Cal KIng feeding problem (cross post)

[endless]

Hello,
I have a 2 year old California King snake, captive bred and always fed dead (frozen) mice. I have had him for about 3 months now, and he started out eating every 5-10 days, on a fairly regular basis. Lately he is reluctant to eat, and at the moment has gone 19 days without feeding. I am getting worried! How long is too long?

He has water, temp gradient of 75-85, and I offer him a warmed mouse every day. He retreats, and acts almost scared of it, when at first he attacked them with no hesitation.

Any advice appreciated!

[gonesnakee]

Do not offer everyday for starters, offer once weekly & then the folllowing week if it refuses try again. Is he possibly in a shed cycle? I think the main reason is the season. Many adult snakes that would normally feed very well start refusing meals in the fall & winter months as it is in their nature not to eat during this time. Your snake is a young adult. Remember that its in the snakes nature to stop feeding & brumate over the winter. Even though the temps are proper etc. the snakes "sense" the season & their natural instincts take over & they start refusing food. 19 days for a 2 YO king is nothing LOL You have zero too worry about as long as the snake is not becoming thin or lethargic. I breed CKs & every year at this time I stop feeding them for 3-4 weeks to clean out their digestive system. They are them brumated (cooled) for around 3 months. I then warm them up & start offering food. Sometimes the males won't eat until they have bred a few times. All my adult Colubrids go for 4 months straight with no food every year & the males sometimes 4.5-5 months. This happens every year not only with captive snakes, but snakes in the wild as well. You probably have nothing to worry about at all as the snake is probably just sensing the season & making you worry over nothing. Cheers Mark
P.S. also as mentioned sometimes in the breeding season (spring & summer) male snakes will go off food for a while & will appear restless even though they have never bred & aren't around any females. Again it is in their nature to not care about food & want to seek out a mate. Despite us keeping & manipulating them they still have natural instincts that come into play during certain seasons that affect their behaviour & feeding patterns.

[Omega Red]

Couldn't have said it any better. Just like Mark was saying, Cal Kings can go without food for a very long time. I have one male that didn't eat for almost 2 months. Then one day he just decided to pick it up again. I have a female that still hasn't eaten for at least three months; her health and activity levels are normal. I suspect she will eat only when she is ready. If temps are fine, and there are no noticeable problems, odds are the snake is just doing its own thing and will eat when the time is right.
Derek

[endless]

Thanks for your replies...I feel much better now! He finally accepted one hopper after 3 weeks of not eating, and I will offer once a week from now on.

The other thing I've noticed lately is that he is shunning the warmer side of his enclosure and hanging out in the cool end, where it is only 60 degrees! Is this also part of the winter hibernation behavior? He is quite active in the evening and night, but when he curls up it's always in the cool end. How cool is too cool for hibernating?

[kpeters]

Freezing is too cool - anything above +2 is good. Ideally you want +4 to +8 Celsius for brumation.

[gonesnakee]

It sounds like it is being kept too cool on the cool end, you should be shooting for closer to 75 F on the cool side, probably why its not been feeding as well. For Brumation I recomend temps of 50-55 F, but the snake must be kept warm & not fed for 3-4 weeks prior lowing it to those temps & that would be the temp it would be kept at with no hotside & no meals for 3-4 weeks prior that. Anything colder than 45-50 F & you can get into trouble. Remember if you are going to consider cooling it for the winter it must be properly conditioned first. Mark

[endless]

I'm not really TRYING to cool it for the winter, it's just the way it works out...I have a heating pad under half the enclosure, and in that area it ranges from 75 (at night) to 85...but the other side has no heating, and my house gets cool at night. I don't really understand why he doesn't move to the warm side unless he wants to be cooler?

I have wood heat, so the temp in my house does fluctuate...I'm open to suggestions as to how I might more effectively regulate the heat in there! I though of another heating pad on the 'cool' side, but the one I have now is on 'low', and raises it up to 80-85, so I don't know how to raise it less than that.