How to tell if a snake is fat and Q's about feeder size

[carnivorouszoo]

I recently acquired what was supposed to be an albino King, but am not so sure anymore. Anyway, he seems fat to me.

How do you tell if a snake is fat?

Then I was wondering. Just because a snake will eat 2-3 weanling rats, should they be eating that much? This was being fed to this snake EVERY week.

This snake is shorter lengthwise than my 08 Amel male corn, but is 3 times as wide! I was told he is an 07, but shouldn't he be longer? Especially being fed rats?

I am not going to feed him for two weeks, mostly because they fed him just before packing him up to meet for the trade (dummies) and here it is the second day he is here and I can still see the food in his stomach. He has drank a lot too and his skin seems very dry, in fact I have seen some odd blue lines that look like cracks or something develop where the food is in his stomach. I really think they fed him too large of a prey and too many at once.

I keep thinking, what have I gotten myself into! I am glad I have him but if issues arise I will be wishing I had taken one of the recently hatched babies.

Thanks for any and all advice. Also I can not check his weight right now as my scale died and I have to get another GER!

 

[Asbit]

I am certainly no expert but as far as I understand rats are higher in fat than mice, so they tend to make snakes fatter much quicker, rather than encourage growth(length) and muscle.

From what I understand about Kings it is better to feed them 2 smaller meals in a week rather than one quite large meal. So the 2 that we have had were fed every 4-5 days depending on the age and size.

As for the drinking a lot, I am guessing it was somewhat dehydrated, which would account for the large drink and some of the dry feeling of the skin. I would also wonder if it is in shed and was not offered adequate moisture or drinking water and therefore was unable to create enough of the "lubricating stuff" (sorry can not remember the correct name off hand) to aid in shedding and therefor the dead skin has become very dry and possibly brittle.

Once it is done digesting I would try giving it a 10-15 min soak in 85 degree water and see if the skin improves or softens and starts to peel off. I had an eggbound girl who would not come out of the hide she was in, she went into shed and became dehydrated, her skin got dry, brittle and rough, it even cracked (the dead layer that is). I took her out and made her soak for 15 min, the dead skin softened and she was immediately able to peel out of it.

Just some thoughts that might help you out. By the way what is his warm side temp, all the literature I have on Kings says the warm side should be 86 so that is what we kept ours at.

Final thought, clear pics would help a lot as well.

 

[carnivorouszoo]

Sorry, Until hubby gets home the only pics I have are here: http://www.cornsnakes.com/forums/showthread.php?t=102093

Will definitely offer the soak as soon as the food has digested. Should I wait til I see poop or just when I no longer see a food bump?

Right now we are having a heat wave of sorts (again) and the AC is having a hard time keeping the inside temp at about 87 so right now that is what my temps are for all my animals. We get paid on the 2nd and are getting a window unit for the animal room. Any ideas on how to give a cool area since heat isn't an issue?

 

[carnivorouszoo]

Oh and the reason I was asking how to tell if he was fat is because his scales are stretched out like a heavily gravid female. Not just where there is obvious food either. Poor guy. Soon as his food lump is gone he goes to 1 adult mouse every 2 weeks with lots of handling.

 

[Asbit]

If you have an oscillating fan then take a slightly wet towel ( a bit more than a damp towel) wet it with as cold of water as you can then hang it over the fan and point this toward the reptiles or if the whole room has reptiles, then just put it near the door so it faces into the room. Put your fan on high and it will cool the air as will as add some humidity.

If you are worried about drips from the towel then you can place a couple of drips pans under the fan. Many people on here have used this method successfully.

Oh and if it is in shed it may not poop until it has shed so I would wait until a you see no lump maybe a day after that. Or until there is poop and no lump.

 

[carnivorouszoo]

Thanks, I use a cool mist humidifier and a rotating fan in the animal room, it helps. Just 12 days til I can get that AC unit. Looks like rain! I hope so temps always fall 3 to 8 degrees inside during and after a good rain!

Do you think putting him on 2 week feedings is a good idea or should I do it more like every ten days?

Ok, a swim after the food lump goes away. Gotcha. Pure king or no, this guy is going to love being my snake!

 

[Asbit]

If he really is so fat that he is stretched majorly, then 14 days would be fine, as well as an exercise plan!! I honestly can not tell with the pics on the other thread, what I can tell is that there are no "hips" and no grossly large lumps to be seen ( at least not in the areas photographed).

I know you were hoping for a pure Cali King but he is gorgeous!!

 

[dickdeuel]

If the picture in the other post is the snake you are talking about, I don't see anything wrong with how it looks. It looks like a well cared for animal. It does look like it is mix of California king and Eastern king but there could be other things going on too. The snake has some growing to do, so two adult mice every seven to ten days would be about right. It's pretty hard to get fat when it is still growing. It should make a nice pet.

 

[carnivorouszoo]

Its supposed to be an 07. Can over/powerfeeding stunt growth? They fed him up quick they said. was only on mice for the first 8 months of his life (they got him right after his first shed and meal) then was put on rats and was allowed to eat as many as he would kill in an hour. They feed live. (shudder) I hope he'll take FT.

 

[Dreamsnake]

When we get a nasty heat wave here I just turn off the heating pads during the day and switch them back on after sunset unless they are digesting.
Are you sure you have a male and not a gravid female? Just thought I'd ask, don't caps lock yell at me please.

 

[Asbit]

Kathy, good luck on switching that guy over to F/T, you never know you just might get a surprise and he may take a F/T first try. Because you want to switch him from live to F/T I would with hold that first meal to the 21 days after the date you got him....make sure he is good and hungry when you try it and I would hold that mouse from tongs and do a little bit of a "zombie"dance so he thinks it is alive.

Here's hoping that after being fed rats for so long, he has not developed a definite preference to rats!

 

[carnivorouszoo]

Oh man, I had not thought about him not wanting mice. I can not even scent with rats as I have none not even as a pet. Maybe if I scent with gerbil bedding. I do have some tricks to try if need be.

Oh and after two good poos he no longer looks fat and his skin is supple like my corn snakes' skin now. I think the food they gave him was way too big. It should not stretch them like that. Some yes but not like that.

 

[carnivorouszoo]

When we get a nasty heat wave here I just turn off the heating pads during the day and switch them back on after sunset unless they are digesting.
Are you sure you have a male and not a gravid female? Just thought I'd ask, don't caps lock yell at me please.

Nope no yelling I am fairly sure its a male. But I do need to probe to be sure. As the snake digested he thinned down. So I do not think gravid if it is female. However I will watch for signs.

 

[MegF.]

I've never had issues switching my animals over to f/t anything but I don't feed as often. I've had rescued snakes that have eaten live their entire lives, take a hot f/t rat off tongs without issue. Make sure it's dry by fluffing the fur with a paper towel, offer on tongs and offer at dusk. My kingsnake was only fed every 14 days. I think we all feed too often in captivity. Snakes digestive systems are not designed to have food in them constantly and if you feed weekly, I guarantee there's food in there...even if they poop. Just ask anyone who's had a snake in brumation for 3 months...they can poop even then. The king in the picture doesn't look really fat, not super fit, but not obese. If the scales are stretched in between, then the animal is fat. Females can get hips but I've never seen a male with any. My thermostats turn off the heat if the temps in the cage get above the setting. I don't use heat sources without one and neither should you-otherwise you risk overheating or burns. Placing cages lower near the floor can help reduce temperatures as it's cooler there. Fans can keep the air circulating and cooler as well. 87 isn't horrible as far as temps. Here in SC it's currently sitting at 100 during the day with a heat index of 110 and doesn't get below 80 at night. I'm sure that snakes here are experiencing temps over the ideal even under cover and they will most likely do fine.