Reptile & Amphibian Forums

How does one affectively put a king snake on a diet so that it doesn't get malnurioushed but still loses weight?
Does an obese king snake need to be put on a diet?

Sure one can provide optimal husbandry and not feed the king. The king will lose weight but will it harm the snake's overall health?
Should one feed it small meals every so often so that it still has some caloric intake or not?

An already obese snake cannot be fed every time it is on the cool end conserving.....
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John Lassiter
Poor planning and procrastination on your part does not constitute an emergency on my part...

John,

I would give the snake a small piece of food all 15-20 days, only to increase the activity....but is the snake a male or female?

>>John,
>>
>>I would give the snake a small piece of food all 15-20 days, only to increase the activity....but is the snake a male or female?

It is male......

What about brumating from now until April?......LOL

I will have to share a photo of this gigantic Southeastern getula I got in a deal where a guy wanted out of snakes and gave me his collection.
The others are nice and healthy but this one is gigantic....
It has got to be the largest diameter Lampropeltis I have ever seen in person...It looks obese but it is strong as hell.
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John Lassiter
Poor planning and procrastination on your part does not constitute an emergency on my part...

Hi John,

long brumation and then.....many activ females!

And John, I am waiting for a mail...too much beer last weekend?

>>Hi John,
>>long brumation and then.....many activ females!

>>And John, I am waiting for a mail...too much beer last weekend?

I didn't get home until late last night....
I will send you an email tonight.

And yes....many biers Saturday night after the show.....lol
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John Lassiter
Poor planning and procrastination on your part does not constitute an emergency on my part...

John,
I was kidding with the mail, write me when you have the time...

And I hope you had a great time with Deborah at the show and the beer was tasty...

yours

Michael

King get fat, I thought that wasn't possible?
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Gerard

"Sleep my friend and you will see, your dreams are my reality. "

www.livebaitclip.com

GONE FISHING!!!

>>King get fat, I thought that wasn't possible?

If never bred they sure can....
I never said they couldn't.....That was Rainer, but he may have meant breeders can't get fat as well...

Pet snakes get fat, breeders do not.

But, like I said...it looks fat but it is solid muscle....LOL
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John Lassiter
Poor planning and procrastination on your part does not constitute an emergency on my part...

Breeders can get fat too, especially males. Same with females if they are only bred once in a year and only a single clutch is produced or desired by the keeper. There's plenty of time for them to get fat within a years time. Only not nearly so with females always producing eggs.

All of that feeding as much as they can possibly consume every other day, and they cannot get fat is a bunch of nonsense.

~Doug
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"a snake in the grass is a GOOD thing"

serpentinespecialties.webs.com

>>Breeders can get fat too, especially males. Same with females if they are only bred once in a year and only a single clutch is produced or desired by the keeper. There's plenty of time for them to get fat within a years time. Only not nearly so with females always producing eggs.
>>
>> All of that feeding as much as they can possibly consume every other day, and they cannot get fat is a bunch of nonsense.
>>
>>
>> ~Doug
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>>"a snake in the grass is a GOOD thing"
>>
>>serpentinespecialties.webs.com

I must not feed enough then....lol
None of my snakes are obese........
Not like this Goliath.....lol
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John Lassiter
Poor planning and procrastination on your part does not constitute an emergency on my part...

Doug, I agree. When a snake has skin visible between it's scales and there is no meal bulge involved, it is overweight IMO. I have never to this day seen an obese snake in the wild, and would like to think they are the "model" for a healthy weight. When I saw my first adult female zonata I was stunned by how "skinny" it looked. Mitch told me that this snake had good weight for a wild adult female and she was very healthy. We are so used to seeing what we have in our tubs and tanks that I think we lose track of what an average looking and healthy wild animal looks like. I know I do, and the field herping I do puts me back in check.

Joe

Yes, I know exactly what you mean Joe. There is always an optimal balance somewhere in the middle for just about anything, and of course these things can depend on many different variables in captivity as to what those "balances" actually are for any given snake...

~Doug
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"a snake in the grass is a GOOD thing"

serpentinespecialties.webs.com

Great posts Joe and Doug!!
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Genesis 1:1

I never said they couldn't.....That was Rainer, but he may have meant breeders can't get fat as well..

Exactly.

Breeders can never get fat. As everyone knows i keep bonded kings together year round. So they are not limited by one clucth per year. I get 3 clutches per year. Some only two. Either way, it would be impossible for them to get fat. And i even feed them throughout brumation period in the winter because i keep the heat tape on in a cold room.

I tell ya, there is nothing like bonding your kingsnakes. To bad so many here are afraid of cannibalsm and refuse to try "the way".

Relax now and just say Ohmmmmm, OHHMMMMM! OOOOHHHMMMMMMMMM!
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>>King get fat, I thought that wasn't possible?

And I am sure it has alot to do with husbandry...
I didn't raise this snake nor do I know its previous husbandry.

It is a monster though.....hahahaha
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John Lassiter
Poor planning and procrastination on your part does not constitute an emergency on my part...

Can`t waiz for a pic....

I thought snakes knew how much they need and don't over do it like we are prone too.

Hey man, how's it going? I thought I read a post like that from someone???
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Gerard

"Sleep my friend and you will see, your dreams are my reality. "

www.livebaitclip.com

GONE FISHING!!!

Two cal kings that I've been raising up since 2009 got a little obese because they were my garbage disposals for years. They're finally up to size for breeding next year, that is if they can knock the weight off. Instead of feeding them every little bit of leftovers they've been getting 1 or 2 hoppers per meal, and I give them meals less often. The female is the more overweight of the two so she only gets food once every 2 weeks or so, the male I still feed once a week.

Hopefully they slim down a bit, I should've kept track of their weights....

Here's the female from May last year before she got fat.

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www.kingpinreptiles.com

Thanks Mike...
I believe that will be my plan as well...
Smaller prey items, less often so it can sustain and lose what it has in reserve...
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John Lassiter
Poor planning and procrastination on your part does not constitute an emergency on my part...

John I had a Sulfur lavender that was sold to me as a female, so I have been pumping her up for a few years in order to breed her. She got huge, and though I wouldn't call her obese, she has slimmed down a bit since I noticed she was a he, and I don't feed "him" as much now. I tend to feed female much more than males. I'd love to see pics of this Goliath.
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Disclaimer: I do keep several snakes in pairs, and some in groups. However I realize that things can go wrong, and I have to keep a close eye on those groups, to be sure they are not being adversely affected by these living conditions. Also if one happens to eat it's cagemate, it is 100% my fault, and I know the risks in advance!

What's wrong with using CAUTION?!?!?!
King Snakes! Who can make a better mouse trap?
~ Jorge Sierra www.SierraSnakes.com

I didn't read the whole thread so my apologies if this has already been suggested, feed it foods that are lower in fat. Frozen lizards would probably be optimal but they could be expensive or hard to obtain. The snake might also get a habit for them and stop accepting other foods. Frozen quail might do the trick too and some rodent suppliers sell them. I know of one that does but I'm not sure if it would be ok to post it so if you message me I can give it to you.

Other than that I'd say give it a bigger cage to crawl around in and change the furniture every once in a while to stimulate activity. If the snake is big enough to eat adult mice feed it ween outs instead. Pinkies and fuzzies would probably be counter productive since they are higher in fat.

In my experience they will slim down but if they've already got fat bumps they won't go away no matter how slim the snake gets.
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www.hcu-tx.org/