I Let My Arizona Mt. King Get Too Fat

[Ladyhawk]

Generally, do you just put them on a no-food diet to correct the problem? I don't think there's such a thing as a snake treadmill.

[Zoe]

If your snake has access to a lot of climbing/exploring areas in the cage and eats good rodents, then the problem should not arrise. Snakes are lethargic in the wild, too (when not hunting) and so a bit of activity is enough to keep their muscles toned. Is he obese, or simply heavy?
How long is he and what's he eating? What size cage is he in?

You might want to slow down feeding a bit and ad some furniture for him, or let him outside to roam around (supervised of course) every week?

Curious to hear everyone else's take on this...
Zoe

[jay76]

No treadmill, but there are leashes...

Sounds good to me Zoe. Adding some extra furniture and generally giving more exercise should help if it's really a problem. Do you have any pictures of your fat 'zona king Ladyhawk? Maybe he's just big?

[Ladyhawk]

He has developed some creases in his sides. Under the part of his body where the creases formed he feels "mushy" or fat. The creases appeared after the last shed and cover his middle and lower body for about a foot, one crease about every inch.

I assumed this is probably obesity. I assumed the creases formed when he coiled up in his, um, slightly rotund condition.

At one point I did probably feed him too much, but decided to back off to two mice every two weeks because it seemed like he was gaining weight.

He has a grapevine to climb in his cage, but much prefers to hide under the water bowl. He doesn't spend much time on the side of his cage that is heated, so his metabolism is probably really slow. (He has a log to hide under on that side, but rarely spends time there.) I've been thinking about increasing the heat a bit to increase his metabolism.

NOTE: I had an interest in snakes when I was a teenager, but this is the first time I've ever tried to keep them long term. I want to do right by them. I'm finding that the biggest obstacle is learning to understand that they do everything more slowly. My baby corn snakes are taking awhile to calm down. My large male Arizona took awhile to get fat (if that's what is happening to him). It will take awhile for him to lose the weight.