I am really enjoying my beautiful new, 22 inch-long, 10 month-old, blue-eyed, chocolate brown and creamy yellow banded, Hypo Cali King snake. I've had the snake for a little less than 3 months now and am very pleased. The snake is not only gorgeous, but very active/curious, friendly* and seems very healthy.
Just to note, The snake is kept in a 30 gal glass tank with a heating pad and a small night lamp to one side. The temp on the cooler side stays 75F deg (pretty consistent) at 60% humidity. The snake spends time in both zones but is more often found in the cooler zone. It often climbs it's rock thingy and also spends time in its water too, but does not sit in it for long periods...just a quick dip and them out (never poops in the water).
All that said, my post is really about two things - diet and behavior, and the effect one has on the other.
When I got my snake, I waited about 7 days before feeding it. I gave it one pinkie...no problem. The snake was 18 inches long at the time and shed 3 days after I fed it (cool!). It let me pick it up from day-one. It only nipped once or twice in the first two weeks...nothing serious. It was calm and curious and I was calm too.
Then I started feeding two pinks about every 10 days. Seemed to be OK. After a month (June) it was a bit more nippy. It always tolerated being picked up (still does). In fact, for the past couple of weeks, when I take off the lid, it slowly climbs up its rock and out onto my hand...it definitely recognizes my face and is fine around me BUT it is getting more unpredictable. Twice it has locked on to me (not just nipping).
I last fed it 7 days ago...3 pinks. It teared into them aggressively - not just striking them like normal. It attacked the first pinkie like I have never seen (Rated R style). I am now officially not sure what is going on and, as you can probably tell, I am questioning my approach (and knowledge) when feeding and handling.
As for handling, I am very slow and gentle with the snake. I avoid running my free hand in front of it, or startling it with jerky motions. I always try to let it decide where it wants to go but I always try to control its options...I don't "play" with it. I handle it and hope that we both grow into a great long term relationship where I understand it and it understands me. But ready or not, this snake is growing and I am trying to stay relaxed.
Maybe I should give it less per feeding (maybe two pinks) but feed it more frequently (maybe every 5-6 days). OR I could continue to try and feed it every 7-10 days but give more food...maybe something bigger than 2 day old pinkies. I don't want to ASSume that just because a snake can fit a larger piece of food in its mouth automatically means that it's time to "move up" to that larger size food. Strangely, I don't want it to grow too fast because it still bites (Don't want a larger mouth coming at me), but if the snake bites less once it grows larger then, heah, bring on the fuzzies. (rookie syndrome).
The snake has had two clean sheds in 2.5 months so I can't be messing up too badly on food or humidity. My goal is to understand its needs and make sure it gets what it needs so that it's happy and not so aggressive. If diet/portion can influence the snake's behavior then I do need to understand this better. If it's not diet at all then I'm all ears.
I have read, more than once, on the forum that as Kings age or grow, ideally, they become less afraid of big ugly humans (like me), more calm and comfortable around them, which means no nipping. I want to believe this. Aging out of nipping is fine but aggression is different.
Last thought. I have read some of you say that males become aggressive when they want to mate. Not sure if this applies...don't know the sex yet. Assuming "he" is a male, I still would need to learn if males display this sort of behavior when less than one year old. Maybe this is what is going on here... Maybe food is not influencing behavior at all (HELP!!!!).
Thank you in advance for letting me blather on...I will stop now. 
