Hello everyone,

I breed rats & mice for the show/pet trade NOT as feeders..
well recently i moved to a new property with a lot of land..a few weeks ago i was in my rodentry (a small building build just for them) cleaning and i turn around to a huge,but gorgeous, stripped california kingsnake. My first reaction was its after my stock catch it and remove it so it cant come back. After i caught it i started to do research, i was told snakes cant be let go more than 100ft away from their catch site or they will die???? I also learned my property is their IDEAL habitat. With a complete balanced food chain running from roadrunners to snakes to lizards to roaches. Visually sexing she appears to be a female and is about 3 ft long so im going to age her at 3+ years, very active and healthy. I have had her for about 2 weeks now and so wont eat rodents only lizards. Yesterday i was out gardening and found a baby just like her about 13 inches long! Im guessing their breeding season got pushed forward due to the heat?? After more research i learned that kingsnakes got their name for being immune to venom and eating other snakes.. so now i have a few questions...

1. now that i removed probably the sole adult female will the kingsnake population die meaning the poisoning snakes will emerge and i'll start running into them while down at my rodentry?

2. since she wont eat rodents and only lizards, i wouldnt mind letting her go, since shes not after my stock, right?

3. what might have brought her to my rodentry in the 1st place,
thought of easy meal?

4. will my rodentry bring in more snakes from the woodworks, and how do i detear them?

5. how would i properly release her back into the environment, right where i found her?

6. is it safe to keep her baby? i would really like to..

7. if i cant release the adult, then how do i get her to eat rodents as lizards are costly.

8. any additional info would help!


thanks in advance!
-Dru

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