King snake question...

[DragonBoy]

Is there any information on the web or in print that openly discusses the issues surrounding Cal King Snake breeding?
I have several Cal Kings and the females seem eager to breed but the male I have is more interested in trying to eat the females. Anyone else out there experienced this behavior in Cal Kings? I find it very frustrating.

 

[tyflier]

Interesting...usually it is the other way around...

Cali kings are just incredible feeders. Their food response, in my humble opinion, is second only to the Florida kings. Both of them are usually more interested in feeding than anything else, and both usually don't skip a meal for any reason. Most of the ones I have dealt with are simply voracious and would eat 7 days a week, if you let them.

Let me say that I, personally do not breed Cali kings. I don't have a California Native Species Propogation Permit...yet. I have a close friend that lives nearby that is working with locality Cal kings. I do, however, work with Florida Kings, and talk with my friend about kingsnake breeding regularly...

Anyhow...Make sure your snakes are WELL fed before trying to introduce them to each other. I usually feed a nice, big meal to the couple, wait 24 hours, and introduce them in a seperate bin. I leave them in there for 8-10 hours with the lid secured, and I take them out. I watch them closely for the first 10-15 minutes, just make sure I am getting the response I want, than I leave them alone, usually overnight, and look for "signs" in the morning.

As long as you feed them a day or so before introducing them, and the females are ovulating, you should get the proper response.

You could, if you're still having trouble, take one of your males, and let him live in the planned mating box for a day or three. Then take him out, leave the substrate(usually newspaper, for me) and everything in there, and put in the planned breeding male. He will smell the other male, and once he gets a whiff of the female, his breeding instinct *should* kick in due to the percieved competition from the other male's smell.

You can also mist your female with a little room temperature water. It increases the intensity of the pheromones in the mating bin...

 

[ratsncorns]

Is your male proven? Could he actually be a female? Just a thought. Otherwise, all of what tyflier said is great advice!

 

[DeadMouse]

In what way is he trying to "eat" the females?

Some colubrid males, such as kings and rats, will actually bite down on the head of the female, usually from the side of her head, to basically hold her down and control her during copulation. It might look like an aggressive feeding response, but typically it is not. But, if the male is not only biting but constricting and/or actually trying to swallow, then that is a feeding response. It is best advised to monitor the initial part of the mating response just to make sure things are going well.

Males are sexually triggered by hormonal scents, so it is imperative to try and figure out whether the female is ovulating or not as Chris said. Post-brumated Females are usually ready to breed after their first or second shed. So, choose a time to introduce the male shortly after the female has shed. It might even be helpful to leave the shed in the tank so that the male can have more hormonal scents to entice him into mating.

One thing I noticed with one of my male Hognose snakes is that when introduced to a female that I assumed was ready to breed, he appeared not interested in her at first. Then he wandered over to where she had defecated and immediately got very excited upon which he then quickly moved back over to the female and chose to mate with her. I can only assume that there was a hormonal scent emanating from the fecal matter that caused this reaction.

My good friend and long time respected kingsnake breeder, Bob Applegate actually cohabitates all of his adult breeders and pretty much lets the snakes decide when they want to breed or not. Actually, it's a pretty ingenious method that goes against all the mythical dangers of cohab'ing snakes. But it's a tried and true method that has worked for him for decades with only one or two negative incidents. While I cannot recommend Bob's method for everyone, it's very much worth looking into and researching fully as it goes against the very grain of what a lot of people believe or are led to believe is dangerous.

Good luck, let us know how things work out!