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A question about behavior in my hungry Cal king

spyderk

spyderk

Just a member
It had been 10 days since I fed Sherlock because I was waiting for a shed. I found his shed today so I fed him earlier. It was his 4th meal with me.

He has been quite calm and passive with me, but today he musked wildly and was more jerky and acting scared. I put him in his feeding bin, warmed up his mouse, and held it near him. He started hissing and striking blindly, not at the mouse or anything really, more like striking at the side of the container. It was startling, but I figured he was just hungry. He did eat eventually and I went to put him back and he went wild, flinging around and trying to escape me.

I hope my nice Sherlock comes back! But what do you more experienced owners think? I haven't experienced any temperament swings with my other snakes.
 
Sherlock has finally settled in? Lol.

Now the "true" kingsnake Shines through.


I have two eastern King Intergrades..... feeding day is ALWAYS an adventure.

Enjoy! :)
 
Seconded, his real kingsnake is showing. My Cali king puts on a production every time he eats, striking blindly, hissing, flailing, tail rattling. And then he's just as nuts when he's done eating and we're trying to put him back.

It's part of their charm. :grin01:
 
It seems you do indeed have a kingsnake. I *NEVER* try to feed a getula king (or black milk or Asian rat) in a separate bin. Eating food is what make the world go around for them. Moving them before (or soon after) a meal is asking for a traumatic experience, IME.
 
My adult male musked me the other day. EW. I also feed mine in their cage, HE is a powerhouse, and usually she is too.. she wasnt interested today.
but I don't know what to recommend. I ended up selling my baby cal king a long time ago because she was so aggressive to me, and I just recently got the adults. My current kings came sweet. I hope your Sherlock is back to his old self in no time!
 
LOL.....


The prior posts make me feel a little better..... :)

I was hoping my pair weren't the only "Nasty" ones around.

When i walk into the room they are in.....it's like walking into a room of rattlers.

Was actually considering building a set of drums for them...... I think they'd

make a nice thrash metal band.
 
His first two feeds were in his bin, and the third was in a separate container, but he acted like my corn snakes then. Good to know he's just a normal baby king! As long as he's acting normal, I'll take his charm! I just worried since it was so different and he's been with us for a month.
 
spyderk said:
This made me laugh! Here I am, the naive corn snake owner! But I love him, so I'll take his kingly attitude.
Click to expand...

LOL!!


I am far from an expert! for certain......but I have two years with my pair...and

I've learned Just how fast my reflexes really are! :) (Not that fast!)


Kings tend to be a bit more powerful...and determined to hang on, if

they ever get a hold of ya! :) My male Got me..... and after 15minutes of

trying to wait him out....I finally ran tap water over him. even still, He didn't

want to let go.
 
There was a time Robbie and I used to post pictures of our Cal kings trying to eat us, our gloves, hooks, their water bowls, the edge of their tub and what have you. They can be truly insane snakes when they want to eat.
 
Here I thought my one corn, Monty, had a good response. He strikes and wraps his mouse and rolls all over his bin, which is hysterical. I assumed, incorrectly, that that is what was meant by "strong feeding response." LOL!

So once he's digested and satisfied, I might see my sweet Sherlock again? Once I held him after the musking and striking (when I took him out initially this morning), he was okay, but definitely not what I was used to. I expected a bite after all that fuss but he just explored my hand in a more deliberate way that made me want to set him in his bin!

I'm really glad I have him, just to experience something different!
 
Usually once they're out of their bin and realize there's no food, they'll calm down. My little guy is positively sweet once he calms down, although he's always ready to tail rattle if something happens that he doesn't like. There are two things you'll learn pretty fast with Cali kings, though:

1) Never let your hands smell like food. This includes mice, cats, rabbits, snakes, dogs, any of their food, human food, and anything you may have breathed on.

2) Mine does this little head tilt thing before he strikes at food. You'll learn to recognize the barest hints of head tilting after only a few times.
 
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