Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hello...still fairly new to snakes..My King is now roughly 13-14 inches..I have been feeding him/her around 2 pinkys every 5-6 days...tonight I tried a Fuzzy, and he tried to eat it for around 30 minutes, then he gave up.. does he look too small for a fuzzy? My corn snake is around the same size and ate the same size fuzzy in under 5 minutes...Should I continue feeding pinkys 2-3 at a time for another month, then try the fuzzy again? sorry about these pictures, its hard to see how big around he is.. He is alittle skinnier then the fuzzy, but he still seems bigger then my corn, which is why I dont understand why the corn eats it like nothing(then again, my corn is a huge eater, even for his/her size..LOL)..thanks...Im also posting pics of my corn..
http://i708.photobucket.com/albums/ww89/yankeesluvr/DSC_0184.jpg[/IMG]




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You need to get that snake of fuzzies. Pinkies offer little or no nutrition. Try a smaller fuzzy or two.

Then after one meal your snake will have a growth spurt and you should be then be able to feed regular size fuzzies. Pinkies won't do it as they are mostly made up of water.
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www.Bluerosy.com

I agree....just use a smaller fuzzie.......there are large fuzzies and there are small fuzzies...pick the size that suits your snake.

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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

LOL! Cool pic!
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www.Bluerosy.com

And who says reptile people aren't normal.

Kerby...

Big thumbs up!!

Great post and great pic to fully illustrate the size differences within the phases. Thanks for posting that!!!
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Genesis 1:1

Pinkies are proven to rasie and raise millions of colubrids successfully and quickly. But, I also agree with Bluerosy, you want to get a baby snake on fuzzies.

Pinkies have everything a snake needs to grow, but one, roughage(fur) Also, pinkies are LITTLE. So you can feed a grip of pinkies or one or two fuzzies.

I have raised snakes a fast any anyone, and all were fed a diet of smaller prey items, more often.

Again Bluerosy is right, if your going to feed one or twice a week, then large prey items and you better have your temps right. I feed many times a week or daily. But that is my choice. I think my method works great, hmmmmmmmmmm so does Bluerosy's.

All in all, kingsnakes are designed to feed on cylindical prey(snakes lizards, etc) and cannot consume huge prey items like ratsnakes or rattlesnakes. In context, they can still feed on fairly large items and in this case, that desert king could surely feed on fuzzies, just not giant fuzzies. hahahahahaha Cheers

I'm glad to see this post. I have an eastern milk that just will not take anything but pinkies. He has eaten 9 large pinks (5 and 4 three days apart) in last two meals but hasn't touched anything with the least bit of fuzz, even it its basically the same size as the pinks. Thanks for the info.
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Joe

Joe my coastals aren't easterns but hey they're close. I have a couple of adults that every year or so will insist on reverting to a diet of just pinks. They do fine, I just gotta feed more of them more often to get the same caloric punch of larger prey.

Hibernation seems to reset their appetite and they come up eating anything offered but I've never figured out what it is that triggers them going off larger prey in the first place. From my perspective nothing in the environment changed, from theirs, well that's another story. Some day I'll figure it out.
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“Nothing is at last sacred but the integrity of your own mind.” Emmerson

Oh you want to garner off my good name. Now i get it. HA HA HA! j/k

Actually I think you agreed with my post. You know as well as I do how many people read this forum and anyone with a 12" IQ..err I mean 12" kingsnake that is a year old and is still feeding pinkies is what i am addressing. It is a problem that resurfaces here frequently and feeding pinks is the problem. Most of those snakes never grow to be healthy aduts and are weak and finicky feeders.

Powdered whole milk for stariving africans is good to but not for a teenager in snake years.

Das ist der problem wit de masses Herr Feurur! They just don't tink.
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www.Bluerosy.com

I don't have a caliper (I should get one) but my eastern head can not be more then an inch wide and he eats small rats ( rodent pro size small) easily. If I feed one to a similar length Rat snake (wider head) the rat snake finishes the same size rat 5 times faster. But the king was growing slowly on smaller prey, although if I fed every day like FR says he probably would have grown faster. As soon as he poops he gets another. So at least one small rat per week. He is about 24 inches long.
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Thanks,

Frank Roberts

>>I don't have a caliper (I should get one) but my eastern head can not be more then an inch wide and he eats small rats ( rodent pro size small) easily. If I feed one to a similar length Rat snake (wider head) the rat snake finishes the same size rat 5 times faster. But the king was growing slowly on smaller prey, although if I fed every day like FR says he probably would have grown faster. As soon as he poops he gets another. So at least one small rat per week. He is about 24 inches long.
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>>Thanks,
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>>Frank Roberts
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Thanks,

Frank Roberts

Cornsnakes can eat huge meals in relation to their head and body. Same with ratsnakes and gophersnakes.

Kingsnakes on the other hand seem to be built a bit different. It doesn't hurt to stay with prey that is only slightly larger than the kings mid-body cross section.
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Mark

I have to agree with Mark. Kings are built more for secretive ground dwelling and burrowing, and appear to have less developed or large head structures than corns and ratsnakes in general. Chose an item 1.5 times the size of the head, or thickest part of the body regardless if pinky, fuzzy, etc. Its OK to push the size of the prey a bit as that will also fuel the snake to grow.

I agree corn snakes can eat big mice

But dont forget that a kingsnake will eat a snake close its own size(length)
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“Spring is nature's way of saying, "Let's party!"”
Robin Williams

Doug L

Very true, but still different from mice. I can eat a 2ft piece of spaghetti whole, but not a 2ft turkey leg. Kings easily swallow smooth cylindrical prey because it passes down the pipe easily. But corns, man, they can distend their heads something fierce.

>>But dont forget that a kingsnake will eat a snake close its own size(length)
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Mark

Very interesting points. Kings are "designed" to eat items smaller in diameter.(head to body ratio and their taste for other snakes and lizards). I too have had kings attempt to eat fuzzies and spit them out. I just picked the smallest fuzzies I could find and tried again a day or two later. It worked every time. Looking back at my feeding records I did notice that it took a zonata multifasciata 13 large pinks from one shed cycle to the next. After this shed I upped the snake to small fuzzies. The same snake only took 3 fuzzies before going into another shed cycle. This is pretty much consisitant with the records for my other snakes as well. However I have had to feed some snakes large pinks for a while before they could tackle a fuzzy. I do not think it is a good idea to try items too large and too often as I believe it could send them off feed. Keep em eating.

After doing this for a while, you can usually tell if a food item is too big. Eventually you get the hang of it and know exactly what size to feed each snake.

Yesterday I fed a huge fuzzy to a yearling florida king. Her sibling got one slightly smaller and had no problems, but this one did struggle with the size of the fuzzy. I mean, it was a borderline hopper. Anyway, I was worried at one point, but once she got the mouse down past her lungs, her neck returned to its' normal shape. I don't think I'm going to push it with overly large food items anymore. I do not want to see a snakes' neck explode!

Also, if you have baby speckled kings (holbrooki), absolutely do not feed them anything but the tiniest, newborn pinkies. Even a two-day old pinkie can kill a baby speck.

Whilst I don't have experience with holbrooki, I find your statement a little hard to swallow. Sorry for the bad pun...
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Diego

SWCHR

I am also gonna say What? on the holbrooki thing... I hardly ever get day old pinks in time and all my specks can eat a medium sized pinkie, they struggle a bit, but they get it done and are soon on fuzzies.

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Todd Hughes

While your records are OK, the key is available temps(supporting conditions). I could feed pinkies or fuzzies daily and triple or quadtriple the amount between sheds and triple the growth.

The key to reptiles is, They are cold-blooded, Hmmmmmmm ectotherms, pokeitherms(way bad sp) Oh heck, they control their body temps and therefore their metabolism mostly(?) externally. Which also means, they use a range of temps, not a temp like mammals. This is so often missed here is silly.

Here folks say this and that, but do not include conditions, with reptiles, conditions are first, results come after that. Cheers