Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I first want to say hello to everyone on these boards. My name is Drew and I am 20 from Arizona. I have been viewing for a few weeks reading up on kingsnakes and enjoying viewing all of your awesome snakes. I finally got around to registering and taking a few pictures of my snake to post.

I do have a few questions for anyone that is willing to give me some insight. I got my first snake around 3 years ago. It was a captive shovel-nose snake (which I now realize is not a good idea to have a captive snake at all). After about a month of attempting to get him to eat I finally gave him to a friend of my fathers who is a HUGE snake lover and has a ranch of sorts where he has 100 snakes. I am happy to report he is now living with a few other shovel-nose snakes and is eating wild food that happen to come onto the "ranch".

About a year after that I purchased a Hypomelanistic Kingsnake from a very reliable and popular reptile store here in Arizona. I bought him (who I named Trouser...real original I know) as a yearling (not sure if that term actually means a 1 year old snake or not). I have had ZERO problems with him so far. I have been bit twice but that was a combination of my own fault and his incredible feeding response. He has been just a great snake all around. But I do have a few questions for you all.

1)This one is really simple and straight forward. What exact "morph" of snake is this? Is it a Lavender Kingsnake?

2)He is about 2 2/3 ft long and (I would assume) around 3 years old. I currently feed him 2 fuzzies every 1 1/2 to 2 weeks. While he seems to be growing fine and in good health I feel this is not enough. I was thinking about bumping him up to 3 fuzzies in that same time frame. What do you think of this? Not enough? Too Much?

3) I have included a few pictures including a close up of his tail. I know there is no way to for sure know the sex without having them physically sexed, but what would you guess his gender to be. (I just use the term "His" because it's easier)

4) I plan on getting a new (bigger) enclosure for him soon. What size would you suggest? Also, is there any other suggestions you could give me on his enclosure?

(I was sure I had more questions then this but for the life of me I can't remember them. I am sure they will come to me though and I will add them)

Here are a few pictures I finally got around to taking of him.

(I use gloves to take him out due to his crazy feeding response)


(Male or Female?)

Beauty snake there, but based on the pics and the snakes age, I'd say he/she is probably ready for adult mice- not fuzzies!

I'm sure somebody who knows a LOT more than I will chime in and give you some more sound advice... (Rainer or Tom?)

//Todd

Yes definetly feed it large mice. He looks very thin.
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"Yeah ya told me, and ya wrote it down too. But how the hell am I supposed to remember!"

Here's a great feeding article Tom wrote:

Feeding Article

//Todd

It's a Hypomelanistic cali king (not a lavender)

From the pic there is no way to determine the sex

A Cali king can live comfortably in a 20 gal Long but honestly an even larger enclosure won't hurt either, it's more about the space you have available for a bigger enclosure.

Feed him larger meals (1-2 adult mice... not jumbo adults) he should graduate to larger prey/larger meals (3-4 mice per feeding) in no time

~ZF
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Royal ReptileZ

I'm new at this but I'll give my opinion as to what it is. There "IS" a Cal king described as a lavender that's actually a hypo. There's also "blue eyed blonds" that are hypo which start out a lavender color then fade to a light brown like yours appears to be doing.
I would feed that snake adult mice but not large adult. One adult a week looks good for him. Sometimes if you feed them 2 mice at that size they may regurgitate but it all depends on the temps and individual snake. That's a great looking snake!! And BTW that king is not too skinny. Cal kings are not Florida kings.

Nice looking snake. I feed my 3' Cal Kings 2-3 mice every two weeks. As long as they are fat and thick. My male takes 3 and my female takes only 2 yet they are the same size. Each lives in a 20 gall long tank of their own. Your set up seems fine from your pics. I like my Cals, still want a nice pair of Easterns or Speckleds but then again, my love of Bullsnakes keeps me from getting them. Being where you are you probably do not need a heating pad under your tank. You dont need to hibernate your snake if you dont want to breed it- however if it stops eating on its own, just keep cleaning up after it and let it go for 3 months or more if its in good health. From your pic, I would not let it go off food, but at the same time you dont really need a heating pad if your room temp does not go below 75. They are really low maintence snakes, and I keep mine on cypress mulch like you seem to do in your pic. I just make sure if I leave their dead mice in the tank, that they are very dry so the mulch does not "stick" to the mice when they swallow it- however, a small piece of mulch won't hurt them. Good luck!
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125 Orchid plants
20 other tropical plants and succulents
12 Bonsai Trees
28 Tarantulas & 1 Androctonus Scorpion
6 Planted Freshwater Tanks
1.1 Kankakee Bulls
1.0 Texas Red Bull
0.1 Kansas Yellow Bull
1.1 Costal Chocolate Cal Kings

Thanks for all of the nice comments and advice. I greatly appreciate it. I do have a couple of questions based on all of your suggestions.

Why should I bump up to adult mice and not just bump up the number of fuzzies I feed him?

Also, are we talking about adult mice or "Hoppers" as they are called at the store I buy them from?

And if they are adult mice should I first give me a few hoppers to get him used to the bigger meal then bump it up to adult mice?

I also am a little hesitant to give me live adult mice. I once was forced to feed him a hopper because the store was out of live fuzzies and the hopper scratched his face extremely close to his eye and actually bit the side of him while he was constricting. For a few weeks after that he was very moody and was very aggressive. I am willing to get frozen mice but I have been told that live prey is MUCH better for them. Any suggestions?

On a side note, that picture that ZFelicien put up is almost exactly what he looked like when I bought him but he has lightened up in both his brown and white color. I assume this is natural and ok.

Again thank you all for taking time out to help me. I really appreciate it.

"Why should I bump up to adult mice and not just bump up the number of fuzzies I feed him?"

More nutrients and cheaper

"Also, are we talking about adult mice or "Hoppers" as they are called at the store I buy them from?"

Regular adult mice

"And if they are adult mice should I first give me a few hoppers to get him used to the bigger meal then bump it up to adult mice?"
You can however it is not needed

"I am willing to get frozen mice but I have been told that live prey is MUCH better for them. Any suggestions?"

Frozen mice, live mice can cause stress and injury to the snake.

Dead or frozen mice are better because they can't bite the snake. Who ever told you live was better was wrong. Yeah, you can bump up the fuzzies if you want, it's just feeding adults might be a lot cheaper in the long run that's all. Those hoppers your talking about sound like small adult mice. You can try feeding him 2 or 3 of those a week. IMO your not really underfeeding him but he will need to be bumped up soon anyway. The tail picture is not good enough to tell if it's male or female. Get a shot of the under part of the tail from the vent to the tip of tail.

I agree with the others who note higher nutrient content. My reptile vet says the same thing. "if they will eat crawlers, feed them hoppers.." the same rule applies. Your king needs to make bones to grown and adult mice have more bone to give your snakes. I bet if you put 2 dead (thawd) mice in its cage it will eat them no problem. It is cheaper to feed it 2 mice than 4 fuzzies... Your pet's growth is not something to skrimp on, but in case you want to use up your fuzzies before you get mice, then upping the fuzzies makes sense to use them up. But dont buy more fuzzies when you can and should be feeding it adult mice at this time. If you are unsure, just try one adult mouse and see how it goes for it. Dead mice are best, not just because of less chance of harming the snake, but that the freezing process bursts the cell walls in the mouse, making digestion much easier and more complete for the snake. Snakes seem to like dead mice- I have been able to feed dead mice to Black Rat snakes that I had only caught 3 days prevously with no problem, and they took them with relish. Just make sure that they are slightly warm to the touch and fully thawd. The easiest ways to do this are: 1- put the mouse in a plastic bag, and place it in a bowl of hot or warm water and let it thaw out and 2- put the mouse out on a counter top or some where where its not going to be disturbed and let it thaw over night. When the snake has not eaten food sometimes- I have re frozen it and used it again later- but I only do this ONE time, then I throw the mouse out. The snake usually takes it again later on after a few days or a week.
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125 Orchid plants
20 other tropical plants and succulents
12 Bonsai Trees
28 Tarantulas & 1 Androctonus Scorpion
6 Planted Freshwater Tanks
1.1 Kankakee Bulls
1.0 Texas Red Bull
0.1 Kansas Yellow Bull
1.1 Costal Chocolate Cal Kings