Mexican black kingsnake hunger strike

[Bogertophis]

Your care stats sound fine- & at 3' long, he's a young adult, so yeah, his mind might just be on finding a mate, especially if he's had more than enough food anyway.

And that brings me to another thing it "could be" (not saying it is, as we're not SEEING him...hint hint), & that's simply that you're feeding him more food than he needs & should have.

You wouldn't be the first- & btw, I don't obsess over weighing my snakes, so I honestly cannot tell much by the weight you gave for him. And since most ppl here are keeping BPs, the weight of an MBK won't tell them much either.

As I said before, I had a pair of MBKs thru adulthood that never quit eating for any reason. These snakes typically have massive appetites, as do Cal-kings- and they'll usually eat more than they should, if allowed. Which makes them fun to keep, but you have to know when to just say "Sorry, no! You've had enough."

And most likely, your snake's issue is a combination of both issues above.

******For some reason I didn't catch this before, but by the time a colubrid snake is a year old, they should be fed about once every 10 days. You're feeding him too much &/or too often. What exactly are you feeding him? (size & type of prey) A 3' king snake should be eating one small adult mouse every 10 days. Also, don't feed them when they're in shed- they won't starve.******

******Feeding a colubrid snake every 5-7 days is for hatchlings ONLY- because they're eating small pinky mice that digest quickly, & are mostly water with very little nutrition. You're supposed to gradually increase the time between feedings as a colubrid snake grows & is able to eat slightly larger prey, so that by the time they're a year old, they're eating once every 10 days, & when they get to elderly*, you can gradually go to feeding them every 2 weeks or longer, depending on their health, activity & appetites. (*MBKs can live 15-20 years with good care, good genes & good luck, so "elderly" would be about 12-13 years of age, & you'll probably notice they have less appetite & slow down some.) A really old snake might be happy & just fine with eating once every 3+ weeks, fyi.******

[Zincubus]

Your care stats sound fine- & at 3' long, he's a young adult, so yeah, his mind might just be on finding a mate, especially if he's had more than enough food anyway.

And that brings me to another thing it "could be" (not saying it is, as we're not SEEING him...hint hint), & that's simply that you're feeding him more food than he needs & should have.

You wouldn't be the first- & btw, I don't obsess over weighing my snakes, so I honestly cannot tell much by the weight you gave for him. And since most ppl here are keeping BPs, the weight of an MBK won't tell them much either.

As I said before, I had a pair of MBKs thru adulthood that never quit eating for any reason. These snakes typically have massive appetites, as do Cal-kings- and they'll usually eat more than they should, if allowed. Which makes them fun to keep, but you have to know when to just say "Sorry, no! You've had enough."

And most likely, your snake's issue is a combination of both issues above.

******For some reason I didn't catch this before, but by the time a colubrid snake is a year old, they should be fed about once every 10 days. You're feeding him too much &/or too often. What exactly are you feeding him? (size & type of prey) A 3' king snake should be eating one small adult mouse every 10 days. Also, don't feed them when they're in shed- they won't starve.******

******Feeding a colubrid snake every 5-7 days is for hatchlings ONLY- because they're eating small pinky mice that digest quickly, & are mostly water with very little nutrition. You're supposed to gradually increase the time between feedings as a colubrid snake grows & is able to eat slightly larger prey, so that by the time they're a year old, they're eating once every 10 days, & when they get to elderly*, you can gradually go to feeding them every 2 weeks or longer, depending on their health, activity & appetites. (*MBKs can live 15-20 years with good care, good genes & good luck, so "elderly" would be about 12-13 years of age, & you'll probably notice they have less appetite & slow down some.) A really old snake might be happy & just fine with eating once every 3+ weeks, fyi.******

This ^^


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[EL-Ziggy]

I agree that eating every 5-7 days is a bit often for a juvenile MBK. I’d probably move to a 7-10 or 7-14 day feeding cycle. When I did keep them, my kings would go off food for 3-4 months every year during the winter and breeding season. You can just wait them out and they’ll eat again when they’re ready. I would sometimes get impatient and offer a small live feeder and that usually stimulated their appetites. Kings are usually pretty voracious eaters. I loved how hard they would hit their food for such small snakes. I’m sure your guy will fire up again soon.