Can someone tell me if it is ok to keep a wild-caught common kingsnake (it was laying in the middle of the street and I was afraid it would be ran over by a car) as a pet? I am thinking it was someone's pet that got away because its so very tame, but not sure.

The reason I think this is that I checked the Dept Fish & Game website and it is not on their "illegal pets" list. It also mentions that this is one of the 3 snakes that are allowed to be commercially propagated in CA, and that they can be "taken" by hand, as long as no injury occurs, all season with a sports fishing license (which I do own), and that the bag-limit is 4. I hope that doen't mean killing them for sport. The website also said its illegal to release it back into the wild, even if its wild-caught. But, does this mean its ok to have as a pet? It seems to be a very nice snake, about 4.5 feet long, eats well (I have been feeding it 2 live mice per week, is that enough?), and is very tame to handle. We really like it a lot as a pet (I don't know if its a male or female). We have it in a 20gal terrarium with some sandy stuff I bought at the pet store, a big rocky water dish, and a hollow half log thing I also got at the petstore in the reptile section, a under the tank heater too. (its 100 degrees here this week so i think its plenty warm.)

Also, this snake has a very stubby thick tail, only about 2 inches past the "anus". I think it was a healed injury from its past? Or is this normal?

Thanks in advance for the info. I can send a picture if needed.

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