King snake not eating! Help!
- Thread starter silvertip0
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I would go to 80-85 degrees and make sure there is a cooler spot for him or her to go to if it needs it , if the heating stones are not too hot to the touch they should be ok . and if freshly killed food does not work after all this you should learn to force feed
They also need a supplement as in vitaman d or calcium that they would normally get from the sun
kingsnakes hybernate this time of year.. they don't need or want to eat. i go through this every year with mine. they stop eating sometime around thanksgiving and start eating again the first time it warms up in late Feb or March.
a temp gradient is best as well. heating stones or rocks as there known are horrible things to use , use a heating pad with a thermostat.if the king wont eat , cool it down a bit and let it chil for the winter months , here in cali lots of native even some non go off feed this time of year , Force feeding should not be used unless the animal is in danger of death , if hes nice and healthy looking hes fine , snakes take a long while to starve .luvbigfish;4717303; said:I would go to 80-85 degrees and make sure there is a cooler spot for him or her to go to if it needs it , if the heating stones are not too hot to the touch they should be ok . and if freshly killed food does not work after all this you should learn to force feed
calkings are nocturnal and most snakes dont need supplements cept the insect eating ones , rodents supply all the nutrients and such they need.luvbigfish;4717305; said:They also need a supplement as in vitaman d or calcium that they would normally get from the sun
+1ozz465;4717468; said:a temp gradient is best as well. heating stones or rocks as there known are horrible things to use , use a heating pad with a thermostat.if the king wont eat , cool it down a bit and let it chil for the winter months , here in cali lots of native even some non go off feed this time of year , Force feeding should not be used unless the animal is in danger of death , if hes nice and healthy looking hes fine , snakes take a long while to starve .
calkings are nocturnal and most snakes dont need supplements cept the insect eating ones , rodents supply all the nutrients and such they need.
Esp. the points about heating stones (it's not a question of "if" it will kill your snake, but "when.")
No supplements needed. They get all the vitamin D, calcium blah blah from their whole prey items.
As others have already said, if the snake is in good condition don't worry about it, cool it down for winter and try again in the spring when it warms up. My cali's go off feed for a few months this time of year... this year they went early and are currently on Day 102 of not eating.
An ambient temp of 80 should be fine for it and a nice hot spot (of belly heat) up to 90 will give it a good basking around... I will get my hot spot for my kings to 95 in the hottest part of summer, and they love it.
Force feeding should be an absolute LAST resort! It is very stressful on the owner and animal and can be dangerous if not done properly, IF it comes to this (ONLY after you have tried EVERYTHING else and your snakes is still not eating, losing wieght and has already been checked by a vet for other problems) then you should seek help from someone who has done it before and been successful.
Also... From what I have seen Kings are not actually nocturnal, all of those I have worked with have been active at day and asleep in their hides at night time. however that does not mean they need any sort of supplements at all. They are snakes....
An ambient temp of 80 should be fine for it and a nice hot spot (of belly heat) up to 90 will give it a good basking around... I will get my hot spot for my kings to 95 in the hottest part of summer, and they love it.
Force feeding should be an absolute LAST resort! It is very stressful on the owner and animal and can be dangerous if not done properly, IF it comes to this (ONLY after you have tried EVERYTHING else and your snakes is still not eating, losing wieght and has already been checked by a vet for other problems) then you should seek help from someone who has done it before and been successful.
Also... From what I have seen Kings are not actually nocturnal, all of those I have worked with have been active at day and asleep in their hides at night time. however that does not mean they need any sort of supplements at all. They are snakes....
