cal king q's

RaVeNo888o · 07-19-03, 08:05 PM

hey guys, i have a few q's

k, my cal king is about 1 year 7months. He is about 2 feet long. I was wondering if this is normal for this age. To me it look small but it might be becuase he has a small 'stature' ..hes skinny but not 'skin and bones' if you know what i mean. I feed him a fuzzy once a week. thanks for any input

**Andy_G** · 07-19-03, 09:35 PM

Way too small for his age in my opinion. Feed it something bigger than fuzzies, thats an extremely small prey item for a snake over a year old!

My yearling albino cal king is 30 inches long and on 2 hoppers/ one small adult mouse per feeding.

Invictus · 07-19-03, 09:39 PM

I agree that the prey item is way too small. 2 feet long is plenty big enough to be feeding it adult mice.

RaVeNo888o · 07-19-03, 11:34 PM

that is what i feared..thanks..i was feeding it fuzzies because of the rule about gerth of pray. so i should move up to hoppers? how long should it take before i see some growth, and how large should i expect him to be at this age..thanks for your help guys (should i possibly feed him a little more than once a week? say every 5 days?)

**Andy_G** · 07-19-03, 11:40 PM

The rule is not the same girth with prey items for colubrids, it can be up to 1.5-2 times the girth of the snake depending on the specie. Usually if the prey item is too big, the snake just won't eat it. Sounds very small for it's age, but get it on 2 hoppers every 7 days and you should see a bit of growth. Once it's eaten two hoppers 3 or 4 times without fail, move it up to properly sized adult mice.

RaVeNo888o · 07-19-03, 11:46 PM

ya, the fuzzies i was getting were on the large side for a fuzzie and were probably about 1.5 the width of his head. I will do the 2 hoppers a week thing that you suggested. At that rate of feeding, i take it that i should refrain from handling him for the first month or so while he gets used to the changes, correct?

overall the health seems good, other than the size. Hes isnt boney or anything and has good skin but im glad i asked about the size, ive seen pics of all these large corn and kings.
Thanks again for the help, much appreciated

**Andy_G** · 07-20-03, 11:26 AM

I would say that if he is going to regurgitate his food he will do so within 48 hours after it is consumed. I don't think you need to handle him any less than what you are now, but maybe for the first feeding keep off of him for four days instead of two, just in case.

RaVeNo888o · 07-20-03, 11:27 PM

ok..i bought eight hoppers today, but i had to go to my dads for a few days so i should be able to feed him wed (last fed him thurs)
once those hoppers are done, should i automatically switch to adults as mentioned or are there any signs i should look for that may change that plan (other than the obvious regurgitation)?

snkmn · 07-20-03, 11:44 PM

i concur feed him an adult mouse that is what i do for my 2-foot ball python and he is only 9 months

RaVeNo888o · 07-24-03, 05:30 PM

Well thanks for your help andy. I fed him today. He took the first hopper and squeezed it for about 20 min before he finally managed to find the tip of the nose. Once he started swallowing it took about 25 min to get all the way to his stomach. He had trouble getting past the initial width of the head but after that it was all good.
i then offered the second and he didnt hesitate to strike. He coiled around this one but this time for about 50 min!. he folded the mouse in half almost and then was dragging it around his tank by the ear doing barrel rolls (it was quit amusing) He finally started to swallow it. located the nose alot quicker this time and had no real trouble with this one. hes now basking in the heat and all seems to have gone well..ill keep you updated..thanks again for your help

07-24-03, 05:36 PM

heck one of my colubrids, a corn neo, took a fuzzy for it's 4th meal. Most of mine are on adult mice by 5-6 months of age.

RaVeNo888o · 07-24-03, 05:59 PM

ya, i know. i was feeding him too small items, im kinda mad at myself because i should know better. He did go about a month without eating in the winter though. Hopefully all is well now.

**Andy_G** · 07-24-03, 09:05 PM

I actually crush the skull of most of my snake's food items, seems easier for them to swallow.

Usually when the prey item gets bigger, no matter whether they're ready for it or not, the first food item of that size seems to give them a lot of trouble, this is ebcause they do not know how to manipulate the food properly the first time around, but they do the second.

RaVeNo888o · 07-24-03, 09:21 PM

yep i figured that..How do you crush the skull? just use ur fingers? That would have helped because it was the 2 bumps behind the mouse ears that gave him trouble, and then a bit on teh shoulders. It was amazing how repsonsice he was to the second condering he had the biggest meal hed had in his belly. he snapped at it real fast.

**Andy_G** · 07-25-03, 12:10 AM

I just use my fingers to crush the skulls, not a lot of people i've met regularly do this but it definitely does help them get the food down quicker, by no means is this skull crushing necessary though.