Help! My Kingsnake is not growing!

[VikingzTV]

So I am 15 and I finally convinced my parents to allow me to get a snake back in April of 2015, I got a Mexican Black Kingsnake and named him Thor. I had been feeding him one frozen-thawed pinky (the breeder said he had eaten live 2-3 times up until then) every 6 days for a few months, I fed him twice in one sitting on a few occasions (which he gleefully took).. About 2 months ago, August, I realized he had not grown a bit since I had gotten him.. So I went and bought some fuzzies as well as large pinkys and have been feeding him one every 6 days for about two weeks now, he has shed since then (the day after his first fuzzy) but still seems to have not grown since I bought him back in April.. I just am not sure what's wrong (or if anything is), I will attach two pictures (one from the day I got him and one from a few days ago)

[treaux]

Welcome. Have you been weighing him to track his progress? My guess is he has been gaining weight if he has been eating normally. If he eats and sheds without problems, all is probably fine.

[chairman]

Does your snake have yellow markings? If yes then I think that you have a black kingsnake, lampropeltis nigra, not a Mexican black kingsnake, lampropeltis getula nigrita. Overall not an extremely important detail but it's something that came to mind when I saw a MBK that wasn't solid black.
If your snake is eating once a week like clockwork then I'd say your only problem is that you haven't been feeding him quite enough. Increase his feedings to two mice a week. Make sure that the mice are just as big around as he is and you should be fine.
If you're really worried, pick up an inexpensive kitchen or postal scale and track his weight. You'll be able to see his growth easier that way; just remember that his weight will have temporary bumps as he eats and poops.

[VikingzTV]

Does your snake have yellow markings? If yes then I think that you have a black kingsnake, lampropeltis nigra, not a Mexican black kingsnake, lampropeltis getula nigrita. Overall not an extremely important detail but it's something that came to mind when I saw a MBK that wasn't solid black.
If your snake is eating once a week like clockwork then I'd say your only problem is that you haven't been feeding him quite enough. Increase his feedings to two mice a week. Make sure that the mice are just as big around as he is and you should be fine.
If you're really worried, pick up an inexpensive kitchen or postal scale and track his weight. You'll be able to see his growth easier that way; just remember that his weight will have temporary bumps as he eats and poops.

Thanks for the reply!:) Thor has some white markings, just a few on the sides of the bottom of his belly so i'm not sure if that qualifies lol however he does have the distinctive blue eyes before a shed so I think he's an MBK but I am not an expert.. Anyways, I will certainly start weighing Thor, never thought of that to be honest! I will also start feeding him twice a week and look for change! Thanks for the help!:)

[VikingzTV]

Welcome. Have you been weighing him to track his progress? My guess is he has been gaining weight if he has been eating normally. If he eats and sheds without problems, all is probably fine.

I haven't weighed him, never really thought of it to be honest haha! Seems reasonable though, I will definitely invest in a scale! by the way, just for clarification, does shedding = growth? Or do snakes shed for other reasons as well?

[VikingzTV]

Does your snake have yellow markings? If yes then I think that you have a black kingsnake, lampropeltis nigra, not a Mexican black kingsnake, lampropeltis getula nigrita. Overall not an extremely important detail but it's something that came to mind when I saw a MBK that wasn't solid black.
If your snake is eating once a week like clockwork then I'd say your only problem is that you haven't been feeding him quite enough. Increase his feedings to two mice a week. Make sure that the mice are just as big around as he is and you should be fine.
If you're really worried, pick up an inexpensive kitchen or postal scale and track his weight. You'll be able to see his growth easier that way; just remember that his weight will have temporary bumps as he eats and poops.
By the way (sorry for not including this in my last reply), Thor's white spots on his belly have slowly dissipated somewhat since I got him in April, not sure if this is typical or whether I really do have a Black Snake instead haha! nevertheless, thank you for your reply!:)

[reptiledude987]

typically shedding indicatews growth but can happen for other reasons as well. It can be part of the breeding process or can shed if it has mites.

[VikingzTV]

typically shedding indicatews growth but can happen for other reasons as well. It can be part of the breeding process or can shed if it has mites.

Ok I will keep that in mind as well. However what indicates mites on a snake? He is black after all so i'm not sure how well I could see them from a visual standpoint..

[chairman]

Snakes will usually spend a lot of time in their water dishes when they have mites. You can also see mites on shed skin, on your hands after holding the snake, and on the snake itself. Mites tend to stay in the spaces between scales or near the vent.

[reptiledude987]

Snakes will usually spend a lot of time in their water dishes when they have mites. You can also see mites on shed skin, on your hands after holding the snake, and on the snake itself. Mites tend to stay in the spaces between scales or near the vent.

^ this. I didnt say it as a cause for concern. If you had them you would know. Its just one of the reasons that can cause a snake to go into a shed.

[Rattlehead]

Do you think the quality of the feeders is good enough? When I started I used to by the pinkies from Petco. At some point they changed their supplier and I could see the difference, the pinks didn't look as well fed as before. I started to buy from another place and could see the difference of my snakes' growth rate.

[VikingzTV]

Do you think the quality of the feeders is good enough? When I started I used to by the pinkies from Petco. At some point they changed their supplier and I could see the difference, the pinks didn't look as well fed as before. I started to buy from another place and could see the difference of my snakes' growth rate.

Ahh Ok, at first I purchased pinkies from the breeder I bought him from, who specialize in snakes (captive born reptiles I believe is the name). Recently I switched over to Petland simply because of the easier accessibility, a 25 minute drive to the breeder from where I live versus the 10 minute drive up the street. The pinkies there seem very well fed, they are pretty chubby if I had to rate that haha! However when i went in there last, I told them I was looking for possibly moving up to the large pinkies and the smaller fuzzies, which he is still on (I will be picking up his first "batch" of regular sized fuzzies this weekend and hopefully after a few weeks I will see some results! Thanks for the help!

[VikingzTV]

Snakes will usually spend a lot of time in their water dishes when they have mites. You can also see mites on shed skin, on your hands after holding the snake, and on the snake itself. Mites tend to stay in the spaces between scales or near the vent.

Ok! I am glad to say Thor does not exhibit any of those symptoms haha however I haven't been able to pick up some bedding for him for the past few weeks so I have been using paper towels and changing them out every other day and I have noticed he LOVES to be underneath them, I put his hides, his 2 water dishes, and his branches/props up on top of the paper towels as of course, they are the bedding, but as soon as I put him back in his "house" (lol), within an hour he is usually back under the paper towels.. It is definitely warm enough inside of his "house" (around 70 degrees on the cool side and about 80 on the warm) and he has always found this to be a quite comfortable temperature. Important to be noted, I have both a heatpad UNDER his enclosure and a heat lamp on top, both on the warm side to keep it nice and warm. Being a desert snake, I wouldn't THINK too much heat would be a problem however perhaps i'm wrong and if those temperatures are too high or low please let me know, I only want the best for my snake and I will accept any criticism in the process to make sure he enjoys living with me as much as I enjoy having him. Thanks for the answer!:)

[reptiledude987]

Im sure if you start tracking the weight you will notice the difference. I often wonder if mine are growing then look at pictures from when I first got them and am usually blown away by the difference.

[EL Ziggy]

You may want to bump up his temps a bit Viking. I keep my kings warm sides at 86-88. Their cool sides are in the mid to high 70's. A little cooler in the winter. Is your heat source regulated with a thermostat? How are you measuring your temps?

[Lefitte]

I'm pretty sure baby MBKs often have markings on them? I remember a post on here about how no one wanted the babies with the markings even though they grow out of them and end up just as black as the babies who start off all black, it was a breeder who said it.

I would never notice growth on my babies unless I weighed them. It's really hard to tell unless you have a major growth spurt or look at pictures from a very long time ago compared to recent. My kingsnake only gained a few grams per week and that's not really a lot to tell by feeling and looking at them.

I've noticed a difference in mice depending on where I get them. Petsmart has the tiniest pinkies ever. Petco has slightly larger. The best ones I got were the local pet shop buys. They always just seemed the freshest. They also weren't flattened and always plump. Maybe you can stock up so that you only have to drive out to the breeder once a month or less? Or you can check out other local pet stores too if you have them for better quality mice. I still use the chain stores though, my local store closes so early that sometimes I can't get there or they're out of what I need.

I used newspaper for the first 9ish months with my Cali king. I used large strips for the bottom and then layered that several times with smaller strips. She loved burrowing too even though she had three different hides in her cage so I made it easy for her. You want to make sure that you have a bunch of hides and that they're the right size, just big enough for them to curl up and touch all sides.

80 degrees is pretty cool for a kingsnake. I keep my girl 78-85... which reminds me, I need to bump up her heat... again. We hit the first cold snap and I'm having to adjust hah.

If he's eating and shedding, Thor should be healthy. My girl didn't grow AT ALL for her first winter. She was still close to average hatch weight when I finally got a scale. She's made up for it though, went from 15g in December to 108g last week. If the cage is too cold, your snake might want to brumate [hibernate] which is what mine seems to have done. Thor will grow in his own time. As long as all other signs point to healthy, try not to worry too much. I know I did, so I totally understand where you're coming from and asking questions is the right thing to do.

[Andy_G]

Does your snake have yellow markings? If yes then I think that you have a black kingsnake, lampropeltis nigra, not a Mexican black kingsnake, lampropeltis getula nigrita. Overall not an extremely important detail but it's something that came to mind when I saw a MBK that wasn't solid black.
If your snake is eating once a week like clockwork then I'd say your only problem is that you haven't been feeding him quite enough. Increase his feedings to two mice a week. Make sure that the mice are just as big around as he is and you should be fine.
If you're really worried, pick up an inexpensive kitchen or postal scale and track his weight. You'll be able to see his growth easier that way; just remember that his weight will have temporary bumps as he eats and poops.

Baby mbk's will often have traces of white or yellow pattern that fades. The snake in the pic is an MBK, 100%.