Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I'm planning on hibernating my 3 adult Tarahumara Kingsnakes. I have never done this before and am wondering if y'all can offer me some advise.

I have been maintaining a weekly feeding schedule (one hopper per week) for my three snakes all summer long. I recently, in the last 2 feedings switched to mice rather than hoppers. Is it necessary to try to fatten my snakes up a bit before burmation? Everything I've read has only mentioned the 2 week cleansing but has said nothing about how much to feed.

I bought the snakes last year in April. They came out of hibernation March 1st. My two females produced eggs but they were mostly all yellow and sunken. I did many things wrong. I did not try to double clutch because most of the things I read said that it is very stressful on the females. I want to do it right next spring.

I think the main reason they didn't produce this past spring was because of a poor feeding schedule. It took a few weeks for my snakes to acclimate to their new homes. It took some trial and error, at first, to get them to eat. I finally got all three to eat live hoppers and I have been sticking to that all year (with the exception of the last 2 feedings). In the months of May thru June I slowed the feeding due to me being unemployed and broke (I think that was the biggest mistake I made in trying to produce babies). They all eat well now and the three of them are on similar shed cycles.

Should I continue feeding weekly up until about mid November then plan on burmating in my basement in the beginning of December? I was planning on burmating until March 1st.
This past week I tried to increase the frequency to a feeding every 4 days. My smallest female wouldn't eat after just 4 days – she needed 6.

Another quick question. If the snake eats a mouse but has a large bulge in it's belly was the mouse too big?

If I were to increase frequency of feeding what would be the most you would suggest? Try every 4 days? Or keep it weekly with a larger meal? Is it okay to maybe offer 2 hoppers every feeding, once a week?

For some reason I don't feel comfortable feeding the snakes too much and I find myself checking for poop. Call me weird but if I see a healthy turd it makes me feel better. then I run to the store and buy more mice!

Thanks y'all!

DeanMoriarty
St. Charles, Missouri

Wow, alot of info.

It is likely that these snakes in the wild would feed as well as they could before the cool temps set in.

Telling you how much to feed w/o seeing the snakes is hard to do. It depends on the condition of the snakes. You don't want them real thin but not obese either. Basically, if they will continue to eat for you, feed them until Nov or whenever you want until you're 2 weeks away from when you want to cool them. Then let the nightime temps get low, but keep the day temps up for 2 weeks with no feeding then cool totally.

I've seen snakes in the wild with huge bulges in their bellies from recent meals. The only reason I can think of not to do that with captive snakes is that we may not provide optimal conditions in captivity, so smaller, more easily-digested meals might be better for captives. But, if your snakes are doing fine on large meals, then no worries.