Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hello..thanks for the help..I have been posting messages thruout the day..I have desert king purchased from petco on Sunday 3/22...I fed him one pinky on wed 3/25 and he ate that one pinky no problem..I then attempted to feed him another pinky tonight(3/30) and he wanted nothing to do with it..He did defacate in tank yesterday(3/29)..when should I attempt to feed him again? He is eating f/t pinkys.. I am also posting some pics for all to see, im not sure how old he is, but this is compared to a pinky that i tried to feed him, Im also not sure if he is undersized also, petco claims he ate 2-3 pinkys a week.... also, do you think he is big enough for a fuzzy? or too small? I guess it doesnt matter if he wont eat..Im afraid for him..like i said he ate 5 days ago, maybe i rushed him too much this time, I just thaught every 5 days to feed him...also, is it possible that the feeding container is too big? Its a big tub i purchased from walmart with a top...thank you, Pete

See previous post

Don't worry, they can go months without eating. I have an alterna that hasn't fed since he was born in fall 08, and just ate his first meal tonight. Now, I was worried. Your little fella is taking a break, and Petco is full of s#@$. I'd give him 5 to 7 days and try again. Also, he could be beginning his shed cycle.

Don't worry.

If you were to guess, by looking at this pic, how old do you think he is? and is he big enough now to bump up to a fuzzy? maybe the pinky is too small for him, and he is refusing it..I figured a fuzzy was too big...it took him a good 1/2 hour last week to eat one pinky...

He's an '08 animal. I personally would offer him two large pinkies. In late summer I'd start him on fuzzies. He might be able to take a fuzzy sooner, but it makes sense to give him small bites rather than stress him.

Think carefully before feeding your snake something simply because he can "manage" to get it down his throat. Neat trick, and they'll do it in the wild when the opportunity presents itself, but it's not necessarily the healthiest thing to do. His digestive system is growing, and if the mass is sufficiently large, it could stress his system, leading to regurgitation, problems passing, etc. What goes in his face has to come out his butt. You wouldn't eat a whole turkey just because you can. Luckily, you picked a pretty rough and tumble species, so you shouldn't be worrying at this point.

You wouldn't eat a whole turkey just because you can

No, because we aren't anatomically built for that......kingsnakes ARE built for taking on huge food items relative to their body.

Plus, I guarantee you that if we COULD eat whole turkeys, there would be people doing so, LOL.
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1.0.0 Lampropeltis getula holbrooki
0.1.0 Lampropeltis getula californae
0.0.1 Lampropeltis getula nigra
1.0.0 Lampropeltis mexicana thayeri
2.3.0 Eublapharis macularius macularius
0.0.2 Rhacodactylus ciliatus
0.1.0 Gerrhosaurus major major

I would not feed him in that tub. Put him in his cage and leave the pink at the entrance of his hide overnight. As long as the cage is warm enough he will take it (80). Some snakes are shy and will not eat after being disturbed or even watched. Some only eat after dark. That pink is proper size for your snake. He will probably take 2 of those at a time for a while . Frozen / thawed pinks have a short life and get fowl quickly. If they don't eat overnight throw it out and try again in a couple of days. Most snakes do not eat when they are in a shed cycle. This can last a week to 10 days. Desert kings are very hearty and do well in captivtiy. You should not have any problems once he is use to his new enviornment and kept warm enough.

Well you could feed 3 pinkies at a meal or save some $$ and feed a fuzzy. Contrary to some peoples advice a king that size CAN eat a larger meal and will be much better off for it. It has nothing to do with the girth of the snake but rather CAN the snake get its mouth around it. If it can't, it will just give up and leave the meal. Think of it this way.. what do kings eat in the wild ...they mostly eat other snakes! If they can digest a large meal like that, why not a larger fuzzy?

I am a professional breeder and make my living that way. I consider myself a farmer of sorts rather than a general hobbiest. So my expereince involved hundreds of snakes every day for many years. Most of my newborns are large enough to eat fuzzies right from the beginning. Then they move up to hoppers fairly quickly. They will be much more likely to live a longer life and survive captivity by giving them a better diet.

A 9 month old florida x eastern king.

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yep, ditch the tub! That is an '08, nice yellow!

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Todd Hughes

wow that snake is huge compared to my 7-8mnth cali king what are you feeding him on to get him to that size? is that a normall size for that age or have you fed him up to be that big? after seeing him i want to get my snake up in the next few months any tips? he has just gone onto small mice and had his first on sunday.

he is about half the size of your if not smaller

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Cheesemonkey

Well you are on your way. Now that your snake is that size it should really take off on feeding. Feed as mature mice as possible as these have more calcium and protien that your snake needs to grow and be healthy. It is before your snake reaches adult size is when it needs to eat. Once they reach adult size their appetite slows down.

The trick is this. Get your snake started as soon as possible on larger meals and the healthier and more they will eat. Once they reach a certain size (like yours) you are out of the hole and they will feed quite frequently. Just give them feed and if they are hungry they will eat. In other words WE don't decide FOR the snake when it wants to eat. Let the snake decide and offer food (and larger meals!) more frequently. The old rule of one feeding per week is great if that is all your snake wants to eat. But most normal healthy snakes will eat more than that. Another way to look at it is if you take a person from a 3rd world country or impovershed nation. They can survive on much less food than us. When they mature they will not be as healthy and reach there potential. Most of my snakes slow down on feeding when they become reach adult size. Their metablism slows down and they don't need as much. But the first year or two leading up to it is when they need to eat a lot.

One other thing I should mention. Snakes that are small and don't eat well are considered to be "runts' by breeders. So that is what we stay away from when making a purchase. That is because most breeders know a snake that was started slow will most likely continue to be finicky and not be as prolific breders. Hence "not healthy". So a snake that is 2-3 years old and is still small is not a good purchase. However some kingsnakes do not grow as fast as others. So you have to know your kings. Speckled kings grow slow even though they eat like a horse. Mountain kings ect. But the getula in general grow fast and should be a certain size after a year or two of age.
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Cheesemonkey

You should put the pinksssss right outside his hide, during the evening. Almost all of us want to interact with our snakes, but smaller snakes want to eat in secret. When you get it feeding regularly, it will charge up when dinner time comes around, trust me! Some people don't like to feed on substrate, and that is good for them, I feed in cage, never had a problem the snake couldn't handle. If you are overly worried about this, put the pinks in a very small bowl or cup in front of the hide. If you move wrong sometimes when they are eating, at this size, they will stop and run for it. Try the hide approach, it works well.
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Todd Hughes

That is a very pretty Splendida! He could eat larger pinkies than that, or peach fuzzies, but I wouldn't give him any large fuzzies just yet.

thanks everyone...Just quick question, I was advised to feed in his cage, but should I do that since he has aspen bedding? i thaught you shouldnt feed if we use aspen bedding so they dont swallow any?

stick some paper roll down in the tank and stick the pinks on this that way this should stop any aspen being digested along with the pink.
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Cheesemonkey

The snake digestive system pulverizes bone......I haven't heard many issues as far as ingested substrate goes.

If you are still reluctant, placing the mouse on a deli container lid works, or you could go a step further and make a hole in a deli container for your snake to enter and eat in a substrate free environment.
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1.0.0 Lampropeltis getula holbrooki
0.1.0 Lampropeltis getula californae
0.0.1 Lampropeltis getula nigra
1.0.0 Lampropeltis mexicana thayeri
2.3.0 Eublapharis macularius macularius
0.0.2 Rhacodactylus ciliatus
0.1.0 Gerrhosaurus major major