• Hello!

    Either you have not registered on this site yet, or you are registered but have not logged in. In either case, you will not be able to use the full functionality of this site until you have registered, and then logged in after your registration has been approved.

    Registration is FREE, so please register so you can participate instead of remaining a lurker....

    Please be certain that the location field is correctly filled out when you register. All registrations that appear to be bogus will be rejected. Which means that if your location field does NOT match the actual location of your registration IP address, then your registration will be rejected.

    Sorry about the strictness of this requirement, but it is necessary to block spammers and scammers at the door as much as possible.

Kingsnake Maybe?

Nanci

Nanci

Alien Lover
A friend bought "too many snakes" (is that an oxymoron?- I think he bought three, for a total of four at home now) at the Daytona show. He has offered me a California Kingsnake hatchling. White with black markings. (I haven't seen it- don't know the morph.) He is described as "bites a lot, rattles his tail, stands up like a cobra, eats killed pinkies." He was apparently just too pretty to pass up.

I have one Corn, who is perfect, who I love. How will the King compare? He ought to tame down, right? (I am not afraid of bites.) And a set up similar to that of my Corn should work? UTH, thermostat, several hides, water crock, aspen bedding. He does not need UVB lighting, is that correct? I am also offered a 20 long with cover and stand- but is this way too big and intimidating for a hatchling?

If you could only have one Kingsnake book, which would you choose?

Thanks in advance,

Nanci
 
I've never met a sane kingsnake; they are full of personality and spite. Mine are almost always out and are quite active and outgoing. Most cali kings are just as handleable as corns, you just need to be extra extra careful because they will try to eat before thinking, anything that could possibly be food.

I keep them exactly the same way I keep corns.
 
Some kings mellow with time and handling, some do not. I have a couple that are puppy dogs, like my corns, and one that rattles and flings poo every time I look at her. I don't think she will ever chill out. It depends on if you want a snake you are going to play with and work with vs a snake that might not get handled as often (because of behaviour or appeal). I personally don't mind the musking or squirminess because that particular king is drop dead gorgeous. Her name is Princess, can you guess why? :grin01: While I love my corns, I really like my kings. As far as recommending a book on kings, I don't have one so I wouldn't know. They're pretty much just like corns. Except that they eat other snakes and may take a bite out of you if you smell like one. :shrugs:
 
Nanci said:
If you could only have one Kingsnake book, which would you choose?
Thanks in advance,
Nanci
Click to expand...
Hard to pick just one as it hasn't been written yet! :grin01:

These are 2 of my favorites

Kingsnakes and Milksnakes- Ronald Markel and Dick Bartlett

General care and Maintennance of the Common Kingsnake- David Perlowin

Each of these are great resources for a new king owner :wavey:
 
Like the other responders, I have kings, and I love them too. Their care is identical to corns, but not necessarily their "personalities". Daemonox and Dionythicus pretty much covered everything: muskiness, ocasionally insane feeding response, etc.. Go for it! :)
 
I really like my Cali's but my '05s are bi-polar!!!! One day, sweet little things, the next, the male is attacking the sheet on my bed while I'm trying to take his pic, and the female gets a look while being held, and wham! attached to a finger. They have such great colors and patterns I can live holding them with gloves on, plus they love to eat.... :grin01:
 
My Cal King is my favorite of all my snakes because he has such personality. I seldom see my corns, except when I drag them out, but Onyx is out all the time. There is also the unpredictability factor. I never know what he is going to do.
 
My turn to play Devil's Advocate I guess....
The first snake I got was a Cali King. Beautiful little striped guy, but piss poor attitude. He has yet to actually manage to bite me, but he tails rattles, hisses, strikes and musks if I even open the lid on his viv. It has actually gotten to the point that I am thinking of trading him for another gray-banded kingsnake. I just have not been around snakes long enough to have the nerve to continue handling him. If he is this bad now and he is just a small '05, I don't think I could handle him with this attitude as an adult. I get nervous anytime I have to handle him which I am sure he senses, so it makes him nervous and more attitudnal (if that is a word!) with me.
I don't think I will get another Cali King but I am sure I will get more gray-banded kings in the future.
 
If I may interject my own opinion on Cal. King's....

The snake that made me fall in love with snakes was a small Cal. King our bio teacher brought into our classroom when I was 15. We did everything wrong with this snake (though "right" at the time) including- hot rock, handling ALL the time, feeding too much (every other day- dang!!)... etc.

And yet this animal never ONCE musked, bit, struck, hissed, rattled or did anything else untoward. He escaped our care in May of that year, and in April of the following year, was found stuck to a sticky mouse trap in the cafeteria. One of the bio teachers walked over and picked him up, using a bit of oil to get him free. He never bit, even after nearly a year of freedom, and having gained 2 feet in length.

A Cal. King is on my list of snakes to own in the future. I say go for it!
 
ArpeggioAngel said:
If he is this bad now and he is just a small '05, I don't think I could handle him with this attitude as an adult. I get nervous anytime I have to handle him which I am sure he senses, so it makes him nervous and more attitudnal (if that is a word!) with me.
Click to expand...
I'm not preaching! But you should really try to overcome this NOW. Malachi is an awesome looking snake. Use heavy gloves if need be, but keep working with him or you will end up with a nasty adult. Trust me, I know how kings can be, but it is usually 99% bluff at his age.
Didn't mean to hijack your post Nanci, just didn't want you or Katie to get discouraged :wavey:
 
Thanks for all your replies. I told the owner that I would like to take the baby. He says that this hatchling is "the second prettiest Cal King at the largest show in the country." I just hope he's a good eater...Owner says he's fed twice and refused twice on dead pinkies at five-day intervals.

Nanci
 
Good for you. Elvis, my big male cali king, is my ambassador snake. He is gentle with everyone and doesn't even care if I smell like cornsnake. He's the one I'm going to use to try my hand at jungle corns. I put him in with a corn female last year and he didn't bat an eye. He's a good boy.
 
Picture of Choco!!

Here he is! When we went to get him, I handled him for quite a long time. He musked me, and rattled a few times, but never offered to bite. He was very active, and shy around his head at first, but he got over that. I had to put him away while we ate dinner, but when I got him back out, he didn't even rattle. So much for being the meanest snake ever...

Does anyone know exactly what he is, BTW? He was sold as a Cali King. He is a very pale yellow, with very dark brown or black markings. His belly is broken markings, then pure black/brown from 1/4 almost to his tail.

I put him in a 20 long that we got for free. He has some vines, a hollow stone, big hollow fake log with vines/mushrooms, small hollow log, real tree fungus, and half hollow log over the UTH. He spent a lot of time cruising around, climbing the vines, checking out all the hides, going for a long drink and swim, then another swim, and then he went to bed somewhere...
 

Attachments

  • choco 002sm.jpg
    choco 002sm.jpg
    73.1 KB · Views: 68
Very pretty boy. He looks a lot different than the Cal King I fell in love with when I was 15. But then, that Cal King was my only experience for the species! Congrats on the new boy!
 
I just love him. He looks like cookie dough! He was so excited having so much space to explore. He's been feeding on F/T pinkies more reliably, now, according to the previous owner. And, to make the evening perfect, problem child Maizey shed last night, and then ate a dead adult mouse tonight. I hope the hunger strike is finally over, for sure.

Nanci
 
kimbyra said:
Congrats on your cali king! :cheers:
I think they call that yellow phase "banana". Anyone?
Click to expand...
I don't think that he has enough yellow to be labled a "Banana". I would need to see more of his body to say for sure but he might qualify as a "50/50". No matter, he is a very nice Coastal Phase Californian King.

The Coastal Phase are the pale yellow/yellow and dark brown/black.

Desert Phase are white and black.

Then the Coastal x Desert crosses start out white and as they age get a very pale yellow overcast and mature out ivory and dark brown/black.

~Jeff C.
 
Here's more of him: Havo to do this all with one hand- holding Choco in the other. He's so tame today- no rattling or musking at all.
 

Attachments

  • choco_sm.jpg
    choco_sm.jpg
    62.7 KB · Views: 40
He sure is a lovely little king! Looks like he has a bit of odd pattern. You know.. that one that starts with an 'A' that I couldn't spell if my life depended on it! lol

Sounds like the little boy is calming down a bit too!

Jenn
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top