Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Well, I knew better. I had a couple small, but adult mice laying around and a new cali king was overdue for a meal. She had taken a couple large hoppers before with some effort, but thats about the extent of it. Im guessing shes probably about 20" or so.

Im sure you know where this is going, against my better judgment I figured Ild let her have a go at one since its all I had at the moment and she was raring to go. She made a valient effort.... getting over the skull, over the shoulder bones and all the way down the abdomen of the mouse. The hip bones, however .... did her in and after some struggling, and shoving she backed it all the way out and left it lay.

Its been so long since Ive had that happen I cant remember if theres any issues that might be associated with it. She didnt actually regurgitate it, as in she got it down and threw it up later. She simply didnt get it down.

You guys ever had this happen? Any issues with the animal eating an appropriate sized meal next time? Im thinking Ill give her a day or two and then give her something really easy to get down, possibly even smaller then the hoppers shes been taking.

Whats been your experiences?

Shes right at 24", not that it matters, it was still to large Im just curious if I need to give her a full week or if a couple days is sufficient??

Wow that is a pretty large meal for a 24 inch. A right size meal would be a fuzzy. In my opinion that stressed it out a lot so I would even give it a week 1/2 to 2 weeks...there's no rush here or shouldn't be.

Instead it would have been at least better to give it few smaller sized meals such as 2 fuzzies! I'm just saying.

Tony
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You can never have only one snake!

Agreed, I knew it was pushing it shes been such a voracious eater I thought she might be able to get it down and I had one on hand, un-thawed. I really dont like wasting them so I thought Ild give it a shot. Im just wondering if shes going to shy away from eating now for a bit when offerred the correct sized item.

Ill give her a week and see how she does.

Feed the snake if its hungry. It must of been hungry if it attempted to consume that mouse. So feed it something it can swallow. If for some odd reason it did get stressed out, it will not eat, then you will know somethings wrong. Cheers

I wouldn't sweat it. I've had that happen before and the snake usually doesn't skip a beat. It would be a wise idea to give it a few days to remember how hungry it was, lol. Heck it might even be hungrier now since it almost got to eat. But ultimately it depends on the individual snake. Some individuals could get spooked and so that is why, just to be safe, I would wait at least 3 days to a week.
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King Snakes! Who can make a better mouse trap?
J Sierra

It is a good thing she didn't actually swallow the whole thing and then have problems because if it being just too big to digest. Feed her something a little smaller than her usual fare a in a day or so and she should be fine.
I feed all my kings meals no bigger than the circumference of their middles, and multiples of that. My kings seem to be bullet proof; I can't remember the last time anyone regurgitated. The pituophis on the other hand only get multiple food items no bigger than the circumference of their heads, as they tend to be more prone to regurge on big items.
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Bob/Chris
Pyromaniac AKA Greatballzofire

The pituophis on the other hand only get multiple food items no bigger than the circumference of their heads, as they tend to be more prone to regurge on big items.

I find it interesting that some of my pits, especially my northern pines can handle large prey items often twice their girth and are hungry in a few days. My new little red bulls seem to handle something a little bigger around than 1 X their girth.

My lined pines and my deppeis all have to have small items or it's hurl city.

Oh! Here's a pic of a king just to keep this thread on track. LOL

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BigT
There is a difference between ignorance and stupidity. The ignorant can be taught, stupidity is beyond our control.
1.2 P. m. melanoleucus B/W N. J. Northern Pines
1.2 P. d. deppei Mexican Pines
2.2 P. l. lineaticollis Linis or Lined Pines
1.2 P. m. lodingi Black Pines
0.3 P. c. sayi Kingsville X Stillwater red bulls
1.1 Drymarchon melenurus Blacktail Cribo
1.2 D. corais Yellowtail Cribos
1.2 M. s. cheynei Jungle Carpet
2.6 L. p. pyromelana Arizona Mt. Kings
1.1 L. g. californiae B/W Cali kings
0.0.3 M. f. flagellum Eastern Coachwhips
1.2 G. m. bottegoi Western Plated lizards

My 08 pyro Mazar after eating 7 fuzzies April 09. Feeding is a joy in the spring!
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Bob/Chris
Pyromaniac AKA Greatballzofire

Your snake was showing its' intelligence in that matter. It backed off when it figured out it was too big.

I would give the snake a little bit of time to just chill out for a while, like a153fish suggested. This situation is different, since the snake actually didn't regurge.

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Genesis 1:1

I have several kings (florida's, splendida's, nigritis', california's and thayeri) that are all in the range of 20 - 24" or so. What I've noticed is all of my florida's and nigritis will eat (and hold down) up to, and including, weaner size mice without any problems. My splendidas and cal kings are only offered fuzzies. As they've grown, I've slowly increased their food size in VERY small increments. Although they can and WILL eat weaner size, they cannot digest them as easy and might regurgitate. And finally, my thayeri will usually not even attempt anything bigger than a fuzzy. There have even been a couple of occasions where, like yours, they stopped half way, and backed out of it, almost like they knew they had "bit off nore than they could chew"...or they were just lazy and decided it was too much work. Keeping in mind, all of these snakes are around the same size and age. I find it interesting how different their personalities and approach to feeding are.

Regardless, IMO, smaller meals are always better. Less stress, less intimidating for shy snakes, less work, and easier to digest.

The following day she was very active cruising her cage, presumably due to being hungry so I defrosted a hopper and let her have at it. She took it immediately and took it with no problems. Ill let her grow out a bit more before trying that size on her again. These hoppers are pretty substantial anyway with well developed bone structures.... they are probably more like weanlings I would say anyway so she should put on some good growth being switched over to these.

Thanks for the input everyone and happy holidays!