Breeding Kings
 

Allright, this is my first attempt at breeding any snake. Ive done a lot of reading on fauna but there is one question I still have. After the male and female have been together for a while, are there any immediate clues that indicate that breeding actually did take place? Thanks

Yes. One or both of them will be smoking a cigarette.

Obviously the best way to know is to see it happen. Depending on what kind of kings you have you should be keeping a close eye on them anyway, in case one decides it's more hungry than horny. So keep an eye on them, most of the time it doesn't take long to tell if both of them are interested. If so, just give a peek every once in a while and you should be able to find them "locked up". If you miss it you can usually find wet spots, sometimes even a ting of blood in them, that can be a decent sign that they locked up.

thanks!

The majority of the various kings I have bred, while not being the marathon breeders ball pythons can be, would usually be locked up an hour anyway. Sometimes it might only be 15-20 minutes, but normally it was a lot longer.
The longest I remember was one pair of cal kings that were locked up around 6 hours straight.
My point is you'll most likely see them locked up as long as you are keeping an eye on them.

And take John's advice to heart, watch them. The vast majority of the ones I have bred caused no problems during the breeding season. However I had one particular pair of south Florida kings that would attack each other more often that they would court. It's no fun trying to seperate them either and left unattended one would have most likely been killed.
Most of the time courtship will begin very soon after introduction if they are in a breeding mood. If the male advances and the female is receptive, which is normally the case with cycled animals, you should have no problems.

The March Reptiles magazine just came out with a great article by Bob Applegate. The article will answer so many of your questions that you have yet to think of, good luck!!