Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I was browsing though a FL reptiles book a had and came a across some info on Scarlet King snake. I love there colors, and the book said they are calm/docile and whatever. It also said they'll eat raw eggs that've been mixed, i think that's cool.
anyways...
What's anyones experience with these guys?
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1.0.0 Bearded Dragon (Rex- "normal" orange fire)
1.0.0 Bearded Dragon (Glutany- German Giant Mix)
0.1.0 Okeetee Corn (Okatee)
1.1.0 Spotted Python (Hotdog and Shoelace)

scarlets kings = habitat destruction

Scarlets that you see for sale are wildcaught and not captive born. This time of year you will se lots of them up for sale in the classifieds from people who go out and catch them just to sell.

The only ones you will see for sale are wildcaught scarlet kings (which are not tecnically really kingsnakes anyway) which poachers rip the tree bark off the trees to obtain. This bark destroys their regular habitat. Be careful who you buy from.

Baby scarlets are to small to eat pinkies. Matter of fact most adults are to small to eat pinkies and even if they are big enough they will not eat pinkies. They are extremely difficult to switch over to mice.

IMO there are other much nicer tricolors that will eat mice and are a lot easier to keep in captivity. Always purchase captive bron snakes.

Pueblin milksnakes make great pets. Are easy to handle (calm) and eat verything in sight. I would reccomemd one of these or a sinaloan milksnake. The western mountain kings are tricolor kingsnakes and are okay but are not as hardy captives as the aformentioned tricolor snakes. The honduran milksnakes are pretty and are very avaliable on the market as captive born babies. But are way to spastic and I don't like their temperament at all. They will deficate all over you and bite. if they weren't so pretty they would be worthless.

Go for a pueblin or sinaloan if you want a tricolor snake as your first pet snake..

a hypo pueblin I just snapped a pic of in it water bowl:

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I still don't need no spell chack.

this isn't gonna be my first snake, it's gonna be my fourth...
anyways
I really wanna kingsnake , but thanks on the info. I do rather purchase captive born/breed for better health anyways.
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1.0.0 Bearded Dragon (Rex- "normal" orange fire)
1.0.0 Bearded Dragon (Glutany- German Giant Mix)
0.1.0 Okeetee Corn (Okatee)
1.1.0 Spotted Python (Hotdog and Shoelace)

I really wanna kingsnake , but thanks on the info.

The snakes Bluerosy suggested are kingsnakes. All snakes in the genus Lampropeltis are referred to as kingsnakes and this includes milksnakes.
In fact, Scarlet "Kingsnakes" are actually milksnakes because they are a subspecies of Lampropeltis triangulum, just like Pueblans, Sinaloans, Hondurans, etc.
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Chris Harrison
San Antonio, Texas

don't forget coastals. If you like those smallish eastern complex tricolors IMHO coastals can't be beat!

Those are smokin Tony, got any adult Hypo pics? Tom Stevens
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TomsSnakes.com

Most of the ones that I have tried to hold do not like to be held. They are pretty much a "look at" snake. They are very squirmy. They are beautiful, but they are not for everyone. That is the only king that I have been bitten by. It didn't hurt, but it shocked me. I don't recommend them for beginners or someone that wants a snake to hold. Derek

First of all, you are confusing two very different snakes.

The Scarlet Snake (Cemophora coccinea) does terribly in captivity. The only way people have kept them alive for short periods was by denying them water and them feeding them egg yolks when they were dehydrated. They "drank" the egg yolks to replace the fluids they had lost. Otherwise, they appear to eat only reptile eggs and some small species lizard. AFAIK, they won't eat in captivity except under such extreme circumstances.

The Scarlet Kingsnake (Lampropeltis triangulum elapsoides) does a little better in captivity, but hardly well. It is high strung, doesn't enjoy being held (it will usually bite when restrained) and prefers to eat skinks in captivity. Adults will generally take pinkie mice, but in many cases you have to scent those pinkies with skink smell. Babies are too small to take pinkies and usually require juvenile skinks to keep them alive.

On top of that, Scarlet Kings are escape artists with few equals. If there is ANY possible way they could squeeze, climb or otherwise magically free themselves from a cage, they will do so.

Neither of these species is a good candidate for a beginning snake keeper. Frankly, neither species is really suited to captivity for even an advanced snake keeper (and I kept Scarlet Kings for a number of years).
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Chris Harrison
San Antonio, Texas

If you want a brightly colored kingsnake, like a scarlet king, get yourself a Sinaloan Milksnake or a Mexican Milksnake. Both species are hardy and readily available. They eat pinkie mice as babies and adult mice as adults, they will taken pre-killed mice and they will tolerate handling better than other species of tricolored kingsnakes.
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Chris Harrison
San Antonio, Texas

the book i was looking at the snake is a scarlet snake (Cemophora coccinea). I was thinking about getting this snake because I do volunteer work at MOSH (museum of science and history) and wanted it to show people a real view of a scarlet king and how they look like the coral snakes around here (FL). But I missed the part in the book that mentions size. Not looking for another small snake right now.I'll keep looking on kings. No rush ^_^
I don't really like the plain black and white strip/banned kings as they seem so bland to me. those are the only kings sold around here

Anyone know anyone who might have kings for sale at Repticon in orlando next month?
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1.0.0 Bearded Dragon (Rex- "normal" orange fire)
1.0.0 Bearded Dragon (Glutany- German Giant Mix)
0.1.0 Okeetee Corn (Okatee)
1.1.0 Spotted Python (Hotdog and Shoelace)

I would'nt waste my time with Repticon. It is mostly brokers who sell colubrids at that show. Its become kindof a circus. Hold you money and onto you hat when you go to the Daytona Expo in August because you will be blown away. Now that is the show of shows with REAl breeders selling their offspring. Lots of great prices and you can shop for two days and still find the snake you were looking for cheaper at the next table you might have overlooked earlier..
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I still don't need no spell chack.

Both snakes you are interested in....

*Scarlet Kingsnake(Lampropeltis triangulum elapsoides),...and
*Scarlet Snake(Cemophora coccinea)

Although beautiful, are positively two of the very "WORST" choices for a beginning snake!!
They can be EXTREMELY troublesome even for the most "seasoned" of snake keepers,..... this is a fact!.

If you go to a big International Reptile Expo like the one in Daytona,....you will see more pretty "tri-colored" Kings and Milks than you can "shake a stick at"!!,....the only problem you'll have there, is which one of the many thousands to decide on!!!.....it will literally make your "head spin".

best regards, ~Doug

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"Better to be silent and thought a fool, than to open mouth and remove any doubt!"

1. I have actually caught Scarlet Kingsnakes in the wild. It did not require stripping any bark from any trees. There is plenty of bark at the base of dead pines to look through. Rainer, you mentioned that people srip bark from trees to find these snakes - that is not always true BUT the bark that some people rip off to find these snakes is on totally DEAD trees and the bark is falling away from the tree anyway.

I found FOUR at the base of trees in piles of already fallen pine bark last weekend.

2. I have kept NUMEROUS Scarlet Kingsnakes over the past few years. All of the adult Scarlet Kingsnakes I have ever kept ate pink mice with no scenting and no problems. This includes captive bred and wild-caught Scarlet Kings.

3. I have ACTUALLY bred Scarlet Kingsnakes in the past. They are too small to eat pink mice. However, they will take chunks of Ground Skinks and Five-Lined Skinks from tweezers - and greedily.

4. They do not like to be held, that is true. However, they are extremely active snakes and, unlike other Tri-colors - they don't stay hidden all of the time.
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Peter Jolles
East Coast Colubrids
www.eastcoastcolubrids.com