Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Ok, let me give you some back ground...

I have a cal king... close to a year old...

he/she was a great feeder... eat when ever i offered.. normally 2 or 3 fuzzys at a time... good weight, great disposition...

about 3 months ago, it slowed down in it's eating... but keep eating... normally turning down the second mouse i offered.

little more than two months ago... it stoped eating all together...

a month and a half or so afer trying everthing i knew to get it started again, i took her to the vet... the vet drew blood and told me she had an infesction, and gave me meds..

I follow the directions, gave her the meds... (is it normal for your snakes mouth to bleed alittle when you give it it's pills?? i was a gental as i could be.. and it didnt' bleed alot..)

anyway. we recheck her and the levels were good.. give her a week and try to feed her again... that was, 3 weeks ago.. still nada..

about a week and a half ago.. she looked like she wanted to shed.. something she quite doing when she quit eating... but, she never did... one day, a few day ago i pick her up, and her skin brakes. she looked like a 90 year old women she was so wrinkled... i gently pull off her dead skin...

NOW she looks great from the top.. but her underbelly looks.. wrinkled still... she's lost some weight, but doesn't look overly skinny... she seems allert and active, for the most part, but still won't eat...

I'm kind of at a loss... I'm going to soak her today, per vet orders to make sure all her exeuss skin is gone, and give her a nother week and try to feed her again...

any ideas?

I'm afriad in my zeal to help her... i've only harmed her further... (the trama of the vet, the pills, the shed...)

What's the deal and what should i do? Have i over reacted?

she's my first... i'm very disheatened by all this..

EX

First off, any kingsnake can use some humidity when about to shed. The easiest way is to put a plastic container with some moist sphagnum moss in it. You can cut a hole in the plastic container lid if you want and put the lid on. Soaking is good too but make sure the water is only like 1/4" deep. Don't make the poor snake swim to stay alive by having water too deep.

Next, about the stop in feeding. It is part of the natural cycle for Cal kings to stop eating in Fall in preparation to brumate. No tricks will make him start, and you shouldn't worry. Breeders will normally darken the cage and turn off all heat to keep the cage around 55-65 until February or March. If you don't feel comfortable doing that, just leave a small heated area in the cage but let the rest of the cage go unheated and let the snake decide where it wants to be. Offer fresh water but no food, and keep the cool end darkened with paper cover or whatever.

I can't determine over the Internet exactly what if anything is wrong with the snake, but I would almost bet that you went to the vet and stressed the snake for nothing. Don't worry - the snake will be fine if he is healthy (and just because a snake isn't feeding during this time of year doesn't mean it isn't healthy.)
-----
Mark