Reptile & Amphibian Forums

first feeding day after the wake up.
report: i think i need another set of hands!
i have never witnessed anything of this sort. the first snake 4+' banded cal just came out of the tub mouth open head thrashing back and forth. they must have smelled mice in the
air.
after getting it back in the tub and it pushed back into the rack i looked around..
... all of the other out of the 5.10 collection were thrashing around,pushing on the top,and nocking over water dishes. i really do not have words to discribe the feeding response that i witnessed yesterday. they were accually coming out of the tubs biting thermostat wires, tongs, me, mice, the side of the tubs, the rack, i had and albino constrict his water bowl! all i know is i said a lot of words that can not be said here and i think i need to go to church today! i hope this was their way of saying they are ready for the breeding season. if it is there are going to be alot of little cal kings in jacksonville. i had one snake that when i pulled the tub open she shoot out did a perfect hit on the mouse two foot away and hung there eating it.it was hugging the tub so tight i could not put it back. i was not even ready to feed it. i was taking the mouse to it on some tweezers. wow
i even tried to slip the mouse in by opening the rack only 2 inches or so. the snakes said NO NO i,m coming out there.only 2 out of 15 took the meal in a civil manner. and one regurged. but all in all it was fun as... well you know. i got a new respect for the feeding respose. it was an awsome display. thanks jason

p.s. rich, now i know why you were laughing the other day when i said i was going to bring them out this week end.lol man if these were pythons i would be snake food!

The reason they have this responce is, they are starving. And they were not hibernating. If I were you, I would check the females or ovum, as they may have already cycled.

The problem is, you think your nature, and please forgive me, your not. By difinition, hibernation is a term define what the snake is doing, not what the temps are. My bet is, they were not hibernating and would have fed last week or the week before or the week before that.

ALso Cal kings do not hibernate, at all. Hmmmmmmm before a huge arguement occurs, just go check the range maps of cal kings, and compare that to weather maps. They avoid areas with long periods of cal. YOu know, think of them as californians. They are restricted by elevation, which means, they are restricted by cold temps.

The important part is to understand. If they were hibernating, they would take a little time to "pound food" which is, aggressive feeding. If they are pounding food, when you first bring them up. Then they were already active for some period.

Ok, now to the important part. Seriously. Your like many others, your placing the cart in front of the horse. You define behaviors, feeding, hibernating, etc. By your actions. When in reality, those difinitions are defining the snakes behavior/s.

You think when you lower the temps, thats hibernating, but thats not true. Hibernating is when the snake behaves in a way we call hibernating. You see, these labels are about what the snakes do, not what you tell them to do. In this case, they are telling you, they were ready to feed for some period of time. Only you thought, they were hibernating. Which of course they were not, or they would not be pounding food with such agression.

I hope this helps, if not, don't worry about it and ignore this post. So please don't blame me. I am not the one pounding food(the observed behavior) ok, I am, but thats not the point. Cheers

Thanks FR,
My cals have not hibernated at all I let the temps in my snake room move up and down with the temps out side. Some days they were 80* some days they were 60*. Like you said I am not nature. I could have controlled the temps but chose to let it do what it will. I only kept an eye on weight lose and made sure that I changed water every three days. I cleaned out the cups with bleach every week. My snakes went through a period of brumation. I set a date to return to a normal feeding schedule and maint. These are my first adult kings and my first breeding season and I could not have imagined the response that I got. I am not feeding them full grown mice. They are going to get some fuzzies this week then go to normal size meals. I have read a lot of text and asked all the questions and I still do not know everything in the hobby. I am just doing it the way that works for me. I read about you years ago and I have some pics of the banana line you worked with. I have a lot of respect for the trial and errors you and many others have built this hobby on. That banana line is older than me. It is cool to have that insight and knowledge in my office when I have a question. So please answer my post if you have anything to add or if I am messing up but remember I know who you are lol.
Thanks FR for you post,
Jason

P.s.-can you guys tell I went to church todayļ

From your previous posts, I assumed(you know what that makes me) that you had far more experience.

I keep my reptiles much like you. I do not hibernate. I allow them choices of temps.

My suggestion would be. To feed them when they want to eat. Anytime, even in the winter. But as you mentioned, when its not so hot, do not feed large food items.

Good luck and keep on posting nice pics. Cheers

FR
i found the book that states the banana line cal king was a result of selective breeding originating from a cross between a newport striped phase and an odd chain pattered cal king.do you have any pics of this odd chain pattern cal king. i have what i believe to be a newport morph(local) see pic below.i quoted some of this from page59 in David Perlowin's book- common kingsnakes. i love to collect these older photos. you sometimes don't know where you are going if you don't know where others have been. i asked you once if you knew of any data that could help me put together where the morphs originated-who created them- and what the reconized names are. you may have missed the post so now that i have your ear could you point me in a direction that may help bring together a family tree(for the lack of a better name)of the lampropeltis getula californiae. my intrest are mainly with the banana line and the chocolate line and what is still possible.what is still possible? nobody can answer this.but i want to get a history in front of me so i know what has been done in the past who did it and how did they do it. i know there are records out there in book form or text of some sort. i just can't seem to put it all together. any help would make this kingsnaker very happy. thanks jason wilson