rub some scent on it, such as lizard or snake blood/guts, you can take a dead reptile, I find them dead on the road, and offer to your king. Sometimes I freeze washed mice with the dead reptile to transfer scent. You can puree a dead snake or lizard in a blender then smear that on the thawed and washed mouse. This often works. You might try the split skull with a knife trick and smear brain matter on the head, gross I know, but it often works. Usually after a few feedings of scented mice, your king will quit being fussy and take the f/t mice you offer. Often after hibernation they will be less picky and eat whatever is offered. good luck, Vic H.

Try live pinks first. Then move up to the appropriate size fuzzies. Tough feeders that are reluctant to accept small mice or hoppers are more likely to take live pinks or fuzzies. Once you get you get your snake feeding on rodents, switch from live to frozen thawed.

I doubt that scenting will even be necessary with your wild caught snake. I've only had to do it with neonates.

Most getula kings (wild caught or captive bred) feed aggressively, once you get them going.

I disagree about the hopper mice idea. I think a fuzzy mouse would be a good meal for a snake that size. Yes, he could choke down a hopper, but a fuzzy is more apropos.

As for scenting, you shouldn't have any trouble since your snake is accustomed to gartersnakes. I would take a live fuzzy and get a live Gartersnake to smear it with as much musk as possible (easy with garters). Then offer it to the king overnight. That should do the job. After 1 or 2 feedings you can quit scenting.
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Chris Harrison
San Antonio, Texas

ya i think fuzzies for a little while longer!! thanx everybody!!!

I'm not trying to sound patronizing, but when you are trying to determine whether your snake can eat a food item, look at the largest part of the body not the head. The snake will often surprise you.

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I agree.
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Matt Kauffman