Adult Kingsnake Feeding Poll

Some say to feed once a week, some say once every two weeks, others say every 4 - 5 days... I'd love to hear the opinions of everyone as to how often you would feed a non-breeding adult kingsnake.

I feed all my Kings, from hatchling on up, 2 prey every 7-10 days. I wouldn't consider any of them overweight. I always feed from smallest to biggest, then offer any uneaten prey to the next one up. So, from time to time the larger ones will get a bit more than their usual 2 prey.(if they decide to take it). Typically, my MBK and Hypo Florida King wind up being the clean up crew.

I find that there is tremendous variation between individuals.

Sometimes the males, whether or not they're being bred, just won't eat much. But, I do have a couple that will eat 2 to 4 large mice every 7 to 10 days viginity notwithstanding.

My nonbreeding females if under 2 years old feed regularly every week or so. Once they hit the 2 year old mark though, even if I don't breed them, sometimes they ovulate. If they ovulate then they go off feed. If no ovulation, usually, feeding is regular, every 7 to 10 days.

Of course, anyone who looks skinny is fed more as I think necessary.

Our adult female cali was feeding heavily during the breeding season, she was thick when we got her and stayed thick and is thick now in brumation. Ive seen other adults in the wild that are longer but not as thick. I dont think she is too fat though, she is just large all around. We are going to try to breed her next year though.

wilomn said:

I find that there is tremendous variation between individuals.

Sometimes the males, whether or not they're being bred, just won't eat much. But, I do have a couple that will eat 2 to 4 large mice every 7 to 10 days viginity notwithstanding.

My nonbreeding females if under 2 years old feed regularly every week or so. Once they hit the 2 year old mark though, even if I don't breed them, sometimes they ovulate. If they ovulate then they go off feed. If no ovulation, usually, feeding is regular, every 7 to 10 days.

Of course, anyone who looks skinny is fed more as I think necessary.

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Do you get eggs from females that ovulate without breeding? I think you may have the idea of ovulation confused with folicular development. When a female ovulates, you'll get eggs whether fertile or infertile. Just wondering. There are instances of certain species producing fully formed babies without ever seeing a male in their entire life. This happened to a friend of mine with some White Lip vipers. He raised this female from a newborn and at 3 years old, she produced a little or slugs and fully formed stillborn babies. It happened again a couple of years later.

BTW, I feed my adults every 7 days. Babies up to 2 years get fed every 4-7 days.

Brandon Osborne

Some snakes, like some women, will reproduce with very little "extra meat" on them. I had one little girl, on the thin side, that I did not have in with a male and she laid 7 slugs all on her own. The thing is, even though they were infertile and small, she never really went off feed or swelled up.

I had a big "robust" girl give me 10 eggs. She was ginormous. Last year she laid 13 for her first clutch and 10 for her second. She regularly goes off feed about a month after she's bred.

I'm sure the fertilizing process has something to do with it but it's still neat to wonder just how they work.

wilomn said:

Some snakes, like some women, will reproduce with very little "extra meat" on them. I had one little girl, on the thin side, that I did not have in with a male and she laid 7 slugs all on her own. The thing is, even though they were infertile and small, she never really went off feed or swelled up.

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Was this female ever bred before? I've had pueblan milks come right out of brumation and lay fertile clutches without breeding during that time. I attribute this to sperm retention. It happened with several females during one season.

This season(2004) I had a female brooks king give me 24 eggs in a first clutch and 19 in a second, and all but one were fertile. Here's a pic of the big brute in all her glory. She's well over 5' and weighs about 4 lbs. I'm anxious to see what she does this year.

Brandon Osborne

Brandon, put me on your list for next year. I'm not too partial to brooks as a rule but MAN, that one is sweet.

The little girl that laid the slugs had never been with a male. I produced her and she's always been small so I intentionally did not breed her last year. I've not had any eggs from prior season's breedings that I know of.

Feeding

Yeah Brandon that Brooks is a looker. Seeing all those Eastern Kings on the kingsnake.com is rubbing off on me and I do like the size and look of the goini and brooksi. I might end up with one someday, you all know how snakes go. Hmmm.................Woma/Blackheaded Python or Eastern King...........right now my preference is the Apidites (Woma/Blackhead) but my wallet say go with the eastern king they get huge too.
I feed every week and give the growing snakes under 2 years often 2 meals and the larger snakes 2 meals. I think the every week thing is easier for me because then I don't have to be thawing out mice on daily basis. Sometimes the shed phase can upset the schedule, but it's usually only one or two snakes then they are fed the the next time the rest of my snakes are scheduled. As somebody else posted I save my clean up snakes that never refuse for the last feeding in case anything is left over. And sometimes this is determined by observation of the snake like deficating or increased activity in their terreriums looking for food. Knowing you snakes patterns is important and adjusting feeding according. I don't breed any of my snakes so I'm not looking to power feed or get them big enough to breed in a short amount of time.
Happy Herping,
Uncloudy