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Kingsnakes vs Corns

smigon

smigon

Old enough to know better
Are there any feeding differences between the two? How about behavior and attitudes?

I am considering picking one up at the Phoenix Reptile show in a few weeks, but am not familiar with Kings. Anything I should know that is significantly different between the two?

TIA!
 
Well "Kingsnake" is a VERY general term... Kingsnakes include many species under the "Lampropeltis" name... California, Florida, Blotched, Goini, Brooks, Prairie, Thayeri, Gray Banded, Durango Mt, and the list goes on.

And the funny thing is that every species DOES have it's own attitude- some are extremely voracious eaters, others are shy, and so on...

Wanna describe the specific King you had in mind?
 
King snakes will win every time!

In seriousness, getula kings are typically voracious.
 
I find kingsnake to generally have more attitude. They seem to be more active than cornsnakes and can be crankier. With that said I have yet to see a kingsnake turn down a meal. The have a lot of enthusiasm when it comes to food.

Also related are milksnakes. Very similar in care to cornsnakes and kingsnakes
They come in a huge variety of colors as well. they tend to be a bit more skittish when young but most mellow out as they get older.
 
Feeding differences: My corns never refuse their meals. My first Cal king was a problem feeder and didn't eat well until the spring. He hasn't refused f/t for me yet. My second Cal king was a live feeder and ate f/t for me twice and has now skipped 3 meals. (My Pueblan milksnake never refuses his meals).

Behavior: My corns are sometimes jumpy but never musk or bite; two have rattled their tails. My Cal kings nearly always rattle and thrash a bit, usually musk, but this is getting better. They hiss sometimes too. No bites yet. Yet in my hand they are more relaxed than the corn snakes. I enjoy holding them more because of this, though I have one lazy corn that likes to chill out in my hands. The Pueblan milksnake acts like a ball python when out, usually curled up in my hand.
 
HVani said:
I find kingsnake to generally have more attitude. They seem to be more active than cornsnakes and can be crankier. With that said I have yet to see a kingsnake turn down a meal. The have a lot of enthusiasm when it comes to food.
Click to expand...

This applies mostly to Lampropeltis Getula.

The Lampropeltis Mexicana comlpex for instance are very very docile, extremely colorful, small, and can be a bit of a pain to start on f/t.... VERY shy feeders.

The term "Kingsnake" is really broad... it's not right to automatically assume that the OP refers to California Kingsnakes.
 
well I don't have a king, I do have a milk snake! which is closly related. (I actually went in looking for a king and left with my milk!

Feeding wise: I have only had Sirius refuse food twice, when he was battling a small bout of scale rot..
after it cleared up though he went back to his hungry little self and hasn't turned a meal down since!
his feeding response is also very mellow, well sorta! I've notised as in the past two feedings of adult mice his strike has picked up some punch!! :laugh: but that's all it is, I have to shake the mouse to get him to actually coil around it.. and even then its one or two coils. Fun, but nothing like a king..

handling wise: my corns becoming more or a handfull to take out, like. toddler that's discovered he has hands! he grabs on to everything we walk by! lol and just wants to cruise around exploring.
I love him to death but now when he comes out I try to clear a room and let him just crawl around supervised. :) he likes it, and I enjoy him not trying to go down my top every 5 seconds. ;)

now for my milk.. He's a Mexican milk snake, which is a smaller subspecies. hell Max out at about 24 inches as a male, 30 for females.
Behavior wise: there soo much calmer then most milks!!
he's never musked me, he did poop fling at me the first 2 handling sessions we had, but not once
since! he did dart from me at first, and theirs no putting him down to explore (their fast!) but now he just sits there when I left his hide, hell maybe give a little hiss but once he's out, he's soo mellow!
like unbelievably calm, like spyderk said, he's kinda like a tiny ball python, just happy to sit in one hand and look around.. lol he's actually calmed down so much that really enjoy handling him now cause it seems like he enjoys it too!

now for feeding: aha.. I think kings have the craziest feeding responses!! my boys coiled his mice from day one! I got him at just over 3 weeks old and he was a crazy eater from day one!
he strikes like crazy, then throws 3 or 4 coils around it and squeezes the thing soo damn hard it looks like its gunna pop! :laugh: needless to say feeding time with a king snake is never boring....
 
just adding, the Mexican milks are very colourfull and will actually keep their bright triads into adult hood, whereas most other milks triads will fade as they get older.. which I'm not a fan of!
their not as common as most other milk snakes, ie. Hondurans, sinaloans, and the pueblens...
but they make an AMAZING pet, very calm, great size, and awesome personalitys...oh and they never turn down a meal once they start eating!! (as I too have read, that start out soo tiny they can be hard to start feeding on pinkys..) UT if you can find one that's already an astablished eater then I highly suggest them!!
 
spyderk said:
Feeding differences: My corns never refuse their meals. My first Cal king was a problem feeder and didn't eat well until the spring. He hasn't refused f/t for me yet. My second Cal king was a live feeder and ate f/t for me twice and has now skipped 3 meals. (My Pueblan milksnake never refuses his meals).

Behavior: My corns are sometimes jumpy but never musk or bite; two have rattled their tails. My Cal kings nearly always rattle and thrash a bit, usually musk, but this is getting better. They hiss sometimes too. No bites yet. Yet in my hand they are more relaxed than the corn snakes. I enjoy holding them more because of this, though I have one lazy corn that likes to chill out in my hands. The Pueblan milksnake acts like a ball python when out, usually curled up in my hand.
Click to expand...

^^This!^^ I have 3 new Cali Kings, that are giving me grief on feeding. They apparently were sometimes live feeders, a couple had take f/t before I got them.
My Cornsnake hatchlings though, 24 out of 26 ate their first meal with no problem.
I had a GBK that was really docile (Angela-ratsncorns has him now-well, her bf does). My Cali's & My MBK all have attitude. They're flighty & they musk.
That said, I do love both!
 
I think some kings are pretty simple to care for (i.e. Floridians) and others are a bit more of a challenge (i.e. Graybands). Most of experience with kingsnake has been with L.mexicana and L.alterna. I wouldn't say either are beginner snakes because their natural prey is generally lizards rather than mice. That being said you get a real feeling of satisfaction when you sucessfully switch one over.

Behavior wise alterna and mexicana are some of the sweetest most docile snakes you'll ever encounter.
 
I have found in my personal experience, the kings that tend to be more chill and relaxed are the ones that are more likely to refuse meals and be pickier feeders. For example, my Floridians and Mexican Blacks are complete garbage cans but are much more likely to thrash around and musk and bite on occasion, the really chill ones like the Arizona's or grey banded are more likely to not want to eat all the time. Thayeri's are in the middle, I find that they are typically really chill for the most part but will always eat, when I have been bitten by them I wouldn't call it biting, more like gumming (I feel embarrassed for them when they try this...what kind of adult snake doesn't puncture the skin when they bite LOL), thayeri's can be a definite pain to get onto unscented prey if you have plans on breeding them in the future. But they would likely be my first choice for a king if I had to chose, we have 6 (maybe even more) different types Lamps so clearly I'm not good at choosing!
 
5 Star Serpents said:
I have found in my personal experience, the kings that tend to be more chill and relaxed are the ones that are more likely to refuse meals and be pickier feeders. For example, my Floridians and Mexican Blacks are complete garbage cans but are much more likely to thrash around and musk and bite on occasion, the really chill ones like the Arizona's or grey banded are more likely to not want to eat all the time. Thayeri's are in the middle, I find that they are typically really chill for the most part but will always eat, when I have been bitten by them I wouldn't call it biting, more like gumming (I feel embarrassed for them when they try this...what kind of adult snake doesn't puncture the skin when they bite LOL), thayeri's can be a definite pain to get onto unscented prey if you have plans on breeding them in the future. But they would likely be my first choice for a king if I had to chose, we have 6 (maybe even more) different types Lamps so clearly I'm not good at choosing!
Click to expand...

Tell that to my three feisty Cali King babies that are refusing to eat. LOL
 
I *just* got my thayeri to eat. She's very docile in temperament but everyone is correct in that they're difficult to get feeding and are shy. She's just now starting to watch me when I go in my snake room, but she has probably twice as many hides as my corns of the same age do.
 
Not sure how much help I'm going to be. I have one Mexican Black Kingsnake, and he was already a well established adult by the time I acquired him.

In my experience, Nag (the MBK) is very similar to my corns in terms of feeding reflex. He does tend to hit the mouse harder, more violently than the corn snakes do, but his actual interest in feeding is much the same. Reliable and consistent.

As for attitude, he can be a bit more animated when he's in his habitat, and he can be pretty intimidating when I try to bring him out for handling. I will say, he has never actually bitten me, but I still don't linger with my hands in his bin. Once he's out and in my arms, he's as docile and interactive as the majority of my corns. Just a big baby, really. :p

Long story short, I've found my MBK to be very similar to my corns in terms of feeding and handling, with a few minor differences. However, my experience with kingsnakes is admittedly limited.
 
I'd vote for a nice Florida King! You're not going to find a picky feeder there! The care is the same as cornsnakes. A FK will get bigger- my big female Janine is 1400 grams or so. She is a voracious feeder who will fly out of her cage, take a mouse off tongs, fall to the floor, tearing the mouse in half with her momentum. Yet- she has never bitten me or even rattled her tail. Still, I have a HUGE respect for her feeding response, thus the tong feeding.

I have a 2006 Cali King. She was a little musky for a few years, and went through a teenage picky phase. As an adult, she's cool and calm and a great feeder.

I had a Nelson's milksnake who was flighty and flaily for the first year of her life, then calmed down, but never really liked being handled. Good feeder.

Apalachicola king snake (meansi)- very similar to the Florida kingsnake. Highly recommended. A little smaller.

Mexmex- very sweet- mine was an adult. Good feeder. Shy.
 
Oh, and Justine, I totally agree with you about the Mexican Milks! Beautiful colors, I am excited to see all of these different species at the show.
 
This is the new girl I picked up at the Tucson Reptile Expo, she's a lavender flame brooks.

She's very mild mannered in the hand, but when she smells dinner she thrashes around in her bin and tears the pinkies right out of my fingers. But when handling her? She's calmer than any of my corns. Only my ball is more relaxed.

20131005_121921_zps18bc9a7a.jpg
 
My fiestiest feeder is my amber corn. He coils and flips and really kills that dead hopper.

My most shy snake is the Pueblan, but he never refuses a meal and will eat in front of me.

I wish my little Cal king would eat! But I know I could brumate him and he would be okay until spring. I'd miss seeing him though!
 
ahahaha!
well have fun and best wishes finding that special little Guy/girl!
;)

..I can't wait for the next expo here in Ontario!
 
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