Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Here she is about two weeks ago. Every time I feed her it just takes two days and she out looking for more. I know she looking for more, because every time I come in the room she comes out to look at me. She doesn't run and hide like the others. LOL. I feed her two good size pinkies at a time. I feed her about every four days. Here she is about two weeks ago. The color on her is really coming in. It seams every time I look at her she gets more color.
Thanks for looking

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Tom S
1.1 Flame Lampropeltis getla Floridana
1.0 Hypomelanistic Lampropeltis getula Floridana
0.1 Axanthic Lampropeltis getula Floridana
0.1 Hypomelanistic Lampropeltis triangulum hondurensis
1.0 Anerythristic Lampropeltis triangulum hondurensis

Looking Good! Floridana put on more growth than any other snake I've worked with, outside of the big Pythons.
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King Snakes! Who can make a better mouse trap?
J Sierra

Looking good Tom, I hope you mean pinky rats. She looks like she could easily take 2 of those at a time.
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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

Thanks everyone for your input. I got her on 1/4/11 and the breeder said she was on pinkie mice. So that's what I have been feeding her. I have an order of rodents coming tomorrow, and I will up her food. I didn't realize that they could take in that large of rodent. This is my first time with kings. I have fuzzie mice and pinkie rats coming in. Once again thanks for the advice.
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Tom S
1.1 Flame Lampropeltis getla Floridana
1.0 Hypomelanistic Lampropeltis getula Floridana
0.1 Axanthic Lampropeltis getula Floridana
0.1 Hypomelanistic Lampropeltis triangulum hondurensis
1.0 Anerythristic Lampropeltis triangulum hondurensis

No prob Tom. A good general rule of thumb for feeding Kings is to feed a prey item about 1 1/2 time the diameter of the snake at it's widest part. The feeding should leave a noticeable lump. Kings have pretty high metabolisms when kept properly and she still will eat every 4-5 days with the larger prey. Soon she will be eating you out of house and home. But that's good thing.

As an adult you will want to reduce her intake so she doesn't get obese but as a juvie all of the food energy goes into growth.
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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

I thought that I was feeding her 1.2 her size. She is only 10 inches maybe 11 at the most. Because they are so skittish I would just leave the prey out and check back about 3hrs later to see if she had eaten. I don't like to bother them when they eat. The pic mite make her look bigger then she is. but i will definitely up her food intake. I ordered 200 pinkie rats and 300 peach fuzzie mice and 200 pinkie mice. So I will make sure she gets all she wants LOL. thanks again Big T
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Tom S
1.1 Flame Lampropeltis getla Floridana
1.0 Hypomelanistic Lampropeltis getula Floridana
0.1 Axanthic Lampropeltis getula Floridana
0.1 Hypomelanistic Lampropeltis triangulum hondurensis
1.0 Anerythristic Lampropeltis triangulum hondurensis

The pic mite make her look bigger then she is. but i will definitely up her food intake.

Yep the pic makes her look a lot bigger than that. If you feel the pinky mice are leaving a noticeable bulge you might just up the quantity from 2 to 3 per feeding until she is ready for the larger.

She will grow fast, best of luck Tom.
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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

I didn't realize that they could take in that large of rodent.

They can take in as large an item as they can get down. if they can't, they will simply stop and leave the food item. It won't hurt them.

I speciliazed in Florida kings now for many years. I have literally raised thousands of them. I feed them maybe 1x on pinkies and then try and move the size up to peach fuzzies. once they get that down they go on fuzzies..ect.

The thing with pinkies is they don't have the calcium and nutrients that an older mnouse has. Same with fuzzies. That is why you will get growth spurts from feeding more develoiped mice.

remember this,.. that in nature these snakes eat whole snakes. There survival and longterm HEALTH is dependent on getting larger animals and growth spurts. The faster they grow the healthier long term captives.

Normally I can get a male to breed in 1 yr and females in 2. So they can and should grow quick- if properly fed.
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www.Bluerosy.com

Thanks Bluerosy, I just got a shipment in of peach fuzzies and pinkie rats. I will be feeding them tonight.

Thanks Tom S.

she is o big for pinkies. Start her on large fuzzies and then in a week she should be on hoppers.
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www.Bluerosy.com

Axanthic's and normals are my fav floridian. How old is she that she's only eating pinkies? Beautiful snake

n/p