Kingsnakes on Reptibid

I have been trying to find some Eastern Kings so was surfing Reptibid, where I don't have an account, and found an advertisement that I found very odd! I have some '02 cal kings, and decided they were too small to breed this year. Seems to me this person is advertising '02 snakes that are ALREADY PROVEN.

Anyway, thought I would ask other opinions.

It does read like he is saying that the pair born in 2002 were bred last year. If this is indeed what is being claimed, I say BS.
The snakes would have been breeding before they were 12 months old.
Even if he was somehow able to shove enough food into a cal king to have it breeding that young (which I don't believe is physically possible anyway) I wouldn't want the snakes for that reason. If they've been pushed that hard, there's no telling what side effects they will suffer.
Even though the ability to reproduce is more affected by size than age, age does act as a factor.

If however, he meant the trait was proven the first time last year, then he really needs to work on the wording of his ads.

I have some cal kings I hatched in 2000, and they were bred for the first time last year. I also have some 2002 hatch cals, and they might be breedable next season, but I didn't even consider it this year.
While I don't power feed colubrids, I do utilize a fairly agressive feeding regime for young snakes of every 4-5 days. I couldn't guess at the required feeding rate to push a hatchling to breeding size in less than 12 months.

Okay, good, I'm glad it wasn't just me reading the advertisement wrong. I do believe he is claiming that he bred them last year. Gives me someone to steer clear of I suppose.

AS far as power feeding, and breeding early or not. I don't really think of myself as a power-feeder. When they are younger I feed them every other mouse-cleaning which means about once a week, occasionally a little more often. My first kings were bred in '03... they hatched in '01. But they were very large, and I think that was just those two individual females who were genetically inclined to put on size/weight. I have two other female kings that are '02s and in spite of the exact same feeding regimen, they are not large enough for breeding this year. Which is fine, as I have my two '01 kings to breed this year, as well as a king of indeterminate age and background (could even be LTC WC). OF course she is humongous compared to the rest, and judging by the size of her head I would say she is between five and seven years old.

I agree though, any snake pushed that hard to be breedable in the first 12 months of their lives would perhaps be one with a shortened life span and prone to health issues.

Size Matters Most

It has always been my responce to take most "For Sale" adds with a grain of salt. 2002, 2001......Yes age is a big concideration, but I've had 3 year old snakes that were under 30" and never became active. I have had 20 month old Kings that were just over 30" and layed 8-10 eggs and hatched 75-85%. My over all thought and personal guide lines don't rely on age any more with Cal. Kings. I go with a 36" rule.....

Yes people power feed!
Yes people claim to have breeding snakes!
Yes people can say their snake is 2-3 years old!
NO people can't lie about size, get a pic next to a ruler, a dollar bill or some other indicator of length and most of all go with your gut.....
Responsible Breeders/Owners will tell you, show you and are willing to go the extra mile to prove what they are stating in an add.

This is just my experience, others may differ....they always do.

Ken

You are correct. The biggest problem I had with this long-dead auction was that they were claiming the snakes were proven, when they would only be 18 months a year AFTER they were proven.

I bred my huge Newport Cal King when she was 18 months or so, she laid 8 beautiful HUGE eggs, and all of them hatched. This year she had 12, and I'm worried about the one, but I'm pretty sure the rest will hatch. Going by the egg size I'm guessing the babies are going to hatch out at 15 to 18 inches in length. Her genetics basically say that she will have huge fast growing babies.

I bought some '02's last year thinking to have two more breeding size cal kings this year and was surprised at their tiny size. They just don't have Queenie's genetics, so they are not growing with near the speed, so I held off on breeding them, too small! Next year they should reach breeding size. Beautiful little aberrant banana cal kings.