Your experiences are very interesting VA, and by all means your opinion is an opinion and no one is right or wrong in this situation. We all have differing opinions and experiences - our adult male? king snake (approx. 5ft, age unknown, estimate at 4-5 yrs) for example will not eat more than a maximum of two adult mice per week, and is not consistent in this diet. He will usually only eat one mouse per week, and often goes off his food, mainly we presume due to breeding season and wanting to mate, as with many male snakes.

Our yearling blotched king (?female) is a much more consistent feeder, however she is still young so we shall have to see if her good feeding pattern continues into adulthood.

If your feeding schedule works for you that's great, but IMO power feeding is not the healthiest option and can create an obese, less healthy snake in the long run. Just my opinion.

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"If you know everything you may as well blow your brains out because the reason for existence is to learn more everyday." - Mark O'Shea, 2004

Morse -my greedy little fella, is happily taking small fuzzy mice and I'm feeding them two at a time. He's such a placid little thing (soon to be big thing no doubt!) that he never demonstrates that restless behaviour that I assoc with a hungry snake.

Elsewhere I have been advised that as he is a young snake, it would be ok to feed more often, maybe every 4 or 5 days, and that snakes use food for growth (rather than heat and movement) so while he is still growing, it would be much harder to over feed. I would like to know your opinion on this.

He was about to shed at the last feeding day (sunday for me) so I didn't attempt to feed him, and having shed he had two fuzzies tonight. He certainly seemed pleased to be in the feeding tank.

Another thought - one text suggests that a female king might require food every 4-7 days and a male every 7-10. Although I call him 'he' I am not sure what sex he is. It's not mentioned in other books, so I don't know if this is accepted or not.

I have no great desire for Morse to breed soon - maybe one day, but I'm planning on letting him get to his (or her) third summer before attempting a match. (Hopefully then I'll be more experienced and able to cope with a load of babies).

I raelly appreciate all your comments - in the meantime please don't leave any bunny rabbits about as my rapidly expanding snake would probably attempt to eat them!

Hey Lucy, glad to hear he is feeding well for you. Younger snakes can be fed more often,. with hatchlings we tend to feed every 5 days then move up to every 6 and then 7 days as we increase their food intake. Colubrids digest fairly quickly so you can feed him more often if you desire, although this can have a similar affect to power-feeding. I would personally stick to feeding him every 7 days, and then as he sheds feed him an extra food item, moving up the next larger food item after that. When he reaches adulthood I would certainly only feed him every 7 days as the digestive system is slower and they are not using the same amount of fat and nutrients to grow.

Re. feeding females more often., i would guess this is to get the female up to breeding size quicker. Males don't need to be as large as females to breed, since the females carry the eggs and lose a lot of weight and nutrients when they lay the eggs. This is really a suggestion of power-feeding in females, I would just stick to feeding males and females the same.

Now, where are those pics???

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"If you know everything you may as well blow your brains out because the reason for existence is to learn more everyday." - Mark O'Shea, 2004

Lucy go with what you think is right for you and your snake, you will soon get into a routine that you know works best for you and Morse, if he is taking fuzzies and managing them then good, but I would wait 7 days at least if leaving a nice round bump.

I have two Kings and my albino is a very ferocious feeder, she seems hungry all the time, where as my black king I have to try all sorts to get him to eat, and my little trick is working at the momen, which I am glad about cause he went 5 months without food.

I prefer the larger food item rather than a few food items, and feeding less say every 10 days, if the snake can take 2 smaller items they can manage a bigger item IMO, where in my experience they have always managed the larger food item, my albino king isnt all that big and she was taking hoppers from a very small size, last week she took an adult mouse and this week she is wanting to have my fingers when just changing her water, she attacked me, mistook my fingers for food

I don't agree with power feeding but I do like a nice full snake with a large meal thats going to last till next feeding day whether it be 7 days or 10 days.

Take Bounce for instance, I know different sp and going to be much bigger than any colubrid, but yesterday she took a medium Rat and shes how old, 4 months, and the last two feeds she took adult mice, that rat should last her at least 3 weeks, but no doubt she will be ready in 10 days for another feed.

Good luck with Morse hope he continues to be a good feeder for you, my black king used to be a great feeder, he seemed to have a personality change over night, hes a lot slower, and never aggressive, where he used be a very skittish tail rattling beast....

Sorry for the long winded post lol....