My FIRST snake! Cal King!

Kali - The Cal King

I was extremely fortunate to get this deal from a local pet store. They gave me their inter display, cal king, and blue tongued skink for $100.
There just isn't a market for reptiles in my town, so I was very fortunate. I have been wanting a snake for years, and started researching morphs for the last 8 months. I go to reptile shows all the time.

I ended up giving the blue tongued skink to my friend, he is terrified of everything, from not being handled, but he is slowly warming up to us!


Here is the display




33 Gal glass aquarium is heated with flex watt on one half of the tank.


It is controlled by this thermostat, with a high of 88F.


Cal king female estimated 20 years old. She has a hide on her cool and hot side, and was very active after feeding on two adult mice.





Since it is a screen top, we cover about half of it and have secure lock on the lid. She just shed and all the skin came off in one piece.

She did manage to bite me during feeding, because I dropped the mouse, but no hard feelings. She is a great first snake!

questions
Since she is around 20, breeding her wouldn't be wise would it?

Do king snakes eat other king snakes during breeding?

Is two adult mice too many?

Congrats on your Cali King! That was my first snake as well.Most breeders would tell you that breeding at 20 years is a no no. 2 adult mice for a snake that size is fine. Oh and that is a killer deal you got for the animals and the display.

I agree that she would probably be to old for a female, but have all younger animals myself(I'm still kinda new) so I didn't speak up first. Was she probed to verify she is actually a she. I have made mistakes myself on sexing and it's a simple mistake to make. Probing will give you a very reliable answer whether it's male or female. Many people do determine sex by the shape/length of the tail fairly well, but I'm not good at that so I had someone with some experience teach me how to probe. Probing is a simple procedure, but it needs to be taught by someone with some good experience to make sure the animal is not injured. It's easier to learn on a larger animal and she is a good size for a king. If it did turn out to be a male, I would have no problem breeding it assuming it is otherwise healthy and has enough weight on it to cool and go off feed for a while. My rule on feeding corns/kings or really most anything common is to feed a food item that is just slight larger than the midsection of the snake. Too large of food can make them regurge, but too small wont hurt anything, but the need to feed them more food items.

If she is not on F/T already, she could swap over fairly simply with some effort. I have seen some corns/kings just take F/T that have never had them and be fine. Then you can order from a breeder of mice or get a bag of them from a show to keep frozen. Just make sure to keep them in a sealed container if they are in your freezer. I used to keep frozen mice/rats in my freezer until I had many animals and now have a chest freezer dedicated to them in my basement. Family member usually like it better that way or you can just be quiet about them being in there. F/T though, is defiantely the way to go.

She is very pretty and has a nice complete stripe it looks like. Just a very nice animal for any collection.

Also, as far as her biting. That was probably something more along the line of exploring with her mouth. Kings can be a little nippy in the cage or during feeding but it subsides.

Jacob

She was probed. And she is very long, since females are bigger than males this is a way to tell also I have been told.

It won't really matter because I am not going to breed her. I will not put her at risk. I am very happy to have her under my care.

That is one great deal! Congrats!
A nice looking Cali that you got there.
(Knowing me, I would have had to keep the skink as well as the king.LoL)

As has been pointed out, a female King should not be bred at age 20.
Two mice is fine depending on their size. It also depends on the snake's individual metabolism.
Cal Kings do not generally eat each other, during breeding, but there is always the potential of something happening.

Originally Posted by blackandblue_lulu

She was probed. And she is very long, since females are bigger than males this is a way to tell also I have been told.

You were misinformed as this is certainly not, at all, a reliable method for sexing.

If your not breeding her/him it doesn't really matter, but males probe deeper than females. There are other clues like the length of the tail and the shape of the tail but probing is very reliable and I no longer depend on the shape/length of the tail.

Jacob

Originally Posted by Pasodama

(Knowing me, I would have had to keep the skink as well as the king.LoL)


You were misinformed as this is certainly not, at all, a reliable method for sexing.

Technically I am not caring for the animal, it is under my father's care 2 hrs away, since my mother won't allow them in her home. I gave the skink to my friend because I would have felt bad giving my dad that responsibility. I love that little guy, but my friend is taking very good care of him.

Oh. Thank you for clearing that up for me.

Originally Posted by blackandblue_lulu

She was probed. And she is very long, since females are bigger than males this is a way to tell also I have been told.

That's not correct at all. Now with boas, pythons, and some other types of snakes, that is indeed the case. However, with the common getula complex kingsnakes, the males are generally larger. To some folks it might "seem" this way, but that is because they typically tend to feed the females far more food than the males for getting them up to breeding size for egg production.


~Doug