17 years of working with kingsnakes and I finally had a female attack a male in earnest.



The female had just laid her first clutch of the season. I fed her heavily for 8 days. She got 6 large mice and 2 chicks that week. So I go to reintroduce the male and they locked up immediately. Came back in about an hour and they were still going at it. Next afternoon they were both under the same hide together. I usually leave pairs together for about 3 days at a time and them I separate them to feed the female. On day two, I open the cage to find the male covered head to tail in pretty much one giant scab(including inside his mouth and through the spectacles). Lucky he is a good bit bigger than her or he probably would have been lunch.



I didn't know if he was going to make it at first. I got him on a few rounds of antibiotics and he shed after about 2 weeks. I was amazed... nearly good as new.



And to make it all worthwhile, he got the job done too. She just laid 6 perfect eggs!



I still don't know what triggered the attack. This female likes to be difficult though. She is also the first female in probably 10 years that doesn't like my nest boxes no matter what I try. She just prefers to lay under her normal hide, so I keep it humid and check it often.



Who knows, maybe next she will start trying to eat her eggs, and I will believe you guys aren't making that up!

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