To think about.



Feeding large food items can be very problematic if your temps and conditions do not allow digestion of large prey items. This is one reason most do not do what you do. If they try, their snakes requrgitate their food.



Your absolutely spot on, in nature they do consume very large prey items, but they have TOTAL control over the temps and conditions they need.



Dehydration also causes regurgitation, wild snake control their hydration. If they start to dehydrate, they drop their body temps and conserve both water and energy until conditions return to something they can utilize.



I was out today with Mark Bell, and showed him a young Blacktail with a large food bolus out in the sun, and the rest of its body under a boulder.(I took pics) (regional heating).



Also about the reasons why some kings eat other kings is being glazed over here. They have very important behaviors to bond with other kings in nature. If this is not done, they they consider other kings, to be only some other kind of snake. They will consume other snakes.



They tend to bond as hatchlings. That is prime, but, they can also winter together and form bonds there. Of course, this is just now being worked with, so these two areas may only be a small part of what they do.



Somehow science has labelled most reptiles as non social animals. But if you go over to the field herp forum, you will see so many people finding groups of snakes together, even groups with several different species, TOGETHER.



This is exactly what we see on a daily basis.



There are several problems as to why this is not understood well. Timing is one, Schools are in "CLASS" in the fall, winter and spring. Snakes are in groups, late fall, winter and spring. Classes are out in the summer and thats when "students" are available to do field work. Snakes forage in the summer and the groups are often very loose or they break up during this time.



So what you get is, many species are in groups for 3/4's of every year, and solitary for 1/4 of the year. Unfortunately, they are studied during the foraging period.



Interference is another, if you have groups and catch them, and install radios, the groups break up and scatter in all directions.



After your snakes lay eggs, THEY FEED. Winter/Spring, pairing and breeding, summer and early fall, feeding/foraging, then do this over again. late fall to spring, is reproductive mode.



So, if you guys tried raise them together and tried to brumate them in pairs/groups, your animals can be socialized to live together. That is the task of the keeper.



As I have already mentioned, I keep kings in groups and do not even seperate them when feeding. And I do not feed large prey items. I feed lots of small ones.



Also like you, I do not understand the diet thing, I can feed everyday(smaller items) and they grow long and thin until they reach sexual maturity, then they bulk out. Of course, if a snake or group of snakes is getting fat, all you have to do is allow them NOT TO FEED. In nature, some populations only NEED to feed for short periods. Two weeks to a month of heavy feeding is all they need. Then the rest of the year they conserve energy.



If the temps are to low, they grow short and fat. Folks this is not about diet, its about the ability to use energy.



This is the unique design of reptiles, they can conserve energy by lowering their body temps, and expend energy by raising their body temps.



What is hilarious is, these snakes are in groups when the temps are low, fall, winter and spring. There is no need to feed, and not need to feed on your mates.



Of course there is so much more, and not enough time to write it. Cheers

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