Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hey guys, my cal kings (the '01's) have been off feed for the last bit. (four five weeks). I have an older king of unknown origin and age, who is eating like crazy, and two yearlings that are also eating like crazy, but the '01's aren't. I've noticed as well that the boys are much more slender than the one female (who was bred this year). Are male kings generally more lean than females? The female I have is longer and MUCH heavier than the boys. They are all from the same breeder, though the female is not related closley (or at all) to the males who are clutchmates.

Just looking to see if this "thinness" is typical or if I should be concerned. I've been able to convince them to eat by giving them a "tub full" of live fuzzies. Eventually they pig out like it's couch-potato-food. But I would really prefer to give them adult mice (one per feeding) as opposed to six or seven fuzzies.

My Apalachicola kings are voraciously eating, and my AZ mountain king has gone off food for the winter. Just not sure if I remember how the cal kings were this time last year.
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~Sasheena

Generally speaking, I would say that males are bigger than females. Maybe it is just that males are growing while the females are spending energy developing eggs, etc. I would say that males grow faster/bigger than females. But just like in humans, genetics can produce different results from the same clutch. Some snakes will just get bigger than others, even with the same feeding schedule. And some cal kings from different locales are bigger/smaller than other areas. I guess if you never bred your females, then maybe they might be the same size as males eventually. Also skipping a year on breeding a female won't hurt either.

Remember, these are just my observations/opinions - others may have different ones.

Kerby...