Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I have a very healthy California King that's about 4-5 years old. It is over 5 ft. and looks good. Always makes me nervous when it goes October to April without eating, sometimes longer. When it eats in the summer it eats really good.

Is this normal? If I see him active I will sometimes put food in, but during those months he won't touch it.

Also, what temps do you recommend during the year and then also winter when he's not eating.

thank you,

over 5' at 4-5 years old sounds beastly for a cal king. pics?

anyway... not eating in the winter is fine. about half of the kings i've ever owned shut down in the winter. normally from oct to feb.

for temps i keep them at low 70s (cool side) and high 80s/low 90s (hot spot) using a room temp between 70 and 72 and undertank heat pads or flexwatt.

in the winter, if they stop eating i'll just turn off the heat a couple weeks after their last meal and let them sit at 70ish. once or twice durning the winter i'll turn the heat on and offer food, but only about 30% take the offer. if they eat they will continue to get heat and offered food until they stop. if they dont eat, the heat is turned off.

i've experimented with cooling kings and corns down to 55/60 like some people do and havent found that it makes a difference in terms of eating, health, or breeding. others may disagree, but i think the shorter light cycle and lack of heat is fine and cooling isn't required. though my experimenting has only been on a couple dozen animals... folks with hundreds or thousands may see different results fairly regularly.