Penelope is probably hungry...and has come to associate infrequent handling with feeding, and the act of handling her stimulates her feeding response. For a large adult feeding once a month is probably too little. I would feed her atleast every 10 days, a large mouse or small rat or equvalent smaller rodents, and handle her daily. Try to overcome the response of jerking away, (not easy but many of us have), as it minimizes trauma to you and the snake if it bites you. That is quite an old snake, and big old kings are impressive. Maybe you can post a photo of her, she is an oldie but a goodie I suspect. Also, a few kingsnakes are just nervous and have strange behaviors such as biting...Good luck, Vic

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• problems with Desert King acting strange and biting - desertkingsnake, Thu Oct 27 20:09:59 2005
• RE: problems with Desert King acting strange and biting - VICtort, Fri Oct 28 14:50:48 2005
• RE: problems with Desert King acting strange and biting - FR, Fri Oct 28 16:26:38 2005
• RE: problems with Desert King acting strange and biting - herronreptiles, Fri Oct 28 18:14:14 2005
• RE: problems with Desert King acting strange and biting - HKM, Fri Oct 28 18:38:37 2005
• RE: problems with Desert King acting strange and biting - stinkypinky, Fri Oct 28 18:46:02 2005
• Pic of Penelope - desertkingsnake, Fri Oct 28 23:07:43 2005
• RE: Pic of Penelope - fighterpilot, Sat Oct 29 13:51:54 2005
• RE: Pic of Penelope - desertkingsnake, Sat Oct 29 17:56:28 2005
• RE: Pic of Penelope - fighterpilot, Sat Oct 29 20:12:36 2005