Good Snake Gone Bad!

I have an adult male B&W CalKing, supposed to be CB that I have owned for about 4 months.  I purchased it with two females for breeding purposes.  About three weeks ago it started biting.  It will latch on and I have to run water over its head to make it turn loose.  It will do this everytime I get it out of its cage.  Is this a "mood phase" or has it gone insane?  Anyone have advise?

Thanks MIke

Your story kind of makes me wonder....Do you handle your females before touching the male...are they in close proximity to the male
he sounds like he is trying to breed[its that time of year]
kind of also makes me wonder if he is truly captive &nbsp;<img src="http://www.faunaclassifieds.com/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/confused.gif" border="0" valign="absmiddle" alt='???'>

Also make sure you hand doesn't smell like food. or anyother snake for that matter. place him with the female and observe them closely to see if they are trying to mate?

Let us know what happens

Thanx and good luck <img src="http://www.faunaclassifieds.com/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/biggrin.gif" border="0" valign="absmiddle" alt=''>

Winston

The fact is I don't know for sure if the snake is CB or not. &nbsp;I was told it was. &nbsp;The other two, females, are docile. &nbsp;I too think that this is a mating thing. &nbsp;He first bit when he was in with a female, but now he will do it all the time. &nbsp;It's not mice smell. I always wash before handling my snakes. &nbsp;I am going to give him some time to calm down, maybe even move him completely away from the females (all my snakes are in the same room).

you also need to remeber snakes aren't really stupid. He may now know that if he bites you will leave him alone. So he may now only be biting so you will not mess with him. Just another thought. Frank

It may have been the way that he was raised to. Meaning, if the only time he came into contact with humans was either feeding or cleaning he became acustom to either striking at a prey item or striking in a defensive manner because he was being harassed in a confined space. Just an idea, Maybe he just didnt want to grow out of the fiesty baby phase. As long as he keeps your females happy and you keep all you fingers i think youll be alright. Even if it is indeed a wild caught animal your collection has already been exposed to any potental health threats so you may want to have him checked just to be safe side. Maybe you just need to give him some lovin lol now hes probably mad cause you took him away from his girls.

Corey Greene

Thanks for the input. &nbsp;I really don't mind him biting me if he don't mind getting a bath every time. <img src="http://www.faunaclassifieds.com/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/biggrin.gif" border="0" valign="absmiddle" alt=''>

over the years I've had 2 or 3 cal. kings that did the same thing all were bought as babies and were c.b. I believe its a caracteristic of the species, I dont think they bit out of fear or they were trying to defend themselves they would bite hold on and sometimes even constrict like they thought they could eat me sounds funny I know but kings can be aggressive feeders

Thats exactly what this one does Steve. &nbsp;Bites and holds on and constricts! &nbsp;Only turns loose when you run warm water over his head.

Since he only seems to have started biting lately, it makes me wonder if you changed your hand soap lately. You say you wash your hands each time before you pick this guy up, maybe something in the soap drives him bonkers or makes him think that you smell like a prey item. By the way do you handle other snakes before you handle this guy - Kingsnake isn't he!!!!!!!!!!!!!! <img src="http://www.faunaclassifieds.com/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/smile.gif" border="0" valign="absmiddle" alt=''>