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Hey everyone! It's certainly been a very long time since I posted.
So I've had my gray banded kingsnake since about May 2019 and she's about 6 years old now. My garter snake who I had for 5 years and ate mainly nightcrawlers regrettably passed away a few months ago and Cinder, the gbks, is still the only heavy diet snake I've so far kept. Every year she goes on a winter hunter strike where she refuses food for months which I think is just normal brumation but even after it gets warm I sometimes find it very difficult to get her eating again. For example if she stops eating in late October it might not be until late June when I can finally get her to take food again. She's currently eating thawed mice and I actually got her a small rat I'm going to thaw and give her soon as a little treat to help her build up more strength before fall. Anyway here's my issue. She's very active again and seems to be happily taking food whenever she's out of her hide so her appetite is definitely good so far and she last ate a couple days ago though I don't remember exactly how many, probably three or four days. This is her 3rd mouse of the year since starting to eat again. She eats once a week and it would be nice if eventually I could do twice a week. I noticed a little while ago when I was turning out her light for the night that it looks like she regurgitated the mouse. She was nowhere in sight and hiding but was out earlier basking. It looks partially digested so I'm sure she got something out of it but still she's never done that before. The "waste matter" doesn't look like this and is always unrecognizable as food so I'm pretty sure she did in fact vomit it up and I don't know why. I know they sometimes do that if you handle them too soon after eating but I haven't touched her since and she's been behaving normally. Any fellow snake keepers out there, especially anyone who's kept the gray-banded kingsnake, is this normal? It's the first time I've seen it from her. Should I be concerned? The only possible explanation I can offer is that she accidentally ate a tiny scrap of the paper towel I was feeding her on and maybe that had something to do with it but somehow that doesn't seem likely. I could still use some more experience with rodent eating snakes.
So I've had my gray banded kingsnake since about May 2019 and she's about 6 years old now. My garter snake who I had for 5 years and ate mainly nightcrawlers regrettably passed away a few months ago and Cinder, the gbks, is still the only heavy diet snake I've so far kept. Every year she goes on a winter hunter strike where she refuses food for months which I think is just normal brumation but even after it gets warm I sometimes find it very difficult to get her eating again. For example if she stops eating in late October it might not be until late June when I can finally get her to take food again. She's currently eating thawed mice and I actually got her a small rat I'm going to thaw and give her soon as a little treat to help her build up more strength before fall. Anyway here's my issue. She's very active again and seems to be happily taking food whenever she's out of her hide so her appetite is definitely good so far and she last ate a couple days ago though I don't remember exactly how many, probably three or four days. This is her 3rd mouse of the year since starting to eat again. She eats once a week and it would be nice if eventually I could do twice a week. I noticed a little while ago when I was turning out her light for the night that it looks like she regurgitated the mouse. She was nowhere in sight and hiding but was out earlier basking. It looks partially digested so I'm sure she got something out of it but still she's never done that before. The "waste matter" doesn't look like this and is always unrecognizable as food so I'm pretty sure she did in fact vomit it up and I don't know why. I know they sometimes do that if you handle them too soon after eating but I haven't touched her since and she's been behaving normally. Any fellow snake keepers out there, especially anyone who's kept the gray-banded kingsnake, is this normal? It's the first time I've seen it from her. Should I be concerned? The only possible explanation I can offer is that she accidentally ate a tiny scrap of the paper towel I was feeding her on and maybe that had something to do with it but somehow that doesn't seem likely. I could still use some more experience with rodent eating snakes.
