Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hi there, I was wondering if anyone could help us?

We have just recently brought our Californian kingsnake to Brunei (S.E. Asia) from the UK (as we have emigrated there), but now we have encountered a problem with feeding. As a 6 month old snake we were feeding him fuzzies, but here in Brunei we are unable to source any small rodents for love nor money. Hamsters and field mice are the closest we can get, but all are way to large for our juvenile snake. We tried giving him common house lizards (small soft brownish ones that seem to loose their tails when frightened) first dead, then alive but both with no joy. Our snake has not fed in nearly a week now and we are not sure how long he can go without food and whether he will starve himself to death. We have even resorted to small pieces of meat and chicken as well as quail eggs both cracked and non-cracked, but he refuses to eat all of them. We have also tried force-feeding him, but we can’t open his jaws and we remain afraid we may hurt him.

If anybody can suggest how and what to feed our snake, please let us know.

Thanks in advance.

Snakes can go a long time without eating. 3 of mine haven't eaten in almost a month and they are fine. What is the temperatures there? Some snakes stop eating this time of year in America because when daylight lessens and temps get colder, they go into hibernation. This could be why yours hasn't eaten. No need to worry. Can you get hamsters to mate, then feed him the babies? How small is your snake? Small field mice might be ok.

Don't try force feeding. Snakes can go a lot longer than a week without food.

As you obviously have the internet, try ordering frozen rodents offline. I do not know what the shipping policy is over there, and you may have to pay extra, but you could order in a large quantity so you didnt have to do it very often
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