Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Did anyone see the photo in Reptiles of the cal king eating itself? I wonder how long it will try before it gives up? Has anyone heard of them actually killing themselves?
And in reference to an earlier post my female cal king struck and constricted my finger and hand. I had to spray her with the hose to get her off. I had her in a bucket while I cleaned her cage. She got me when I was putting her back.

Well at least water worked...I had to finally try a little rum (after vinegar failed) on a 4 ft cali that wouldn't let go. That worked. Now she begs for more! lol

Splendida (WC) con Atrox(DOR):

Know this is off topic....but just saw your pics and...is there any chance of seeing more? are they from some webpage? any video ? I´ve been looking to watch some kings preying on venomous snakes....with no luck. I just want to see how they do....the particular strategy for eating another snakes.

...a waste of a perfectly good rattlesnake.perhaps more importantly to you,a great way to infest your pet splendida with internal parasites.kill two birds with one stone.....never understood why people can't resist the urge to feed wild caught snakes to their pet kings/milks,etc.....anyway,i have some outer banks kings that are absolutely psycho with the feeding response(thawed rodents)...i find the head under the faucet(cool water temp.) trick always works for them.

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"with head raised regally,and gazing at me with lidless eyes,he seemed to question with flicks of his long forked tongue my right to trespass on his territory" Carl Kauffeld

I just dab a bit on the end of a q-tip and touch it to the
biting end of the offending serpent. They usually come right off.

Then I clean any wounds with the rest of the rubbing alcohol. Then I drink the rum myself.

i had an adult Cal on my finger once and a friend took me to the sink and poured a dab of whiskey on his mouth and released,i LAUGHED when he said nothing worse than a drunk snake

I believe I saw a pic on Kathy Love's website, of a corn that had eaten itself to death. It was found dead in a hoop, half its own body injested. Its pretty rare but it can happen! Some baby snakes arent that bright.

I worked at a top ten Zoo, (no names please)hahahahahaha They had a regal ringneck that would attempt to eat itself. I have a different take on this subject.

In the case of the ringneck, it was simply starving to death. So it parted from normal thinking and would eat itself. This institute fed on a very unnatural shedule, every other monday. While their herp rooms were very hot, all their reptiles suffered.

Consider, when any animal is highly stressed, they can and do go insane. For instance, nose rubbing was considered normal when I was young. ALso consider, academics then said, reptiles do not feel pain as they would rub their noses until they rubbed it off and died. This same effect went for large cats and elephants etc. They would do figure 8's, and rub holes in their bodies etc, and not stop, so they too must not feel pain.

THe above means, captivity can effect animals and cause insanity. To consume yourself is indeed a form of insanity. This insanity is caused by unescapable adverse conditions.

Consider, no matter how good or successful any of us are with captive reptiles, I do not think any wild snake would climb into our cage setups and live its life their volunterily. Cheers

Posted by: FR at Mon Sep 18 09:52:42 2006 [ Report Abuse ] [ Email Message ]

I worked at a top ten Zoo, (no names please)hahahahahaha They had a regal ringneck that would attempt to eat itself. I have a different take on this subject.

In the case of the ringneck, it was simply starving to death. So it parted from normal thinking and would eat itself. This institute fed on a very unnatural shedule, every other monday. While their herp rooms were very hot, all their reptiles suffered.

Consider, when any animal is highly stressed, they can and do go insane. For instance, nose rubbing was considered normal when I was young. ALso consider, academics then said, reptiles do not feel pain as they would rub their noses until they rubbed it off and died. This same effect went for large cats and elephants etc. They would do figure 8's, and rub holes in their bodies etc, and not stop, so they too must not feel pain.

THe above means, captivity can effect animals and cause insanity. To consume yourself is indeed a form of insanity. This insanity is caused by unescapable adverse conditions.

Consider, no matter how good or successful any of us are with captive reptiles, I do not think any wild snake would climb into our cage setups and live its life their volunterily. Cheers

As a general rule isnt it only Ca kings that do this (in kingsnake world) ?
I have never heard of other kigs doing it . My friends Ca king well fed and large enclosure with driftwood ,etc has also done this not often but once or twice a year .

> As a general rule isnt it only Ca kings that do this (in
> kingsnake world) ?
> I have never heard of other kigs doing it . My friends Ca king
> well fed and large enclosure with driftwood ,etc has also done
> this not often but once or twice a year .

My Cal Kings don't do it.
The lavender I just bought does have some signs of it, but she also looks (imho) a bit underfed. She's been eating like a pig, but hasn't been rubbing her nose since I brought her home. She is an unusually timid king for a CB, rattles her tail more than any other king I've seen and occasionally nips - but she's not shy about eating, she'll do that right in front of me. In fact, she tried to eat my nose the night I bought her.
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3.0 WC; 0.3 CB L. getula californiae
0.1.1 WC; 0.0.3 CH Elgaria multicarinata multicarinata

I had heard of that but never saw it till got the magazine. I find Ca kings great looking snakes but my friends does that and bites here and there so yrs ago after looking into them opted not to get one .