It's gotta be the saliva.

Say a regal ringneck snake, about 20" long gets into a little battle with a 13" california kingsnake. From what I've observed during live feeding trials, there is a 90% chance the regal will strike and nail the prey on the neck/head area. The kingsnake will probably flip, which once this happens, the prey gets cut. I actually had to clean blood off the side of an enclosure the other day because the garter did such.

Once the blood is flowing, the venom is flowing. And their venom is quite strong.

I don't believe a ringneck snake could take a kingsnake if the venom didn't affect them. A kingsnake would be able to fight it off easily. If... they had no venom.

But about 3-6 minutes after the bite of a 'venomous' ringneck snake, the king will start showing signs of paralyis.
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Mike
KingPin Reptiles Inc.
Helmz777@aol.com
www.freewebs.com/mikesnake
Updated 9/19 NEW PICS/INFO

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