Kingsnake Feeding Question

[Wizill]

When is it okay to up the prey-item from pinkies? My king eats them like a little piece of candy, and always wants more... but he's so thin. Also, what is the next prey-item for a king after pinkies? Thanks.. (btw, i'd research this and probably find the answers quickly, but i'm hoping they will be here in this thread when i return from work.)
i'm so lazy.

-Will

[MacWin]

Actually these were things that I wanted to know as well. Also what is the largest prey item for a Cali King considering their girth even as adults?

[RPlank]

I recently bumped Callie up to fuzzy rats from pinky rats. I imagine an adult king would take small or maybe smaller-medium sized rats. I just follow the girth of the snake rule....keeping in mind that their mouths do not stretch quite as much as my BP's and Boa.

[Smynx]

When we bought our kingsnakes at the last reptile show we went to, the breeder told me that after they eat, you should see a definite bulge in their bellies from the prey item. When you can no longer see the bulge, it's time to increase the size of the prey. The breeder also said that they can handle prey much larger than what you might think.

Will, after pinkies, you can probably go to fuzzies or hoppers. MacWin, I would assume that an adult Cali King could easily take a large adult mouse or two. We have a subadult (approx. 3 feet long)now that is taking 2 small adult mice per feeding. We feed on Saturdays, and usually by Friday he is ready to take anything that goes near his cage, including fingers.

[MacWin]

Yeah I was curious considering Nanners is a growing boy (he's eating right now ). He has just started on fuzzies as of about 2 weeks ago moved up from mouse pinkies.

I have noticed since he moved up he gets less cranky towards the end of the week whereas before he would get a tad jumpy and stand offish. Seems like when he is full and has a big meal in his tummy he calms down alot.

[Smynx]

Same with ours. He's quite fiesty close to feeding day.

[Smynx]

I took a look at our kingsnake manual lastnight, and it recommends feeding every 2 to 7 days. The size of the prey should still be determined by the girth of the snake, but apparently they can be fed more often than pythons.

[Smulkin]

Grain of salt, shug - Kayne was reading through the Python book (the popular Bartlett one) which says to feed your Python every 3 to 6 weeks. GAH!