Has anyone else encountered this problem in California Kingsnakes? I have one that hasn't eaten for five weeks but otherwise appears healthy and active. What do you do?
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Winter onset/refusal to feed
EricWI
Dec 07, 2005 10:58 AM
Replies (4)
ratsnakehaven
Dec 07, 2005 03:36 PM
Does it have a choice of temps? If it did it would tell you what temp it preferred. Also, how's your humidity? Often the humidity goes down in the winter and could affect their appetite. Kings can survive several months of cool temps w/o eating. It should have the choice, imo.
TC
markg
Dec 10, 2005 06:45 PM
This situation is common in captive Cal kings. We usually respond by cooling the snake to 55-60 deg until Mid Feb or so. This way, the snake is not burning lots of calories during this period.
As far as captive husbandry goes, this method seems to work well.
But, what about those warmer days in Winter when a Cal king (in the wild) would be able to thermoregulate to an optimum temp for digestion? Would some kings then eat if they could find food? In captivity, this has happened to me. I didn't keep the cages at 60 deg all the time. I live in Cal king range. On warm days, I heated the cage on one end. Some kings would eat for me if offered food. Some wouldn't.
So I guess I would say, cool the king, but once in awhile warm an end up and see what happens. You may be surprised, or you may not be.
crotalusdurissus
Dec 11, 2005 06:18 PM
Hi I have bred kings for a number of years and in my opinion should be cooled to 68/70 mid october and brought out early march.the refusal to eat is perfectly natural and providing the animal is in good condition should not be a problem.
TwoSnakes
Jan 21, 2006 02:57 PM
Posted by: crotalusdurissus at Sun Dec 11 18:18:56 2005 [ Report Abuse ] [ Email Message ]
Hi I have bred kings for a number of years and in my opinion should be cooled to 68/70 mid october and brought out early march.the refusal to eat is perfectly natural and providing the animal is in good condition should not be a problem.
Do you do that because you breed them or you would do it even if not a breeder?
My CA king is doing great this year but last year he stopped eating mid Dec to late Feb. He just hid . I did keep temps warm but he has a cool side (low 70s) and under his hide area in his cool side was where he hid for those months. His warm side mid 80s he never went to or visited his hide area in his warm side.
This year I was prepared to cool him but as of now still eating still active.
He was an eating machine untill mid Dec so he had weight to carry him those months . This year I was going to just shut heat off mid dec after feeding him early Oct but again he stayed active and eating.
Have you ever just had any go no problem all year long without brumation?
