If your cal king is a male it should breed at 18 months of age. If it is a female she must be at least 18 months also and some go by a 40 inch / 400 gram rule on Getula. Although they will breed at smaller sizes it is best to wait until the female snake matures and has good girth. I, myself have bred calking females at 36 inches and 300 or so grams since I believe the 40" / 400 gram "rule" is mostly for the larger getula like Easterns and Brooksi.



As for hibernation, The breeding pair should be hibernated at a fluctuating or constant temp of 55 degrees farenheit. Although some will breed with little to no hibernation fertility will be greater with hibernated specimens.



I usually cool my snakes off around Thanksgiving (two weeks after the last feeding) and warm them back up between Feb. 14th (Valentine's Day) and March 1.



When breeding two Lampropeltis of different sizes you should watch them very closely as to not have ONE very FAT snake!



After they are warmed up small prey should be offered at first then appropriate sized prey often until the female sheds the first time. Then the male should be introduced to the female or vice versa. The female should lay between 6 and 20 eggs (depending on fertility and other variables) about 6 to 8 weeks after copulation. Always look for a pre-egglaying shed and the eggs will usually come between 5 to 10 days later. Eggs incubated at 82 degrees F will usually hatch at 60 days or so.

This is an abbreviated version but will suffice most kingsnakes in the Getula ssp.



-John Lassiter-

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