MBK taming advice

[chairman]

At a year old a kingsnake should be eating much larger meals than a pinky mouse. Adult mice might even be appropriate at that age for some snakes. I would definitely start increasing prey size to fuzzies or hoppers.

Kingsnakes will eat anything in the wild. Rodents, birds, frogs, lizards, other snakes... they seem inclined to try to eat anything they come across.

I haven't worked with MBK's, but eastern kingsnakes and California kingsnakes generally tend to grow out of this. Some, of course, won't.

[dangernoodles]

Originally Posted by chairman

At a year old a kingsnake should be eating much larger meals than a pinky mouse. Adult mice might even be appropriate at that age for some snakes. I would definitely start increasing prey size to fuzzies or hoppers.

Kingsnakes will eat anything in the wild. Rodents, birds, frogs, lizards, other snakes... they seem inclined to try to eat anything they come across.

I haven't worked with MBK's, but eastern kingsnakes and California kingsnakes generally tend to grow out of this. Some, of course, won't.

Yeah, I was gonna say pinkys seem a bit small, but of course I wasn´t entirely sure. He´s probably just hungry.

[craigafrechette]

Originally Posted by chairman

At a year old a kingsnake should be eating much larger meals than a pinky mouse. Adult mice might even be appropriate at that age for some snakes. I would definitely start increasing prey size to fuzzies or hoppers.

Kingsnakes will eat anything in the wild. Rodents, birds, frogs, lizards, other snakes... they seem inclined to try to eat anything they come across.

I haven't worked with MBK's, but eastern kingsnakes and California kingsnakes generally tend to grow out of this. Some, of course, won't.

Completely agree here. Pinkies are WAY TOO SMALL.

A) your snake is hungry
B) you probably are over handling which also causes stress.

OP, can you also tell us about your temps in the enclosure?

[emjy099]

Originally Posted by dangernoodles

Feeding him more often is not gonna do anything. From what I can tell, your MBK associates you with food. Also, as mentioned above you might be stressing him out.

Originally Posted by chairman

At a year old a kingsnake should be eating much larger meals than a pinky mouse. Adult mice might even be appropriate at that age for some snakes. I would definitely start increasing prey size to fuzzies or hoppers.

Kingsnakes will eat anything in the wild. Rodents, birds, frogs, lizards, other snakes... they seem inclined to try to eat anything they come across.

I haven't worked with MBK's, but eastern kingsnakes and California kingsnakes generally tend to grow out of this. Some, of course, won't.

Originally Posted by dangernoodles

Yeah, I was gonna say pinkys seem a bit small, but of course I wasn´t entirely sure. He´s probably just hungry.

Originally Posted by craigafrechette

Completely agree here. Pinkies are WAY TOO SMALL.

A) your snake is hungry
B) you probably are over handling which also causes stress.

OP, can you also tell us about your temps in the enclosure?

I took him out today and he was great, very relaxed and explorative. I thought I should provide a little more information. My handling schedule is sometimes every day, but usually about every other day for 10-15 minutes or so. I only bring him out when he is out and exploring and actively trying to get out. My temps are 30C on the hot end (86F) and 23 on the cool end (73F).

For those saying pinkies are way too small, I should maybe elaborate that my age estimate for Jasper assumes he was born in late spring, making him almost a year old. I bought him in early September. I don't have his last shed to measure but he's about 2 cm in diameter at his very thickest. So correct me if I'm wrong but the pinkies he's been getting are not too small for him yet. I've attached a picture (Or tried at least). The dish he's in is 10 cm x 12 cm (4"x5") at its widest and longest.

Thanks guys