Cipher - new smiling cali king

albertagirl · Aug 23, 2015

I finally pulled the trigger and got a california king snake. I just love how they look, and have heard as many good stories as bad, and I guess I just decided getting chewed on once in a while was worth getting the snake I wanted. :laugh: Anyway, I purchased him a month or so ago, but finally picked him up today, and he's super cute. The picture I had seen previously was not very clear, but when I got him home and took a closer look at the pictures I took of him today I noticed he has a happy smiley face on his head! I love it!!

I named him Cipher because the dots and dashes on him look like some kind of code.

The first picture is the one I got from the breeder, from which I chose this particular male. You can see why I had no idea what his head markings would be. The next two are from today.

Glenaerie · Aug 23, 2015

Aww, the smiley face is very cute, and Cipher is really pretty! He seems really black and really white, more so than many CA kings.

jagodzinski · Aug 23, 2015

Very cool! I love the pattern on him - that is a great name

Joba · Aug 23, 2015

Very cute, and good name. That smiley face is great.

albertagirl · Aug 23, 2015

Glenaerie said:
Aww, the smiley face is very cute, and Cipher is really pretty! He seems really black and really white, more so than many CA kings.

jagodzinski said:
Very cool! I love the pattern on him - that is a great name

Joba said:
Very cute, and good name. That smiley face is great.

Thanks everyone. I specifically asked for the blackest black and whitest white possible. I hope he stays that way. As far as looks go, I'm really happy with him.

albertagirl · May 6, 2016

Cipher is doing really well. He's a little slower moving than the corn snakes, and definitely heavier bodied. He's outgrowing them all from what they weighed at his age. He is definitely a king snake and loooooooves his food, but also is my sloooooooowest eater. First he kills the little (already dead) mousie for about 20 minutes. Then he lets go with his mouth (but still has it wrapped with his body) and spends about 10 minutes trying to find it again. Feeding him is never done in a hurry. He's only bitten me once so far, and it was a defensive bite, nothing to do with food. His food "bites" never get me because he does them in slow motion with his mouth wide open. It's very cute and funny. So far he's been a pleasure to deal with, and so active during the day, he's also the most fun to watch in his cage. He's now 2'2" and 95 grams.

Here are a couple of pictures from January...

...and a couple from April. He was hatched May 28, so he's just under a year old here.

DollysMom · May 6, 2016

Cipher is so cute. I love your description. The way you are able to put his personality into words is wonderful!

Eavlynn · May 7, 2016

You have yourself a real cutie there

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albertagirl · May 7, 2016

DollysMom said:
Cipher is so cute. I love your description. The way you are able to put his personality into words is wonderful!

Eavlynn said:
You have yourself a real cutie there

Sent from my SM-G900V using Tapatalk

Thank you both.

CornySnakeUser · May 9, 2016

He's so cute! Twenty-six inches, though... To someone who would like to get a king snake, would you say they are easier or harder to care for than a corn snake?

albertagirl · May 9, 2016

CornySnakeUser said:
He's so cute! Twenty-six inches, though... To someone who would like to get a king snake, would you say they are easier or harder to care for than a corn snake?

Thank you!

He's still just a baby, and my only king, so my experience is really limited. I would say the care is pretty much exactly the same, and he is within the range of behaviors I'm experiencing with my corn snakes. He moves a little slower, and has a bit more of an intense feed response, but other than that he is really pretty similar to a corn. Like any species, some individuals are nicer and some are naughtier, but I lucked out and got a sweetheart with him. My understanding is that he will reach approximately the same size as a corn, though with potentially a little more girth.

The one thing I do really like about him over the corns is that he comes out during the day, whereas the corns are pretty much only out in the evenings. He's quite active.

albertagirl · May 13, 2016

Adult size viv?

Today Cipher got moved to his "adult size" viv. 2'x2'. Um... he is just a baby still, barely over 2' long, and makes this cage look almost just right. By the time he reaches adult size, it might be a bit cramped! I wasn't planning to buy him a bigger cage, although he could also switch with a corn snake for a 3'x2' if necessary, but I was expecting him to get lost in all that space... he didn't. Oh well, at least he'll be good in there for a couple more years.

I filled it with lots of greenery which I will slowly remove as he adjusts to the bigger cage, and then watched for a while as he explored. Please excuse the aspen dust on the windows, I should have recleaned them after I bedded the cage down. (I kind of think the camera lens was dirty too. Oops.)

Through the front window.

Through the side window.

Cute face!

This cage is not as big as I thought it sounded like it was going to be.

He sure stands out against the green. <3

<3

albertagirl · May 29, 2016

Well, yesterday my stinker tried to eat me for the first time. I think that was his way of celebrating his birthday, was to see if he was big enough to eat me yet. Kind of like the kingsnake version of the oh-so-popular myth about the python stretching out next to his sleeping owner to size him up. LOL
He wasn't even looking at me like I'm food, which he usually does. You know the look I'm talking about! So I had my hand there and he crawled up to it very calmly, and then latched onto my thumb and started trying to pull it into his viv. As it turns out, my thumb is attached to the rest of me, which doesn't quite fit in his little 2'x2', so he failed at that attempt. Then he decided to come out to wrap my thumb instead. But as soon as he had my thumb fully wrapped, he realized he was no longer in his cage, let go, and became his usual sweet self. What a doofus. Apparently he's hungry.
I was kinda suprised at how little I felt it. I thought the nail bed would hurt, but in spite of 10 teeny tiny pinpricks in my finger when he was done, I really barely felt it. I do worry about him breaking teeth though, striking hard surfaces like my fingernail.

Genlisae · May 29, 2016

That face! I think he is the cutest snake I have ever seen. Maybe that is why he tried to eat you? He knows we keep saying he's adorable and is trying to prove he really is a vicious preditor .. not that anyone could ever believe that because that face!

Side tracking the conversation for half a moment; where did you get your vivs?

DollysMom · May 29, 2016

He's so cute. Love his black spots! Good news on the teeth, they keep growing new ones their entire lives! I'm with you though. If I get bit it's all about not injuring the snake. I've only been bit 2x in my life and not at all by my current snakes.

albertagirl · May 30, 2016

Genlisae said:
That face! I think he is the cutest snake I have ever seen. Maybe that is why he tried to eat you? He knows we keep saying he's adorable and is trying to prove he really is a vicious preditor .. not that anyone could ever believe that because that face!

Side tracking the conversation for half a moment; where did you get your vivs?

Honestly even while he was biting me, I was thinking how cute it was that he thought he could pull me into his cage. He really tried!!

Greg West out of Calgary makes my cages. His business is called Cornel's World Terrariums. His facebook page is here.
I did a lot of research before getting these, and at the time (2 years ago) his prices were really comparable to any of the other options in stacking pvc cages. Plus he's local, so that helps a lot. I haven't compared prices since then, but was really happy with the product, so I just keep buying them. I figured if I was going to have a lot of cages in my house, they might as well be nice to look at! LOL. He also does black pvc, wood, glass, and builds stands and racks as well.

albertagirl · May 30, 2016

DollysMom said:
He's so cute. Love his black spots! Good news on the teeth, they keep growing new ones their entire lives! I'm with you though. If I get bit it's all about not injuring the snake. I've only been bit 2x in my life and not at all by my current snakes.

Thank you! And yes, yet another thing that only snake people understand. The idea of worrying about your snake's well-being WHILE he's biting you! Everyone else thinks I'm nuts!! :roflmao:

DollysMom · May 30, 2016

Heck, according to the "world" we are crazy to keep snakes, crazy to love them, and yes totally crazy to put their welfare first.

OTOH, I do try to understand folks who see snakes as less than wonderful, but it's definitely a struggle.:headbang:

albertagirl · May 22, 2017

2017 update

Well, I can't remember exactly how long Cipher lasted in the 2'x2' viv, but it wasn't long. He's so active, and was rearranging his furnishings on a daily basis, always making a mess. He thought the funnest thing to do was go into his humid hide, which has a heavy lid, and push up on the lid and then let it drop back down. So all day I'd hear this "click....... click....... click" It was pretty cute. He also poops twice as often as anyone else! So I ended up getting another 3'x2' viv for him, and he's doing awesome in there. Being the only one who's awake during the day, he's definitely my best buddy.

He's pretty much my calmest most relaxed snake, at least with me. But gets a little nervous when strangers come over. He rattles his tail in his cage if anyone else even comes into the room, so I ask my (rare) guests to hold him whenever they're willing, because I'd like him to be more comfortable with strangers.

He's now just over 3' and ... um... I can't remember his weight. I'll have to check and add that later? I LOVE the happy face on his head, and his silver eyes.