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I believe anyone who says King snakes are fiesty, now

ShenziSixaxis

ShenziSixaxis

Sticking To The Ceiling
I went to a local pet store today to kill some time after going to physical therapy, and I decided I wanted to check out their snakes. I held a lovely ball python, an amazing 3ft red tail boa (I want one now :awcrap: ), and an albino gopher snake. After that, I noticed a young albino king snake (don't remember the exact species) hidden under the reptile carpet in its cage.

Well, the employee managed to get it, and it musked her quite a bit, and me a little, but it was also really squirmy. I have a 4 month old corn snake; I'm used to squirminess. HOWEVER, it yanked its head around and bit my thumb, TWICE. The first bite wasn't too bad, since it was just above my knuckle on my thumb. Then when it let go and yanked its head around again and bit me right above my nail!

I noticed that the second bite started to bleed a little right away, so I handed the king back to the employee and went and washed the wound with some anti-bacterial soap and hot water. While drying my hands off and wrapping some paper towel around my thumb, I noticed the other bite was bleeding a little, too.

It's funny; my corn bit me a little a few times in the store before I bought her, but those tickled and didn't hurt at all. I figured one of the bigger snakes or the gopher would bite me, not the little king, nor make me bleed! :rofl:

So, holding my first king also got me my first real snake bite; two in fact! :laugh:

And you can see in the picture, kind of (since my camera sucks at close up pictures), that it chewed a little and was able to make both the top and bottom jaws make me bleed. Evil little thing. XD

1001075n.jpg
 
Gotta love Kings! Thank god the ones I think are the prettiest, the grey bandeds, are known for being sweet hearts. Can't wait to get a pair!
 
Lol, I was guessing Cali King before I read the post! But, with a whole lot of handling... you'll probably still get bit once in awhile, lol... Some grow out of it, and some still want to get you even if they can barely see you from inside a tub. When I walk into the snake room I can here my male thumping against the side of his tub trying to get me...
 
I caught a baby speckled king in my chicken coop once and decided to keep him... I only kept him for a few days because my mother made me let him go once he bit me... That soft webbing of skin between your pinky and ring finger... now that hurts...
 
You can make a case for any species of snake to have "insane" individuals.Thayeri's, Grays,Greeri, Scarlets, etc...aren't known for that so 'most" kings really doesn't include most, besides Cali's are commonly kept. and commonly known for biting ( and as great feeders).
They would probably be last on my list to recommend for a newbie owner.
 
ForkedTung said:
You can make a case for any species of snake to have "insane" individuals.Thayeri's, Grays,Greeri, Scarlets, etc...aren't known for that so 'most" kings really doesn't include most, besides Cali's are commonly kept. and commonly known for biting ( and as great feeders).
They would probably be last on my list to recommend for a newbie owner.
Click to expand...

Eastern Chains are great beginners I think. I am not a beginner keeper but I sure do love my chain king. He is a pretty cool little guy. The Calis I have dealt with are much more flippy than the chains
 
snakemaster24 said:
Eastern Chains are great beginners I think. I am not a beginner keeper but I sure do love my chain king. He is a pretty cool little guy. The Calis I have dealt with are much more flippy than the chains
Click to expand...

Chains are cool, pretty snakes, I like my one female Thayeri ( I have a male, a hybrid gray and an AZ mountain king too) but she is just so laid back, chills every time I hold her, and has never acted aggressively :)
 
Yep, probably a Cali. My male is downright nasty. There have only been 3 or 4 times in the year and a half I've had him that I've handled him without him latching on to a finger. And when I say latch on, I mean it. He usually lets go after 15 minutes or so (many times just to turn right around and latch onto a different finger). But, I still love him...possibly more so because he has quite the 'personality'.

Now, my female Cali is an absolute doll! I'm hoping that she passes her personality on to the little ones when I breed them...

Hey Kyle, I have an insane Thayeri!!! You met her, she's NUTS!!!! My male is as sweet as pie though. :)
 
Hallie said:
Yep, probably a Cali. My male is downright nasty. There have only been 3 or 4 times in the year and a half I've had him that I've handled him without him latching on to a finger. And when I say latch on, I mean it. He usually lets go after 15 minutes or so (many times just to turn right around and latch onto a different finger). But, I still love him...possibly more so because he has quite the 'personality'.

Now, my female Cali is an absolute doll! I'm hoping that she passes her personality on to the little ones when I breed them...

Hey Kyle, I have an insane Thayeri!!! You met her, she's NUTS!!!! My male is as sweet as pie though. :)
Click to expand...
Now, I was there when you bought that Cali, he bit me too, so you can't say you didn't know he was a bit of a punk LOL. That pretty lil thing is nuts? is she a biter? my boy can be a bit of a spaz, but he quit musking me and or peeing on me many moons ago. Ours are probably from the same clutch.
 
ForkedTung said:
Now, I was there when you bought that Cali, he bit me too, so you can't say you didn't know he was a bit of a punk LOL. That pretty lil thing is nuts? is she a biter? my boy can be a bit of a spaz, but he quit musking me and or peeing on me many moons ago. Ours are probably from the same clutch.
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I think, if I recall correctly, part of the reason I bought him was because he was feisty. :) It makes him entertaining to have around (and I know that he'll have no problem eating anything I put in front of his face...he did a great job cleaning up some slugs for me last year).

She's crazy...biter, musker, tail rattler, everything. I can't even look at her without her spazzing! Luckily, she just tags me and lets go, she doesn't hang on like her silly cousin.
 
King snakes are impervious to venom, and therefore AWESOME snakes. They win rattlesnake fights! Of course they have little attitudes, but the ones I've met have been docile MOST of the time.
 
This is what the little devil looked like:
pPETS-6829387dt.jpg


CaptBogart said:
Lol, I was guessing Cali King before I read the post! But, with a whole lot of handling... you'll probably still get bit once in awhile, lol... Some grow out of it, and some still want to get you even if they can barely see you from inside a tub. When I walk into the snake room I can here my male thumping against the side of his tub trying to get me...
Click to expand...

:duck:

I guess I shouldn't buy one unless it's an adult that has been handled a lot and is calm? :laugh:

ForkedTung said:
They'll bite anything to see if it's edible.
Click to expand...

That explains the chewing. :rofl:
 
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