Help. California Kingsnake not growing.

[barbicrash]

Originally Posted by drumcrush

Two fuzzies in not power feeding at all, not for the age of that king. My garter is a year old and just was moved up from two fuzzies. For being a year old an eating pinkies, she most likely was/ is under weight. You will need to eventually get a bigger tank. A 20 gal. Long at the least, but bigger is always better(provided with enough hiding spaces) . And pictures would be nice.

Anyways, welcome to the forums I hoped I helped some

Ok that's good to know cause I'd like for her to get as big as possible! Another issue that I forgot to mention above is part of my not moving her up in feeder size was due to the fact that I have a huge HUGE phobia of rodents. I understand and accept that its just part of being a snake owner and I need to get over it, and I have a bit. The live pinkies were not bad at all. I think I kept feeding her pinkies due to not wanting to deal with more mature mice but the fuzzy wasn't bad at all and now that im concerned about her weight, I'm even more willing to just get over it lol. I'm slowly getting over my mice phobia. But I did have two further questions about feeding. Once she gets big enough to eat hoppers and adults, exactly how "dangerous" is live feeding. I've heard so many different answers but live is much easier for me, plus the only time she's ever refused food was the thawed pinkie. Also, I asked the reptile shop guy if she could eat pinkies her whole life but in bigger quantities, he said yes but I wasn't aware it was at the expense of her growth rate. Do snakes grow based on quantity or size of prey or a little of both?

Also, I'm considering getting more snakes in the future, maybe ill get a garter as well since don't they like fish? And yes you did help me out, thank you!

Edit: I'm not home at the moment (posting from phone) but ill take pics of her tomorrow morning and post them so you can all see her size.

[drumcrush]

Originally Posted by barbicrash

Ok that's good to know cause I'd like for her to get as big as possible! Another issue that I forgot to mention above is part of my not moving her up in feeder size was due to the fact that I have a huge HUGE phobia of rodents. I understand and accept that its just part of being a snake owner and I need to get over it, and I have a bit. The live pinkies were not bad at all. I think I kept feeding her pinkies due to not wanting to deal with more mature mice but the fuzzy wasn't bad at all and now that im concerned about her weight, I'm even more willing to just get over it lol. I'm slowly getting over my mice phobia. But I did have two further questions about feeding. Once she gets big enough to eat hoppers and adults, exactly how "dangerous" is live feeding. I've heard so many different answers but live is much easier for me, plus the only time she's ever refused food was the thawed pinkie. Also, I asked the reptile shop guy if she could eat pinkies her whole life but in bigger quantities, he said yes but I wasn't aware it was at the expense of her growth rate. Do snakes grow based on quantity or size of prey or a little of both?

Also, I'm considering getting more snakes in the future, maybe ill get a garter as well since don't they like fish? And yes you did help me out, thank you!

Edit: I'm not home at the moment (posting from phone) but ill take pics of her tomorrow morning and post them so you can all see her size.

I've fed my king both live and frozen and then just decided to stick with the frozen so that switch wasn't very hard for me. A trick I've heard(and worked for me on my garter) was braining the mice. as far as danger goes with feeding live, if you don't leave the mouse in with the snake and walk away then you should be fine. My king hasn't gotten bit with feeding adult mice but I didn't want to risk it. So when you get to the adult size, just watch so you can prevent any dangers.and the thing with staying on pinkys ive read that they don't have a well established skeletal system so the calcium levels are a bit lower compared to more mature mice.

Moving on to the garter, yes they can eat fish but only certain kinds.Garter Snake Forum - Garter Caresheet read through this and you will know why. This is the best caresheet for garters I've seen.

[barbicrash]

Alright here are some photos I took while spot cleaning her terrarium. I just fed her a fuzzy yesterday so she's been hiding ever since digesting. I intended to put her on a hardback book so you could see the relative size but she got super annoyed when I tried to pick her up so I just left her in there. The ones with blue substrate are from today. She has a big lump cause of the fuzzy. The one where she's in my hand is from late last year and I don't feel she's a whole lot bigger from then. Maybe slightly longer, not fatter.

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I have another concern as well. Shes definitely calmed down a lot during handling, but even now she runs away and tenses up when I open her cage. She has never bitten me but has pooped on me many times though she doesn't seem to do that anymore. She always calms down almost immediately after I pick her up, but the running away thing is frustrating. This morning, I think may have striked at me. I couldn't really tell if it was a strike or she was just wriggling too much. Anyway, do these snakes ever relax. I was told you're not supposed to handle them everyday, but maybe I should now? I don't want an aggressive snake.