Reptile & Amphibian Forums

17 years of working with kingsnakes and I finally had a female attack a male in earnest.

The female had just laid her first clutch of the season. I fed her heavily for 8 days. She got 6 large mice and 2 chicks that week. So I go to reintroduce the male and they locked up immediately. Came back in about an hour and they were still going at it. Next afternoon they were both under the same hide together. I usually leave pairs together for about 3 days at a time and them I separate them to feed the female. On day two, I open the cage to find the male covered head to tail in pretty much one giant scab(including inside his mouth and through the spectacles). Lucky he is a good bit bigger than her or he probably would have been lunch.

I didn't know if he was going to make it at first. I got him on a few rounds of antibiotics and he shed after about 2 weeks. I was amazed... nearly good as new.

And to make it all worthwhile, he got the job done too. She just laid 6 perfect eggs!

I still don't know what triggered the attack. This female likes to be difficult though. She is also the first female in probably 10 years that doesn't like my nest boxes no matter what I try. She just prefers to lay under her normal hide, so I keep it humid and check it often.

Who knows, maybe next she will start trying to eat her eggs, and I will believe you guys aren't making that up!

Wow....what a story.....although at the expense of your nerves. There's always that "one time", and I've yet to have it happen after 17 years myself. But some measure of prudence with kings isnt a bad idea either.....I tend to leave pairs together for a day or so and it's always in the back of my mind. Just glad the ol' bruiser male is well and good as new.
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Jerry Kruse
www.zonatas.com

And God said, "Let there be zonata subspecies for all to ponder..."

Thanks for sharing the nightmare fuel At least with geckos it may have been rough but they weren't going to eat each other. I'm (probably excessively) worried about that happening.

Glad your male is OK. Soundsl ike an epic feeding attempt
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We wouldn't have 6 and a half billion people if you had to be beautiful to get laid.
6.6 African House snakes
3.2 reticulated pythons
.1 corn snake
4.2 Florida Kings
1.2 speckled kings
1.2 ball pythons
0.0.1 Argentine boa

Too bad. But congratulations on the eggs! Hang in there. Glad it wasn't worse for you.

"So I go to reintroduce the male and they locked up immediately"

"I still don't know what triggered the attack"

Did you keep the pair together so they formed a bond? Did they brumate together?

Or did you just introduce the male into the females cage during breeding season?
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www.Bluerosy.com

This was the females first season breeding. Second season for the male. They had been together early in the spring when he fathered her first clutch of eggs. I would say in total they had spent about 2 weeks together over the course of this past spring before the attack occurred. He had not been in with any other females. And I don't believe I had any rodents in the room during the 2 days he was in there.

I have never brumated pairs together but it is an interesting idea. Do you do this regularly? What about males that you want to breed multiple females?

I keep my males in with my females year round except during the egg laying process. Sometimes i have to move males into different females cage unit. But i also keep group of as many as 5 in one large container (depending on what females to males i plan on breeding).

I think by just keeping them isoloated causes problems. By bonding them and them being used to other snakes there is less chance of anything (like what happened to you). I also don't have to worry about them by constanly watching and removing them when things appear roughmaking-something that i see people posting here all the time. This removing males when females ren't ready and reintroducing them is just weird.

By keeping pairs or more together you also take the guess work of when they are ready to breed. These snakes can surprise you sometimes, as i even had a few clutches early and mid winter.

Bottom line. i see a lot of problems with people who choose to control the snakes as much as they do by seprating them, keeping feeding 'schedules" , temperature controls and forced cooling. I don't do any of this and my kingsnakes (Florida kings) are at the top of the list as supposed cannibals. Mine never have cannibilzed unless they were neonates . When my Floridana get up to eating small mice i start housing them together year round until the female is ready to lay. After she does she goes right back into the colony.

One more thing I will add. For those with limited space and units. You can keep more snakes this way ~!
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www.Bluerosy.com

How exactly do you keep your colonies set up? I'm very curious. Can you include pics? Also, how often do you feed them? Thanks.

I am curious about the specifics as well.

I have kept kings together in the past, I know that it can be done. But I always felt they were less stressed on their own. I guess I never really experimented too much with it though.

Stressed? hardly! Unless they are new introductions and that causes stress. That is why i suggest putting them in groups early on and during the winter when activity slows down.

As far as a container. i keep them in the long iris boxes and smaller blanket boxes. Same thing as keeping one smnake applies to keeping two or more together.Same cage setup and same everything..

I do espouse to feeding all winter and allowing a hot spot and a cold spot. I manage this easily as the room i keep them in is not well insulated. It gets lose to freezing a few days out of the year and then i use a room heater just to get the temps up to 40F. I do this more for me than the snakes as it is to cold to work in the room.

The snakes have a hot area. It is interesting the snakes CHOOSE to stay on the cold side unless they are digesting a meal. So that tells me they try to conserve energy at all times and as much as possible within a sweater box.

They eat at 40f and just move over to the hotspot. So they prefer the lower temps much more than we prevously thought. Putting them at 72-85 is what we think they need. But really it's natural for them to go from hot to cold WHEN THEY WANT! It also makes shipping duringthe winter a charm as i know my snakes can take the cold weather and as long as it does not freeze inside the box.

i DON'T KNOW WHAT ALL THIS HAS TO DO WITH KEEPING THEM TOGETHER. Except that maybe trying to duplicate things closer to what they experince in nature they are less likely to act out of character. I also feed my snakes often or at least "offer" food. If the food item is not eaten i simply remove and place into another cage for them to eat. I never check to see if both snakes try to eat the same food item or worry about attacks due to the food thrown in.. i throw 5 or 5 chicks or mice into a cage and walk away. So far they have been extremly polite at feeding and i am surprised that they do not kill each other because of not wanting to share.

Summer time is a bit tough for me because my snake room gets hot. So i don't use heat or hot spots. So everthing is turned off. I know it is not the best thing for them but i am a cheap-skate and running a cooling unit is over my budget.

The summer heat only lasts util sept, so they experince a cycle similar to what is going on outside. This works well for me as i can always tell when they start getting interested. It is when the flower tree in my yard start to bloom. The snakes seem to be in tune with the ouside weather. Not the temsp.. So sometimes they breed late and sometimes early. either way this setup is blindproof and idiot proof. That works perect for someone like me.
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www.Bluerosy.com

Ok...but how often do you feed them? Also, can you show a pic of a colony's set-up? I'm really curious, I want to try this. Thanks.