Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hey folks.

I just recently got a Cali king and I was wondering if you guys could pass me some advice.

I bought the snake on the day it was ment to be fed, and they advised me not to try and feed it for a couple of days and handle it every day.

Being my first snake, I decided not to leave anything out and I went for the large vivarium (6ft), Orcid bark for the substrate, heat mat under 1/2, hide on each end, and a large water dish.

When i got it home, it seemed very stressed, striking at ANYTHING that went near it, so I left it alone for the first 2 days. I then tried to handle it again, same thing, very agressive. I figured it was just hungry, so I fed it and it ate without a problem, no hesitation, which settled my mind a bit.

24 hours later I tried to handle it again, with success.
I handled it for 3 days straight. On the 4th day, he had buried himseld deep in the substrate and did not come out for a full day, so thats a day without being handled.

Today, he came out and he decided to park himself on the hot side, between the hide and the vivarium wall.

When I open the vivarium glass, he suddenly crawls into his hide, and being me, I dont want to disturb him since ive only just got him settled and I close the glass. 5 minutes later he comes out again and parks himself in the same spot.

I try again 30 mins later, same thing. I then go back later to find him crawling around the cool area. I open the gless and reach in to pick him up and as soon as I make contact he jumped SO hard he almost flew across the vivarium. Im trying NOT to stress him out again so I need some tips. Is this behaviour just due to lack of contact? He was fine in the shop, the assisstant just reached in and picked him up with no problem, no aggression, no fear, hence im a bit worried why he is dong it now. Should I be more pushy? Force human contact? or let him be handled on his own terms?

PS. He is around 2.5ftat the moment. Being fed rat pups once a week.

I've seen similar behavior with a variety of snakes. A few things I'd suggest:

Leave him alone for a week. No handling. He'll be fine without food during this time. Just make sure he has water.

Wear a t-shirt around all day, then put it into his cage. He will associate your scent with non-aggression.

Move gently and slowly, and ease the snake into handling. Over handling from the start can cause the snake to stay stressed.

It sounds to me like he is having a little trouble getting acclimated to his surroundings. A 6' terrarium is HUGE for a snake only 2.5 feet. I'm guessing that you intend for him to grow into it, and that is okay, but many snakes actually prefer smaller quarters. Some of mine actually do better in a plastic shoebox until they are close to 30 inches long. Why don't you try temporarily setting him up in something smaller, like a 28qt. Sterilite box from Wal-Mart or Target for a couple of weeks and see if this changes his attitude. Just make sure to put weights on the lid, because they can get out. I use a cheap ($1) soldering iron to melt air holes. Works better than a drill.

Good luck.
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1.1.0 Hondurans Het Amel
1.1.0 Hondurans Anery, Het Hypo
0.1.0 Honduran Hypo
0.2.0 Pueblans
1.0.0 Thayeri MSP
0.0.1 GBK Blair's Phase
1.0.0 California King
0.0.1 Speckled King WC
0.0.1 Jungle Carpet
0.1.0 Ball, Normal
0.0.1 Sulcata
0.1.0 Girlfriend, Caucasius Mexicana, Fiancee Phase

I ask everyone new this, but could you post some pics of your setup and your snake? We love pics here.

Snakes can be definitely be stressed by moving to a new environment. My 6 yr old Cal king, who is quite friendly, refused to eat after moving into her new enclosure. She was much more interested in exploring and leaving her mark on the furniture.

I would leave the snake alone for a while - about a week or so - to let it adjust to its enclosure and to your habits. Think about it - you would be nervous if you just moved into a new place with strange things going on around you.

Everyone will have his/her own methods for picking up snakes, but mine is as follows:
1. Place a hand (flat, palm down) about midway down the snake's body, and leave it there for a second or two.
2. Gently pick the snake up.

Once you make contact with the snake, you need to pick it up. Otherwise it has time to "think" about what's going on and possibly strike at you. IMO, you would actually stress the snake more by constantly going after it over a short span of time than you would with biweekly 5-10 minute handling sessions. Once the snake gets used to you and calms down a bit, you could up the handling to every day, but that all depends on how stressed the snake is during handling sessions.

Anyway, I've rambled on. I hope your new Cal king does well. Good luck, and don't hesitate to post if you have more questions!

Thank you both.

I took that suggestion about the size of the viv. Got a smaller 2' one. Im in the UK, so I dont have a clue what those boxes you were talkin about are from walmart.

I shuffled things around, I turned the cold end hide away slightly and put it in the back corner to help him feel a bit more secure and im currently wearing a suitable T-shirt to put in later on. He is alot more active already, exploring the new viv and the hide placements. So for the moment things are ok. Thanks alot!

Another quick question, what are the 0.1 1.0 2.0 things about on most peoples signatures.

Duane Barbour
Duane@armymail.mod.uk

PS. I will put some pictures up ASAP.

Are as follows,.........

Male is first, female second, unsexed(unknown) third, so an example of this would look like this.

* 1.2.4 = one male, two females, four unsexed animals

* 3.1 = three males, one female.

* 1.1 = one male, one female(a pair)

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

I have a cali king that when I get him out he shoots out straight as a arrow..then back to my arm and settles down..everytime..I just believe it's in his nature (personality?)..and I've come to expect it when I get him out.
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Richard Evans

no not THAT one

Hey folks, I think I realised why he /she has been so secretive and hiding.

He/she shed its skin at 11:30pm last night!!!

Its not back to its normal self, wandering around and coming to the glass as SOON as open the door. Im happy

I have another question though, Ive been told that by counting the scales on the tail (the double row) I can sex it... but I cant find anywhere that can tell me the scale count for THIS breed.

The count is 106... any ideas?

Cheers folks!