Hey everyone, I could use some help.

[Morgan says]

So I am very new to this site and I joined because I have had quite a hard time the past few weeks with my king snake, Oedipus. He is an Eastern King snake that was a wild rescue, also my first snake. Two weeks ago he managed to escape, I live an apartment and my roommates have two cats. Needless to say the cats got a hold of him and I had to rush him to the vet. I have given him all of his Baytril shots that were prescribed. Prior to the attack he had regurgitated the last mouse I had fed to him. I ventured to guess it was due to the fact he was about to shed. It has been about a month and he will still not eat. On top of that he is back in shed to help heal and is not making a great effort to try and start the shedding process like he did last time. I went and bought three lava rocks to put in his cage to help him out and I really do not know what else to do.


So I guess my two questions are, how can I help him shed, and should I switch to frozen mice instead of trying to feed him live mice.

I am leaving this Saturday or Sunday night for a week and my boyfriend is scared of the snake so I know he will not want to take him out to feed him...

[Gungirl]

If he was a W/C why dont you release him back into the wild?

[Morgan says]

Well I have wanted a snake for quite some time now, he had gotten caught up in some wires outside of my back porch. He was hurt pretty bad and so I took him in since he was so nice. I also thought since I have never taken care of a snake before that it would be a good starter snake?
He has a great disposition and has been very good.
Am I still in the wrong?

[stephanbakir]

F/T is preferable over live. If he has healed I would advise releasing him, and buying a CBB one.

[Gungirl]

I think that all you are going to do is stress him out ... wild snakes should stay just that... wild.

[TeaNinja]

I think that all you are going to do is stress him out ... wild snakes should stay just that... wild.

eh, depends on the specific situation. wayne has abunch of w/c pets that he enjoys keeping and i'm sure have great relatively stress free lives. i know others who keep w/c as well.

[KD35WIN.AS.ONE]

If you release a W/C snake more than 500sq feet from its original location mortality rate is extremely high, well over 50%. If you rescue a W/C snake for whatever reason (besides just catching one in the wild for fun) it is best to give it a permanent home.

[Morgan says]

Well, while I was away on vacation I had my boyfriend let the little guy go. He had a full and no problem shed, although still did not eat before he was released. I really missed him when I got home too. :(
He indeed was a rescue not just caught on a whim so seeing that I am not the only one wanting to harbor and keep a few rescues is a relief. Thanks for all the advice.
I recently went and bought a new snake, and he too is an amazing pet.