A long time ago I had a pair of Cal kings that could not be put together just like your pair.



That Winter, I placed both in a big dark cage and let the temps be what they are in Winter. I started to notice both snakes began to coil up next to one another, then later, sometimes on top of one another.



I separated them in Spring, because I was worried that with increased appetites the female would eat the male. When I did place them together for breeding, she did not try to eat him.



The next Winter I co-habitated them again, and in Spring left them together. No problems.



While nobody can guarantee exact results with yours or any individual snake, I do know that kingsnakes do occur in groups in the wild, and some kind of social structure is at work whereby a group of kings can live in an area without eating each other into oblivion. The only exception might be if no other prey was available. It is also not out of the question that there could be a rogue individual that does not play by the rules. In the wild, I imagine that snake's ability to spread his/her DNA is almost nil.



There is a small field in my area that has Cal kings. A friend of mine began to sketch head patterns of individuals he found under boards. It was very interesting to see that over years, he would find some repeat customers, sometimes under different boards. While he could not say exactly what was going on under ground, it was clear that a number of individuals were living w/o eating one another.

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