Reptile & Amphibian Forums

How many of you turn up the heat when power feeding kings?

I do it to get females up to breeding size in 2 years (actually 20 months).

I turn up the heat on kings to 90f so that I can feed large and frequent meals. The snakes get hot enough to sit in the front of the tub away from the heat tape in the back. I noticed this speeds up their metabolism and they can consume lots of food and digest it ina short amount of time.

Has anyone else used this method to grow their kings?

Exactly what I have been doing for 2 years now with my subadults....the "hot" side of their enclosures are around 90F and the "cool" side is room temp around 72F or so.......it seems to have had some success as opposed to cooler temps or the lack of thermal gradients.........I think the key to raising snakes up as quickly as possible (with the snake being healthy) is providing them with a thermal gradient....Oh yea, another key is lots of food items often........NokturnelTom should tell us how he does it......LOL
I have never seen a 12 month old snake over 4 feet until I saw some of his......And they are not obese at all....Long, healthy snakes that are very proportionate in size.......
John Lassiter

Actually, I'd like to bring my temps DOWN FROM 90F!
I definitely under feed compared to you "power feeders".
:Mark

I do they same. My temps are ranging from 88-90 on the heated end. Im trying on some hatchlings I just got and trying to keep it documented to see. Right now as a 05 5 week old hatchling it is eating 3 pinks every other day. I just downloaded serpwidgets and Im using it to keep up on growth.
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....but I still say...feed em the smallest meals ya can...

LOLROF! Damn you is one crazy Kat!
Todd Hughes

I haven't really tried this with king snakes, but I hatched a clutch of red-eared sliders this year. I kept back one and gave a local friend (ZuesS) one. His is growing leaps and bounds quicker than mine, and all we can attribute it to is the fact he has a heater in his turtle tank.

I have noticed, although it hasn't been a goal of mine, that within the same species, the snakes I keep warmer generally do grow a little faster, even if fed on the same intervals.

It seems like all the books say not to overfeed,but I have a story about a tangerine honduran milksnake that went from hatchling out of the egg size to 3 and a half feet long in five months. I worked at a pet store in houston,t.x. and a hatchling honduran escaped from its deli cup. Behind the pet store there was one acre of land with parrot houses everwhere and buttloads of mice and mouse tunnels. Six months after the snake escaped the guy who takes care of the parrots came into the store and said there was a red snake in the bird house. So I went out there and there the honduran was. He was in mint condition and not fat at all,plus he spent the winter outside in the birdhouses,the birdhouses were heated with lamps to keep the birds warm. I've never seen any snake grow that fast and be so healthy in that short period of time. 3 1/2 feet long. He obviously ate all the time. We all had a hard time wrapping our mind around the fact that this was indeed the same snake that escaped given the growth.

The snake was missing for six months,not five months like I wrote in the beginning of the story. Kevin

This question scarces me, I do not agree, but considering this site does not allow, opposing opinions, I will post my opinion and experience on our site. As this pertains to varanus as well.

I am not sure if we are allowed to link to that site, so I won't, just put a dotnet on the back of varanus for an expliantion.

I truely wish I could post it here, but the moderators have somehow confused opposing views(which a forum(ks) is supposed to express) with fighting and breaking the TOS. They also confuse intent with meaning. As it does not matter what a persons intend is(who the heck knows that anyway) with the information posted. Its only the information posted that must meet the TOS. And finally they confuse passion with aggression. Passion will indeed lead to aggression, a moderators task is not to control passion, but elimiate aggression. Conflict is the only thing thats as fast as the internet, reptiles and keeping of reptiles is very slow. Conflict is what keeps people coming(hits) A moderators mission is to create conflict thats within the TOS. If not, your site becomes very very boring. I know, our site is very boring(slow), as personal conflict is not allowed, and theres not enough reptilian conflict to keep it exciting. Thanks FR

A full range of useable conditions and food items, will and can allow a individual to reach its potential in growth, reproduction and longevity. FR

FR just post your responses and if it gets deleted that is just how the cookie crumbles.

I turn up the heat up on the snakes to the point they are pressed sideways onto the front of the cage it does make them eat a whole lot more. Is it natural, No. But I probably have the biggest yearling females anyone has seen.

Okay, now go crazy and lets see if we can get this deleted.

I do not crank the heat all the time. I do however sometimes. I think that that in nature some days are very very hot, while others are very damp, and cold, and whatever. So I attempt to mimic that with a spilled water bowl, or turning the heat off or way high. I have to since my cages for young snakes are simply not that large and can not be altered as best as I wish they could be. I also move snakes around from one shelf to another. Sometimes down near the floor, toher time on top near the ceiling. I do leave my AC unit on in my room all summer long and still leave heat tape on too. This at other times of the year helps my snake shave a range of temps to use. And I have some damn large yearlings too Tom Stevens

Rainer thats the worst thing Ive ever heard. Seems sorta cruel man all our personal stuff aside that is just foolish. I guess I dont look at snakes as dollars so I dont feel the need to crank the heat up until they can hardly tolerate it so I can get em breeding faster. What you described sounds more like abuse man and I wouldnt post that I do that if I were you. Ive seen others make comments like I turn the heat up or turn it off to mimic nature but the difference is a snake can leave that spot under the pine tree and go somewhere else but there is nowhere else to go in a cage.

Keith
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Keith
You promised a long time ago you would not post on any more of my threads. I have no interest in responding to you. You and I just do not get along. Why can't you just respect that, quit trolling my posts and leave well enough alone.

Me to

I use a heat gradient of 88 tape end and 70/72 cool end, also this may sound like too much effort but i use a pinkie pump to fill my pinkies with ground steak about 1 gram per pink, that way i dont use as many pinks and they get good muscle quick.

Paul..

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Pinky's taste nice,only if there fresh..

I keep my background temps in the low 70s and keep a constant basking spot in the mid 80s. I find that if it is higher than about 85, the snakes never use it. In my set-ups they frequently move around the cage to meet their thermal needs. I tend to think that if they are constantly pressed up against the front of the cage, they are uncomfortable and actively attemping to escape the heat.

Also, I feed one moderate to large meal, usually every 10-14 days, or whenever they look hungry (head out of the shelter cocked and ready to fire). My easterns and ball pythons grow long and skinny until they hit that first cycle and routinely breed at 18 months using this system. But hey, whatever works. I'd be the last guy to say that there is only one way to do things. Interesting topic. Thanks.

Will

With a 04 albino cali king male. Had the heat pad on the one end where he always was, and it was always just below 90 degrees.

He shed every month, ate every 2-4 days, would eat 2-5 pinkies every time. Less than a year later he is about 28". When I got him he was about 12".

Boy how they grow.

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Mike
KingPin Reptiles Inc.
Helmz777@aol.com
www.freewebs.com/mikesnake
Updated 9/19 NEW PICS/INFO

I'm going to ally myself with the minority on this one. What's the rush to grow your snakes as large as possible as fast as possible? Impatience? Is this done at the expense of the snake's health? I wish there were some studies out there to show the effects of power feeding on health and longevity. Whats next, hormone injections? Steroids? Relax, have a drink. Let them grow at a "normal" rate, whatever that is.

Greg

Whats next, hormone injections? Steroids? Relax, have a drink. Let them grow at a "normal" rate, whatever that is

Whats wqrong with hormone injections. In humans over the age of 40 hormone injections causes longer life and much better quality of life. Who is to say that "captive conditions" ,..ie well fed swiss mice, seasonal breeding and reproduction, controlled temperature environement, hormone supplements ect., don't make for healthier and happier captives?

But then when we sell snakes we will have to put * by it to indicate that they are a product of "Performance Henhancing Drugs" LOL

Kerby...

Enhancing..........

Kerby...

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I would pay extra for the snakes labeled "organically grown"!

naturally filtered mountain spring water after running it through reverse osmoses (sp) and I only feed them FREE RANGE MICE!

Kerby...

naturally filtered mountain spring water after running it through reverse osmoses (sp) and I only feed them FREE RANGE MICE!

I let mine drink the natuarlly formed dew found above their steamy crap piles which I forget to change. They feast on thawed mice left out in the sun so long that the FREE RANGE MAGGOTS "organically" moisten the rodent so tender that the meat just falls off right the bone. yummmmmm

Of course I was referring to growth hormones and steroids. And I gotta agree with FR, we have to be able to disagree in here without everybody getting all upset. What's wrong with a little POLITE disagreement?

I agree there is nothing wrong with polite dissagreement. Honest!

I did that 9 years ago when I was 12. I'd use a water heater and their water would be 90-95 all the time. It took a couple years to grow females to full size, but males only took about a year. I tried that with a brooks hatchling, and from about late march to early Sept, he went from about 12" to over 36". I fed him as many anoles as he would take, and would occasionally feed him rat pups. Anoles digest really fast, so he'd take a big meal, and be all emptied out and ready for more within a couple days.