New member, new pet

[Tasnene]

:)Hi i'm Tas and I have a Mexican black king snake named Noodle. I would appreciate all your advice so that I can be a better mom to Noodle.

I'm trying my best to put my snake on a carrying schedule since I never held him yet. I had him for about 3 months. :no: After all my research, I realized it wasn't good enough.

I gave Noodle a tank with real plants and soil. ( dumb idea I now know )

And I stress dumb idea :mad:. So I haven't been successful in feeding Noodle. first time around the meal was to big, the seller apologized and told me he is suppose to be on pinkies not hoppers and that it was labeled wrong on his card. The vomit I did not notice off the bat because it blended in with the scenery. 2nd attempt and 3rd not sure..... while I was trying to carry Noodle today I found that he had vomited at some point, not sure if that was his 2nd or 3rd meal, but I believe it was his 3rd at least i'm really hoping so. temps did drop low, and our heat wasn't coming on consistently. I bought a 100w ceramic heat emitter so that Noodle wont have this problem again. I'm assuming this meal was a fail because of the temperature dropping at night. Do you think I should take him to the vet? This Friday (Noodle meal days) I will attempt to feed him again then check that whole week to see if he vomited. He looks fine so i'm hoping it was the temps thats causing the problem.


I really want to carry and bond with Noodle but its challenging. the last feeding he reuse to take his food from the tongs, so I had to place the food on a small plate and leave the room for 10 mins. Only then he are his meal. I think because of this live tank he doesn't see me often. He hides all the time, and it doesn't help that I have to really dig for him to find him which I could imagine being really scary for Noodle.

you would think he has feet the way he runs from me. He likes to do victory laps around his tank while sticking his tongue out. what an embarrassing sight is must be watching me trying to hold my snake while he escapes my grasp.


Anyways I look forward to being a successful mom to Noodle and learning as much as I can and making new friends in this forum.

[David339]

I'm no expert but with my kingsnake and milksnake I got this year I have to feed them live pinkies. I leave it in the tank for them. Once a week. I know that if he is regurgitating it's not good. I'll let someone better versed post on that. I've never had any of my snakes regurge.

[Herpin' Man]

My advice:
First- do not handle or disturb the snake until it is feeding regularly and reliably. By handling it, you are stressing it and thwarting your own efforts to get it feeding.
Second, make sure it is warm enough. A hot spot in the upper 80's is not too hot. Heat increases metabolism, which increases appetite. There should also be lots of hiding spaces.
Regurgitation is dangerous for snakes. It weakens their digestive system, which actually makes a subsequent regurge more likely. Causes include handling after feeding, prey item too big, prey item too hot or cold, enclosure too cold- even feeding them while in shed can result in a regurge. When a snake regurgitates, the best thing to do is wait a couple of weeks to feed again. Let it recover and then feed it something tiny. In your case, a day old pinky. If your snake is refusing food, a live pinky would be best. If it digests the pinky ok (it should), try again.
For a neonate snake, this would all be a lot easier for you in a small enclosure with a paper substrate, at least until you can get the snake well started.

[craigafrechette]

You need to stop handling the snake immediately.

And if the snake is regurgitating it's meals you need to stop feeding for at least 3 weeks.

Also, it's important to figure out WHY the animal is regurging.
It's one of three things...
1) temps too cool and snake can't digest properly
2) prey was too large and snake couldn't digest
3) snake is stressed. A stressed snake will often "ditch" it's last meal to be lighter and more easily able to escape if need be.

Regurgitating beats up their insides and it takes time to heal. Continuing to feed an animal that has regurged twice is hurting more than helping.

Handling the snake is hurting more than helping.

So first things first...no handling!
Second...no feeding for 3 weeks from last regurge
Last...figure out WHY the snake has been regurgitating it's meals and fix the problem.

[Tasnene]

thank you for all the feed back, I think it was the temps at night. I been checking the temps around 12am and around 4am to see if it was being consistent. This heat emitter seems to be working, I never held him yet. So i'll take all the advice and I wont feed him tomorrow.

[Tasnene]

Sorry for the delay I guess my message failed to Post , thank you all for taking time out to help me out I really appreciate it. I would never hold Noodle during feeding, I try to hold him before feeding. I'm currently taking you guys advice, I did skip his feeding day. for the past couple of day the heat emitter I bought is maintaining the heat levels at night. I been checking around 4am to 6am and its been consistent so I finally managed to fix that problem. However now i'm struggling with humidity levels . I posted a thread on that . Again thank you and I will keep you guys up dated when I do attempt to feed him again.

[craigafrechette]

First and foremost you need to get him eating. So NO HANDLING AT ALL. Not before, not after, not until he's eating consistently and keeping his meals down. You'll have 20+ years for handling, but only if he starts eating. Focus on getting him eating and once he's eating consistently then start to handle

[Tasnene]

Okay will do. I’ll make sure I follow these directions to the letter. I will post updates.

[Tasnene]

First and foremost you need to get him eating. So NO HANDLING AT ALL. Not before, not after, not until he's eating consistently and keeping his meals down. You'll have 20+ years for handling, but only if he starts eating. Focus on getting him eating and once he's eating consistently then start to handle

*Update*
He ate his last meal but he did lose a lot of weight since I skipped about 2-3 meals . His bones are showing , I will look around his tank again to make sure he did eat the last one and not vomit again . Looking at him makes me nervous, his next feeding day is coming up , should I be concerned about his weight? I know I had to skipped the meals since he vomited back to back but looking at him this way makes me nervous. He does roam around his tank and hide a lot . Does it take long for snakes to gain their weight back?

[Tsubaki]

If it's a healthy animal he should not really lose weight from skipping a few meals, and most certainly not a lot. Not eating for a few weeks has little effect on healthy snakes, you may just be paranoid. Just continue to feed and monitor him.

[Tasnene]

If it's a healthy animal he should not really lose weight from skipping a few meals, and most certainly not a lot. Not eating for a few weeks has little effect on healthy snakes, you may just be paranoid. Just continue to feed and monitor him.

He’s still a baby and his bone is showing, I’m not sure if that’s normal ........ is there a way to post pictures of my snake ?

[ReptiWorldWide]

There definitely is a way cuz I have seen lots of other people do it, yet the only way I have been able to do it wad attaching it as a file. Sorry to hear about your snake!

[Tsubaki]

Use an image host, post the image link (direct link) between link tags.

[Tasnene]

https://i160.photobucket.com/albums/t189/tasnene/thumbnail_IMG_3411.jpg
https://i160.photobucket.com/albums/t189/tasnene/thumbnail_IMG_3497.jpg
https://i160.photobucket.com/albums/t189/tasnene/thumbnail_IMG_3403.jpg
https://i160.photobucket.com/albums/t189/tasnene/thumbnail_IMG_3487.jpg
https://i160.photobucket.com/albums/t189/tasnene/thumbnail_IMG_3405.jpg


Okay hopefully that works, also Noodle has one white spec on his scale not sure what that is ..... just want to thank you guys for taking time out to help me figure this out. It sucks and it stresses me out.

[Tsubaki]

A white scale that is otherwise undamaged and healthy looking is nothing special, lots of snakes have that. Think of it like a birthmark. Those were url tags not image tags, swapped them makes it easier to look through the images.

Has its tail always looked like that? And on the 4th picture the neck seems to have sharp folds as well but on other pictures it seems alright.. Is that skin doing that? as it looks different in other pictures. Hard to tell. What's the humidity like? Have you seen it drink? I'd not keep it in this nice bedding, but keep it on papertowels or the likes so you can monitor it more easily untill it's established. Something seems to be up.

[Tasnene]

A white scale that is otherwise undamaged and healthy looking is nothing special, lots of snakes have that. Think of it like a birthmark. Those were url tags not image tags, swapped them makes it easier to look through the images.

Has its tail always looked like that? And on the 4th picture the neck seems to have sharp folds as well but on other pictures it seems alright.. Is that skin doing that? as it looks different in other pictures. Hard to tell. What's the humidity like? Have you seen it drink? I'd not keep it in this nice bedding, but keep it on papertowels or the likes so you can monitor it more easily untill it's established. Something seems to be up.

He’s dead, I dont even know why he died and his tail did not look like that when I got him

[Tsubaki]

I am so sorry to hear that, don't blame yourself. Something was definetly wrong with that animal, did you contact the breeder?

[Veronica]

Yeah, it sounds like he may have been sick when you got him... I'm sorry for your loss.

[Tasnene]

I didn’t yet, but I did have the temps wrong at night for couple of nights, I don’t know if that can cause him to die. I fixed it , temps seem fine . I was having humidity issues but I constantly was checking on that. I never got to hold him and he didn’t seem stressed , not according to the articles and videos I watched. I need to find out what happened, it’s driving me crazy.

[Tasnene]

I don’t even know if it was me or the seller or the pet store I got the pinkies from . I only had him since Oct.21 . The place I got it from has really good reviews. My bearded dragon tank is near by and the temps are right .

[Tasnene]

I’m just sooo upset . Many people helped me
On this site, so did utube videos . Even an author who wrote this article on owning a MBK in New York responded to me and told me I’m doing it right. I showed pics of the tank and was told I’m being paranoid and that snakes are really tough .

[Aaron_S]

You absolutely did nothing wrong. If you never got a necropsy done then you're unlikely to find out the true cause of death. HOWEVER, I can definitely tell it wasn't something you did or didn't do.

MBK are hardy animals. Even as babies. Your tank looked good. Your temps were fine, even with odd night drops, the snake wouldn't become ill the way those final pictures looked.

It's possible it had some sort of internal parasite if it came from a store or something. There's also the possibility the animal developed an internal problem like cancer that was impossible to detect by you or anyone by normal means.

It did NOT have anything to do with you, I know it's hard but try not to beat yourself up about it. These things do happen suddenly at times.

[Tasnene]

The seller xyz reptiles won’t give me my money back , they said they would replace the snake if I cover the shipping charge. This is frustrating cause I’m actually terrified to try this again . I was so paranoid I would wake up 2am then 4am then 5am to make sure the temps were correct . When I got his meal I used an cooler . And if the pinkie somehow semi wet I would throw it away.

[Aaron_S]

The seller xyz reptiles won’t give me my money back , they said they would replace the snake if I cover the shipping charge. This is frustrating cause I’m actually terrified to try this again . I was so paranoid I would wake up 2am then 4am then 5am to make sure the temps were correct . When I got his meal I used an cooler . And if the pinkie somehow semi wet I would throw it away.


I'd just do it. Cheaper than a full replacement anywhere else.

[craigafrechette]

The seller xyz reptiles won’t give me my money back , they said they would replace the snake if I cover the shipping charge. This is frustrating cause I’m actually terrified to try this again . I was so paranoid I would wake up 2am then 4am then 5am to make sure the temps were correct . When I got his meal I used an cooler . And if the pinkie somehow semi wet I would throw it away.


I'm so sorry for your loss and this unfortunate experience. I personally would not do business with xyz. I've never heard a single good review about them.

If it were me, I'd take my time and find a reputable breeder. It will be well worth it.

Keep your chin up. You did nothing wrong. This animal was definitely ill before it came to you. Temps being a bit off definitely wouldn't cause the snake to pass. Snakes are much more resilient than many give them credit for. And Kings are some of the hardiest and most forgiving. So don't beat yourself up, it wasn't your fault.

The only thing I'll offer moving forward is to follow strict quarantine moving forward. I honestly don't know enough about lizards, but if your snake was sharing a room with your beardie I would monitor the beardie very closely too.

[Jman22]

I'm so sorry for your loss and this unfortunate experience. I personally would not do business with xyz. I've never heard a single good review about them.

If it were me, I'd take my time and find a reputable breeder. It will be well worth it.

Keep your chin up. You did nothing wrong. This animal was definitely ill before it came to you. Temps being a bit off definitely wouldn't cause the snake to pass. Snakes are much more resilient than many give them credit for. And Kings are some of the hardiest and most forgiving. So don't beat yourself up, it wasn't your fault.

The only thing I'll offer moving forward is to follow strict quarantine moving forward. I honestly don't know enough about lizards, but if your snake was sharing a room with your beardie I would monitor the beardie very closely too.


+1...well put. It can be rewarding finding the right snake for you.