Mexican Black King not growing?

BreadBreadson · 06-30-17, 07:22 PM

Hello everyone,
first post here. Unfortunately, it may be about a problem.
Last year, I purchased a hatchling Mexican Black king from Reptiles by Mac. He is beautiful, eats well, and is fairly active in his tank. (20 gal w/ lights, multiple hides, log for climbing, and cool end) My only concern is that he is not growing nearly as fast as I thought he would. When I got him he was 14 inches and 12 grams, and now (almost a year later) his is only 18 inches and 24 grams. He barely looks any bigger than when I first got him. He will be a year old in July. Now, all my other snakes I got as adults/large juveniles, so this could be normal growth for a baby. However, I just wanted to check with you guys to make sure he doesn’t have a problem. When I first got him he was on one pinkie a week. About five months ago, I started giving him two and he took them with no problem. Do you think I could start him on fuzzies soon?
So, what do you think? Is this growth abnormal? Your help is greatly appreciated.

dannybgoode · 07-01-17, 08:25 AM

If it's genuinely around a year old and it's only on 2 pinkies you're underfeeding it by some amount. Don't force the issue but yes I'd bump to fuzzies.

**EL Ziggy** · 07-01-17, 09:34 AM

I agree with Danny if you're still feeding him pinkys at 2 y/o he's definitely being underfed. I'd get him on to fuzzys ASAP. I think my kings were on pinkys for maybe 4-6 weeks max before I bumped up their prey size.

BreadBreadson · 07-01-17, 02:48 PM

Fuzzies are twice the thickness of his body. Is that ok?

dannybgoode · 07-01-17, 02:50 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by BreadBreadson

Fuzzies are twice the thickness of his body. Is that ok?

I would have thought so. You will be surprised how much prey gets squashed when eaten. It's be surprised if it leaves much of a bulge once fully swallowed.

TRD · 07-01-17, 04:45 PM

It's funny how king snakes grow. I have a 9 month old cali king that is merely 15 gram and a 13 month old Nelson milk that is 130 gram. The cali king has parents that didn't cross 90 cm and are very slender. They are both brought up on similar schedules..

I.e.- much is dependent on genetics, not just feeding achedule, don't jump to conclusions too fast. If your snake is otherwise healthy, do not worry. Though I do agree starting to switch a snake to fuzzies around the 25-30 gram mark should be done.

Edit: oh yes, and I had an almost 1.5 year old MBK that was only 55 gram. It cross 200 gram before the age of 2. It grew a whole lot in a very short time.