Handfeeding my king?

[Kharnifex]

question: as a first time snake owner, is it ok to hand feed my black kingsnake? i just dangle a mouse near him while he's wrapped around my neck and he swallows it in mid air. he seems to have no problem with it, and children are utterly stunned by it. i allways put him back in the tank after so he can digest in peace.

also, are black kingsnakes more arborial or terrestrial? trying to figure out if this 75 gal fishtank is too short for him.

whats better for the warm side? a 50watt halogen or an undertank heater? i'm thinking halogen.

when a snake sheds is the shed an accurate reflection of the snakes length?

and last but not least, why is he allways hungry? i mean allways. whenever he hears the click from the exo-terra tank he's in now he is at the door wating for me.

i fed him a small medium mouse every day for 4 days and their was no change in his hunger, he thought it was a great schedual. do you think the last owner starved him?
how do you tell if a snake is underweight?

sorry, i'm a lizard and turtle guy, since i was a little kid. this snake is new to me.

 

[Gx3]

Hey I have a few years of experience with kings and think I can answer most of your questions:
1. When feeding I would use tongs...I have been bitten many times by kings and it is usually because I couldn't find the tongs.
2. From my experience kings are mostly terrestrial snakes. I have tried putting branches and such in their tanks but they usually just ignore them. Just make sure he has a tight place to hide in (I've found them to really like tunnels). A 75 gallon fishtank is fine, just make sure the tank is at least 3/4 the size of his full length (kind of a general rule I use for kings/milksnakes)
3. I've always used undertank heaters for kings. The light seems to bother them (just something I have noticed, I don't have anything to back it) so I prefer just using a simple undertank heater that is on 24/7 and there is still about an 8-10 degree temp drop during the night. Kings are pretty hardy snakes.
4. Kings are great feeders, I rarely have problems feeding them. BUT definitely adjust your feeding schedule. You want to feed him an appropriate sized mouse every 5-7 days (I feed every 5 days to make em big hehe). You want a mouse thats about as fat as the width of your snake, when he is full grown you can feed him 3 mice in 1 feeding (I use f/t and I just put them in a feeding tank with 3 and he just eats them one after another.) But anyways, you don't want to feed everyday because snakes digestive systems aren't made for that kind of feeding and it can cause health problem if done regularly.
5. You can tell if your snake is underweight by how much the backbone is "sticking out." that is the way I always judge a snakes weight. If the top of their back makes an upside down "V" then they are skinny.

Hope that helps!

 

[JohnMatthew]

Although that's a neat trick hand feeding you king like that, it could end up being more of an annoyance to you later down the road. Kings are crazy eaters, they'll eat all the time and they'll try to eat basically anything, disregarding size. I've had some california and florida kings that would one minute be chilling on my arm while i'm watching t.v. then the next thing I know they're trying to swallow my finger . Switching the snake to a separate feeding tank is a pretty good way to avoid confusion. Snakes aren't as smart as lizards but they can learn routines. If you only feed him in that separate tank he'll eventually get the idea that that's where he gets his meal, not from your hand. I never did the separate bin thing because I always lacked the space/time, and it's kind of funny when a 6 foot snake thinks he's gonna swallow me from the finger on .

 

[Kharnifex]

lol, he's accadently latched onto my arm once while i was feeding him, didn't hurt and his teeth diden't break the skin. but i guess it can't be good for him. can his teeth break by accadently biting me? he let go after maybe 2 seconds, it was funny, i've been bit by anols that hurt worse. it really felt like the hook side of velcro.

from memory (at work) i do believe his backbone is a bit higher than normal, not a V, but not really round, like a wide v. i need to get proper sized mice. the ones i feed him are kinda small.

yea, i only feed him f/t aswell. live food just isn't economical or smart. he loves dead mice so i'm happy. i wanna get him a snake to eat, but i doubt that'll ever happen.

i seen mine curl up on a plastic branch thing i have, maybe 8" up in the air, but i had the 50wt hallogen on and he just ate, kings need heat to digest right? he allways feels kinda cold when i take him out which bothers me, even though he's active and his temps are ok.

so their stomaches are designed to gorge? like i think he's pretty much full grown, and he's adult mouse width, so i should feed him multiple mice in one sitting? then let him clear out his system till the next feeding? that makes sense.

i knew i was overfeeding him, i diden't realize it's bad for digestion, that is important though, once i get full grown mice i'll back off on the overfeeding. he just seemed so hungry. like he races for my arms if i open his tank, cause 80% of the time i fed him while holding him.

his shed is 4 feet long, but for some reason he doesn't feel like he's 4 feet when i hold him, do sheds stretch out?

i'm gonna take some pics of him/her soon, i'll show ya, his shiny black coat is just stunning. and his belly looks like carbon fibre.
never liked snakes, allways thought their personality's were too bland, like they never tried to figure anything out. but this snake seems to be proving me wrong.

thanks for the help guy's i think i'll buy cut up and partially bury some pvc for hides. he'll prolly like that.

 

[CaseyUndead]

i probably wouldn't while you have him out and all like that.. sounds like asking for trouble... But since kingsnakes aren't all that big, their bite isn't exactly going to be very dangerous... so if you're okay with him mistaking you for food sometimes, do whatever you want. I still handfeed my corn sometimes(but while he's in his enclosure), and i haven't really had a biting problem. If he ever starts coming at my hand like he thinks i might be food, i just pull my hand back and pick him up by the middle. I'm pretty sure that if i did get bitten by him, it wouldn't be a big deal though, so that's why i'm not so particular about how i feed him. My boa and retic are a *completely* different story, though. So i guess it just depends on whether or not you're okay risking some bites.

 

[Gx3]

I would also keep in mind that if your king does bite you, it will most likely draw blood, but also it can be very bad for the snake because he can lose teeth if some get stuck in your skin (this has happened to me before).

 

[DZLife]

I myself have never hand fed my king....of course, he's just a baby. I did, however, (while I still had her) used to hand feed my adult female corn snake, and their upkeep can be similar to kings. They seem to me, for the most part, to be a little less feisty than the kings tend to be.

Although I managed to do it without ever getting bitten, I just don't think it's worth the hassle. Nowadays, I always use tongs.

I prefer the tongs that have a smaller tip, because they don't get in the way of the reptile grabbing the rodent as much as the tongs with larger grips do.

Or, you could just let her munch on your fingers when she gets hungry...

 

[Kharnifex]

yea, i believe i will continue, to hand feed. i don't jerk or get frightened, so as long as i let him pull away i don't think he's in danger of loosing teeth. and plus, he's never snapped, only feeding response bites and that doesn't bother me.

he's a good boy.

and yea, if he were a redtail or retic or something i'd be going about this with a lot more caution.

 

[akward_silence91]

dude, my king climbs on eveything.

 

[Kharnifex]

i've seen my king sleeping on the one branch i put up high, so i'm gonna give him some hight to play with. thinking a 40gal breeder.