Shedding?

[Hillsberry]

I have only had my California knigsnake for a mouth. He has only shed once and it was in the last week of october. How often to snakes shed and should I be worried?

[Chu'Wuti]

Shedding depends on how much & how often the snake is eating in relation to his size, among other things. Can you tell us more about your husbandry, how much your snake weighs and/or its length, when/what/how often you're feeding it, etc.?

Sandy

[Hillsberry]

Well my snake is about 20 inches long. He weighs about 1 lb. He is feed once a week. He hasnt been eating and I think it might be because he is going into a shed. But I am not sure how I can tell. He is albino and his colors are like a milk color.

[mary10]

wow a pound for a 20 inch king is pretty heavy....best way to know if your snake is in a shed is his eyes if there cloudy or milky then its in a shed, you may have missed this stage though, the skin will have a blue hue to it as well, could be your tank temps what temp/hum are you keeping? what was he last fed? it could just be the time of year as well.

[Hillsberry]

Last time he ate was like 3 weeks ago. The cold side of his tank is 75, and the warm side is 80. Humdity is 23.

[Chu'Wuti]

It's very likely that he hasn't been eating because the temps in his enclosure are too low. For most species of kingsnakes, the hot zone should be 85-88 deg. F, with a basking spot at 88, and the coolest zone should not go below 70. The warm zone should run between 78 and 80 deg. The higher temps are really helpful to digestion; though some people do maintain kings at 80 deg F, I think they do better with access to a higher temp region, and this could be why your king has quit eating.

Humidity is not a big issue for kingsnakes, though increasing the humidity when it is in shed can be helpful. Just put a bigger bowl of water in when he appears about to shed. If your enclosure is drying out more in the winter than it did in the summer due to your household heating system, you could mist lightly every morning & evening, but around 30% humidity should be fine.

Get a good temperature probe or temperature gun for measuring temps. You can get an indoor-outdoor temp/humidity sensor at Lowes or Home Depot for about $25 that will help you maintain appropriate temps.

Finally, get a good scales and weigh that guy. I use a KD-7000 and it is very accurate and reliable. I suspect--I hope--you are guesstimating your snake's weight, because if he weighs a pound at 20 inches long, he is extremely obese--even my BP didn't weigh that much at that length, and BPs are heavy-bodied compared to colubrids such as kingsnakes! Once you've weighed him with an accurate scales, then you'll know about how much he should be eating each week.

Keep us posted, and let us know if you have any more questions! Good luck--once you've got all the husbandry issues figured out, snakekeeping is both fun and easy for the most part!

Sandy