Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Juvenile Cal King - about 27 inches or so.
He has eaten adult mice before.

On Tuesday, he killed an adult mouse. Partially ate it and left it.
Today (Thu) - I offered him a hopper. Very strong feeding response, killed it, started to eat it - got to the shoulders, and then left it.

I can feel nothing physically wrong with him.
No sign of rot in his mouth. Jaw looks fine.

Has anyone heard of this?

On another group, it was suggested that maybe the mice has something on their fur he did not like.

I'm going to try fuzzies tomorrow and see what happens.

Note he did not regurgitate - he started to consume both mice (adult and hopper), but stopped before he had their front feet in his mouth.

Physically - he seems fine. I will seek a vet if he does the same thing with fuzzies, this is just weird.
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3.0 WC; 0.3 CB L. getula californiae
1.0 CB L. getula nigrita
0.1.1 WC; 0.0.3 CH Elgaria multicarinata multicarinata

i have 2 that will do that 1 being an albino ruthveni that ate mice all the time then did the same thing would kill it start to eat then stopped, then she went on a hunger strike for about a month and now will only eat hoppers about three of them but wont touch an adult mouse.
the other 1 is an adult lav. stripped cal king that does it once in a while so i'll wait a week or 2 and then no problem.

Warren

Thanks. Today was suppose to be his last meal before brumation. If he doesn't eat the fuzzies, I'll have the vet listen to him (there's some things you need equipment to detect) - and if all seems OK, just brumate him anyway w/o a last meal. He's not skinny.
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3.0 WC; 0.3 CB L. getula californiae
1.0 CB L. getula nigrita
0.1.1 WC; 0.0.3 CH Elgaria multicarinata multicarinata

You're albino looks like mine. I was told he's rare...did I get suckered? This pic was about 4 months ago.

Not a King, but my Glossy snake is now exhibiting the exact same behavior --- killing mice, starting to eat them and then leaving them dead. I'm going to brumate him for a few months, warm him up and offer him food then.

reako45

I've had a few snakes that would do the same thing from time to time.. Two of them did this as a result of me banging around the rack while they were eating.. When I left them alone and quiet they both would go back and eat the mouse.

something else to consider; have you changed suppliers?? different mice. maybe a slightly different smell...

if you fed f/t i'd recommend washing the mice then offering them..

hope this helps some..

byron.d