Reptile & Amphibian Forums

For about a week now, my California Kingsnake has appeared to be going into a shed. His belly became yellowed and dull. Later, his upper side became dull. As of Friday, his eyes clouded to the point of opacity. He was very nervous if I had to open the cage for any reason. He always spends most of his time under his water dish at all times, but I haven't seen any evidence that he's been out from under the dish in days.

Today, I lifted the water dish to check on him, and he's changed but doesn't appear to have shed. His upper side and belly both appear dull, but his belly is much less yellow than it had been previously. His eyes look pretty much normal. He doesn't have the beautiful look of a freshly-shed snake, but he doesn't look as bad as he's looked for the past four to five days. I held him for fifteen minutes or so, and he seemed more lethargic than he usually is. I've had him almost a month, so if he's shedding, it will be the first time that he's shed for me. I can't find a shed skin anywhere.

Friday was his normal feeding day, but I didn't feed him because I thought I should wait until after he shed. Last Friday (11/4), he took a mouse fuzzy and three mouse pinkies. He's an aggressive eater and took the fuzzy backwards. He's 38 inches long, and everyone tells me that I should move him up to full-sized mice. I haven't because he doesn't seem big enough in diameter, but I bought a full-sized frozen mouse a few days ago and planned to try him on it after he finished shedding.

His other behavior that has me puzzled is that he only goes to the bathroom when I soak him. I bought him on October 15 and fed him on October 18. He had eaten at the pet shop a few days before I bought him. By October 24, he hadn't defecated, so at the advice of another (and more experienced with reptiles) pet shop, I soaked him in slightly warm water. After about 20 minutes, he went to the bathroom. He ate again on October 28 and on November 4, but again hadn't gone to the bathroom by November 7. I soaked him again, and again he eliminated after about 20 minutes.

His cage temperatures are strange. I have UTH under about 2/3 of the floor. The "hot end" of the cage is maintaining about 80 to 82 degrees F. The middle of the cage is maintaining about 84 to 86 degrees F. The cool end is maintaining about 76 to 80 degrees F. I don't know why the "hot" end stays cooler than the middle of the cage. The water bowl that he hides under is in the middle of the cage. He has hides on both the "hot" and cool sides, but he never uses them. Humidity is in the 35 to 60% range with 40 to 45% being the usual number.

I rub him with Vita-Spray two or three times a week.

My questions are:

1. Is there a problem with him appearing ready to shed and then appearing as if he's not ready to shed? Should I do anythimg more for him besides maintain humidity and temperatures where they are?

2. Does his only defecating when I soak him every two weeks suggest that he has a constipation problem? (If it happens again, I'm going to start to think that he's been potty trained.) Should I soak him every week just to give him an extra chance to eliminate?

3. Should I feed him the full-grown mouse now or give him a few more days to shed?

4. Is his only problem that he has ONO? That's an Obsessive Newbie Owner.

Thanks,

Bill
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It's not how many snakes you have. It's how happy and healthy you can keep them.

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Lots of kingsnakes claer up right before they shed. Its normal, I bet he shed that night. I wouldnt handle him or feed him when hes like that because you could start to peel the old skin, then you won't get a nice one piece shed.

Also, I would try to give him a warmer hot spot on a smaller area, thus giving a cooler (and larger) cool area.

Zach,

Thanks for the comments. I made the post yesterday, and he shed this evening. The humidity was in the 50% range this morning and tonight when I came home from work. I don't think he had shed when I checked at 7 o'clock after work, but when I checked around 8 o'clock, he had shed in a nice, one-piece shed.

I let him rest for about an hour or two and then gave him an adult mouse. I've never fed him an adult, and it left a little bulge in his stomach before he went back under his water dish. When it works a little further down, it might not be noticeable at all. Either way, I'm not going to bother him for a couple of days to check.

Somewhere in there, he also defecated a little bit on one of his hides. I've cleaned that mess and misted his cage one more time for good measure.

I feel that it's been a successful day of snake-keeping for a newbie. The one-piece shed seems like good news.

You mentioned trying to give him a warmer hot spot and cooler temperatures in the rest of the cage. Do you have any recommendations on how to do this? The only heat that I'm using in his cage right now is UTH. I have two separate pads, and neither is on a rheostat. I can't think of any way to dial up the temperature in only one spot.

Thanks,

Bill
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It's not how many snakes you have. It's how happy and healthy you can keep them.

A few things. First of all, when you feed a snake small meals relative to its size, it frequently won't go to that bathroom after every one. I would be willing to bet that now that you switched over to larger meals he will defecate more regularly. Increasing humidity would also help with any constipation. I wouldn't really worry about constipation until 2 full weeks go by. That being said, soaking is something great to do for any snake constipated or not. It will help keep them hydrated, its good for their skin, and they get exercise if the container is large enough to swim a bit.

Cal kings will usually spend most of their time on the cool side of the tank so you can give them more room there. What type of UTH do you use? Try a heat lamp during the day to raise the basking temp with the UTH on 24 hours for night time heat.

Zach,

Thanks again for the comments. I'll try to increase his soaking schedule to once a week. His soaking container is a 12"x8"x7" "Kritter Keeper" kind of plastic container. I put about half an inch of water in the bottom when I soak him. That container is probably too small for him to get any swimming value, but I can look for something bigger.

I keep him in a 55-gallon aquarium. The aquarium is 48" long by 12" deep. There's a support in the very center of the bottom of the aquarium. I have a Fluker's large ( 11"x17" ) UTH on the "hot" side of the aquarium. The pad is offset from the far side of the aquarium by about an inch or so. Obviously, that leaves about six inches between the edge of the pad and the center of the aquarium. I then have a Fluker's small ( 11"x6" ) UTH just past the support in the center of the aquarium. This smaller pad seems to give more heat, and the bedding above this pad tends to run in the 86 to 88 degree temperature range. The support is placed so close to the glass that I can't get a UTH between the support and the glass. I have expanded polyethylene sheeting (an R1 insulation) against the pads to hold them against the glass. I also have the entire aquarium sitting on these polyethylene pads. I think these pads keep the heat moving upward into the aquarium.

I've noticed that the snake spends most of his time underneath a dog's water dish that I placed over the middle UTH. Ever since I suggested that the pet store give him that extra water dish a week or two before I bought him, he's loved going under it. I haven't tried moving it, but I suspect that he'd spend most of his time under that dish regardless of where I put it. I'm trying to find another just like it so that I can have two in the aquarium. I'd love to see whether he'd use both of them.

What's the maximum temperature that I should allow the hot spot, and how much heating of the rest of the tank should I tolerate? I have a light bar with incandescent fixtures. I've had them on a few times, but they tend to push the whole tank into the low 90's temperature range. The temperatures were still climbing when I'd turn off the light.

Again, many thanks for your advice and help.

Bill
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It's not how many snakes you have. It's how happy and healthy you can keep them.