First time at breeding!

Hello y'all, I have a male and female specialty cali-king pair that I have breed, they had their frolic in the "aspen" yesterday and today. I am totally new at this so I am not sure on what to expect, and what to do. I have a total of 14 snakes and I have a total of three pair of three different species. I started with the cali-kings because they are the oldest of all the pairs, and I felt they may be ready, apparently I was right! The place where I purchased them said to leave them together, do not bother them and do not feed and water them. I seperated them last night "of course, after they were done frolicking" because I don't want to take a chance on losing either one of them, but the pet store warned me against this. They told me it would mess the kings up and confuse them. So, when do I know it is time for them to feed and drink? I don't want them getting hungry and turning on each other.

During the rolling in the aspen times they usually don't eat. You can have water present but it may get all over the place when the rolling starts up again.

Valarie,
I'm thinking that your Pet Store simply want's you to lose an animal or two so that they can sell you more.

Here's what I do:

1. Make sure both animals are well fed.
Water should be made available at all times.

2. Introduce the male into the female's enclosure. Her scent will be all over it and that will help to achieve the desired result. I always watch them closely for the first 10 minutes or so - just to be safe.

3. Leave them together for 24 hours and then remove the male. You can re-introduce after two or three days for another 24 hour stint. Once you have witnessed mutliple copulations, go ahead and remove the male for good.

4. Prepare a nest box for the female. I use the Gladware containers with a hole in the top large enough for the female to enter. Fill the container half way with moisted spaghum moss. The female will most like use this as both a hide box and an egg box.

5. Once the eggs have been laid, remove them carefully. make sure you don't change their orientation. Place them in your incubator at a temp of 84 degrees - and wait. Make sure the moss remains moist - but not wet.

Good luck with your snakes and if you have any questions, please feel free to post them.

Thank you very much for the information, it is very much appreciated.

I agree... leaving cal kings together indefinately without food or water will almost certainly end up resulting in a decrease in the number of cal kings you own!

Personally I introduce them, see if they are interested in breeding or feeding, and if they hook up, I keep an eye on them every 15 minutes to an hour (depending on where they are) and when they are done, I separate them. I offer a small meal the next day to them both (usually the male isn't hungry) and then the next day after that I put them together again. I do this pretty much up until the time when the female rejects the male. Then I know I'm done and the results are what they will be.

I've had cal kings hook up at 5 pm one night and still be hooked up at 6 am the next day.

Since I can't seem to get sphagnum moss that won't turn instantly to mold (bad brand or I don't knwo where to find a good brand) I usually end up using spagnum PEAT moss in my laying containers. I did try vermiculite for the laying containers and last year I had two females get some in their mouth... both had bad infections, and one died. so I won't be doing this this year. In fact, the ones that got infected were corn snakes. The king snakes completely spurned the vermiculite and wouldn't lay until I gave them the peat moss. This year I'll just go with the peat moss... it makes the eggs look "dirty" but I haven't noticed any problem with dirty eggs actually hatching!

Isn't this the most exciting time of the year???

Next weekend I'm waking all my girls and boys up, and I'm going to get them all started, feed em well and breeding season will really commense.

I have only two kingsnakes ready to go now but the last time I put the boy in, the girl tried to eat him! So I'm going to feed again and then try again. Of course I'm not sure the boy is a boy, so that could be part of my problem!


When you get eggs, post pictures!!! It's so exciting! I can't wait to share all my pictures, and the only thing that makes the waiting bearable is seeing all the other pictures.

I will make sure I share the pictures that I get and look forward to seeing yours and others. I enjoy reading your replies, I have read many of yours on this forum. Thanks for sharing the advice!

Take care,
Valarie[i]

Hello again y'all, I hope everyone is doing well. First of all Happy Valentines Day!
I have a few more questions about kingsnakes. If, by any chance my female does become gravid, will she want to eat more? Or will her diet stay the same?
Is it normal for the male to stop eating when they stop breeding? Or, is he sort of taking a tantrum? He has the same temps in the room (about 85 during the day and 78-80 at night), he is not appearing ill, and does not appear to have mites.
I only put my kings together for four times that they copulated, the fifth and sixth time they showed no interest in each other so I haven't put them back together since. I do not, under any circumstances, let them live together, they were only together to breed.
My female is eating just fine, she actually acts as if I don't feed her when she gets a mouse in her feeding tank.
I read on the Internet that if she is gravid she will appear to have an aggresive increase in size in her third lower part of her body within the first week, that seems fast to me but then again I am new at this. They mated the 3rd, 4th, 6th, and 7th of February. I can't tell if she is a bit bigger from her dinner or because of copulating.
Thanks for whoever replies. I very much appreciate the help.

Take care,
Valarie

The female may want to eat more if gravid. I'd suggest smaller meals more frequently.

Yes, it is normal for the male to stop eating. He is concentrating on other hungers.

If you let her slide slowly away from you through your hands and you feel her underside as she is moving you will feel the eggs as they get bigger.

Thank you, I will watch her and feel carefully over the next couple of days, weeks...
I figured that was his issue, but she don't want to put out so,I figured there is noe sense in trying. I guess he will just have to get over it, he gets hungry enough he will eat!

Take Care,
Valarie

Here's a little tip that sounds strange buy really works for palpating kings.

Hold a single piece of papertowel in your hand, between your skin and the snakes. Let her slide through your hand, held just tight enough to feel all the way around her while letting her slip though with no getting stuck.

It's amazing how you can feel the eggs with that little barrier between your hand and the snakes skin.

Good luck.