Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I always tease that the colubrid folks are so angry because their snakes are and well my little foster king is proving that to be true.

Saturday was clean and feed. Let me remind you all what I keep. Retic, bloods, carpets, chondros. ALL supposed aggressive species right?

Not a single one of them bit me, nope. What did? The littlest snake in the house, the foster cal king. Got his weight up, but ya know showing a snake to potential adopters and having said snake bite me really doesnt improve his adoptability ya know. So here he hangs.

I was doing a photo spread of my carpets and figured I would shoot a shot of him while cleaning for ya'all, here he is in the holding tub.

Of course I was already calling a barrage of names that I can not post in the forum because after nailing my arm 4 times he was aiming at my face.

I failed to close his rack completely while moving on to the next drawer and his head popped out. With my retic in one hand I waved a glove as a distraction.



4 hours after clean and he still wouldnt let go.

Such an angry lil cuss aint he? Fed last night, 5 XL mice and 1 small rat. He likes it when I over thaw. BTW this morning while checking, I was greating with a slingshot hello. One girl emailed me privately to tell me to feed him a lot and he wont try to kill me. Yeah, not so true with this guy. He has tried to bite me with a mouse in his mouth.

So needless to say, I think I grasp you guys a LOT better
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Cindy Steinle
PHFaust
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Try some Germex on your hands before reaching in. I've found that the scent of alcohol sometimes sends an "I'm not food" signal to some snakes.
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http://www.mikefoux.com
http://snakerack.blogspot.com

2.6.2 Hondurans (Normal, amel, hypo, anery, ghost)
1.2.0 Pueblans (Normal, hypo)
0.1.0 Corn Bloodred
0.0.1 GBK Blair's Phase
1.1.0 California King (normal, blue-eyed blond)
0.2.0 Speckled Kings Calcasieu Parish locality
1.1.0 Brooksi Hypo
1.1.0 Goini/Brooks Cross (Blaze and hypo)
1.1.0 San Diego gophers
0.0.1 Texas Rat
0.0.1 Jungle Carpet
0.1.0 Ball, Normal
0.0.1 Sulcata
1.2.1 Leopard Geckos(various morphs)
0.1.0 Wife, Caucasius Mexicana Integrade WC

>>Try some Germex on your hands before reaching in. I've found that the scent of alcohol sometimes sends an "I'm not food" signal to some snakes.
>>-----

Yeah it isnt that because I do that between each cage. Its just him being evil.
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Cindy Steinle
PHFaust
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He looks very hungry and what he is doing is a feeding response. Not a defensive bite.
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www.Bluerosy.com

I agree with that, snake needs some weight on him then maybe he'll feel like it's time to mellow out.
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Mike
KingPin Reptiles
www.kingpinreptiles.com

Definitely one hungry underweight snake that is associating any movement no matter what(Cindy..LOL!) for a desparate meal!

~Doug
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"a snake in the grass is a GOOD thing"

my website -serpentinespecialties.webs.com

agreed....with a defensive bite, they don't grab and coil around the "victim". That snake is underweithg and very hungry.
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Greg Jackson

I agree with the others; underweight and still very hungry. Now he must be extra angry that the "prey" he caught was just a dumb old inedible glove! LOL!
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Bob/Chris
Pyromaniac AKA Greatballzofire

No doubt!.....the snake was desperately trying to envision a miniature cow from the leather scent of the glove the entire time it was constricting it..LMAO!!

~Doug

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"a snake in the grass is a GOOD thing"

my website -serpentinespecialties.webs.com

Who's got the beef?
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BigT
There is a difference between ignorance and stupidity. The ignorant can be taught, stupidity is beyond our control.
1.2 P. m. melanoleucus B/W N. J. Northern Pines
1.2 P. d. deppei Mexican Pines
2.2 P. l. lineaticollis Linis or Lined Pines
1.2 P. m. lodingi Black Pines
0.3 P. c. sayi Kingsville X Stillwater red bulls
1.1 Drymarchon melenurus Blacktail Cribo
1.2 D. corais Yellowtail Cribos
1.2 M. s. cheynei Jungle Carpet
2.6 L. p. pyromelana Arizona Mt. Kings
1.1 L. g. californiae B/W Cali kings
0.0.3 M. f. flagellum Eastern Coachwhips
1.2 G. m. bottegoi Western Plated lizards

HAHAA!!

~Doug

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"a snake in the grass is a GOOD thing"

my website -serpentinespecialties.webs.com

..and I didn't get a chance to read it all, lol.
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King Snakes! Who can make a better mouse trap?
J Sierra

>>..and I didn't get a chance to read it all, lol.
>>-----
>>King Snakes! Who can make a better mouse trap?
>> J Sierra

PFFFFT nothing has been removed from this forum since 1/8....
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Cindy Steinle
PHFaust
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>>>>..and I didn't get a chance to read it all, lol.

>>PFFFFT nothing has been removed from this forum since 1/8....

HAHAHAHAAHAHAHHAAH.......I think Mr. B. might have then if you didn't....LOL
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John Lassiter
Poor planning and procrastination on your part does not constitute an emergency on my part...

A lot of the post that people responded to did.
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Tom S
1.1 Flame Lampropeltis getla Floridana
1.0 Hypomelanistic Lampropeltis getula Floridana
0.1 Axanthic Lampropeltis getula Floridana
0.1 Hypomelanistic Lampropeltis triangulum hondurensis
1.0 Anerythristic Lampropeltis triangulum hondurensis

>>A lot of the post that people responded to did.
>>-----

Nope nothing in this thread has been removed whatsoever. We maintain records and I did in fact check prior to posting that comment. I *KNOW* better than to check my facts with ya all.

Now later in the day something was removed but not a single post in this thread was.
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Cindy Steinle
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Yeah Cindy, Now you definitely get a better grasp of how voracious they can be when hungry, and/or starved. That king is very thin and hungry as all heck!, so there is no stopping what they are "programmed" to do..LMAO!!

Once he gets plumped up a bit and gets used to being fed well, it might start slowing down on the food aggression thing, but you really never know axactly to what degree many times..LOL!

Glad you have it now and are feeding it well.

~Doug
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"a snake in the grass is a GOOD thing"

my website -serpentinespecialties.webs.com

It may take a few months of steady food and lots of putting on weight.
Or he may just be a ****head and try to eat you no matter what.
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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

>>It may take a few months of steady food and lots of putting on weight.
>>Or he may just be a ****head and try to eat you no matter what.
>>-----

Voting for the butthead. Actually the only king I have had here that hasnt tried to eat me was the MBK.
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Cindy Steinle
PHFaust
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Cindy,
Feed that king like 5 or 6 mice (or as many as he will eat until he stops) and then again in 5 days.

Also the glove you are using is a learned response. Now that he is so hungry and starved he will continue to do his foood response whenever the glove is around.

Basically he will imprint onto the glove as a food item.
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www.Bluerosy.com

>>Cindy,
>>Feed that king like 5 or 6 mice (or as many as he will eat until he stops) and then again in 5 days.
>>
>>Also the glove you are using is a learned response. Now that he is so hungry and starved he will continue to do his foood response whenever the glove is around.
>>
>>Basically he will imprint onto the glove as a food item.
>>-----
>>www.Bluerosy.com
>>

That is what he is getting fed already. LOL And that is a newer glove. needed something that I could hid better with the iguanas. Its usually my hand, arm, shirt that he is biting.

Maybe it is a learned response with me... Dunno, 10 mins before this was taken he was hanging off my arm.
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Cindy Steinle
PHFaust
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Not all of us are angry my dear although the few that are stick out because they are always squawking. My endowment will keep me being nice unlike the others. I have no need to compensate.
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May the power of the hognose be with you.

Not all of us are angry my dear although the few that are stick out because they are always squawking. My endowment will keep me being nice unlike the others. I have no need to compensate.
Yes, bless the well endowed; they bring joy to us all! LOL!
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Bob/Chris
Pyromaniac AKA Greatballzofire

If I had an endowment fund I'd be happy too
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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

>>Not all of us are angry my dear although the few that are stick out because they are always squawking. My endowment will keep me being nice unlike the others. I have no need to compensate.
>>-----
>>May the power of the hognose be with you.
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Cindy Steinle
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You now, I am envious of this fantastic feeding response! Not to say my kings don't eat, since they all do fine, but nobody is quite THAT voracious! He must have been nearly starved to death before you rescued him.
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Bob/Chris
Pyromaniac AKA Greatballzofire

Havent weighed him lately, but you could physically see ribs on him. Took a few weeks to settle in, but he has been biting me ever since.
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Cindy Steinle
PHFaust
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Havent weighed him lately, but you could physically see ribs on him. Took a few weeks to settle in, but he has been biting me ever since.
How sharper than a serpent's tooth it is to have a thankless child
From King Lear; name him Lear, he already is a King! LOL!
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Bob/Chris
Pyromaniac AKA Greatballzofire

I'm sure there are other reasons.. lol, but I like your theory.

Cal kings are just plain stupid when hungry, and they care little about what is going on around them when they go after food, or what they think is food. Good thing they are not the size of retics.
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Mark

Ok ya all say that he is hungry. CANT be hungry. He eats in a given week the following MINIMAL: 4 XL mice and 1 small rat. Every week. He usually takes in far more than that because if something refuses or I am unable to count, he eats.

Now granted this pic was at feeding time, but out of all my snakes here, he is the only one I use a sheild when I open the rack. He has also taken a hack at me with a rodent in his mouth. LOL

This is also the only snake in my house at this time that bites me at least weekly.

Since I got him he has doubled in weight. Ribs are gone, but he is just one angry child. I should name him slinky because he springs out at me (thus the sheild).
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Cindy Steinle
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In my experience of rescuing starving animals of all sorts, once the animal has had the experience of starving, it changes their behavior and even after they put on weight and seem normal, they seem to always have a heightened feeding response. Often they become obese. Even people respond this way; I once knew a Holocaust survivor who had been starved as a youth in the camps. When he gained his freedom he grew enormously obese because he could not stand the sensation of hunger. I hope no one takes offense that I mention this man's suffering with that of animals. Starvation is a universal experience. Maybe this snake will never feel satisfied due to his earlier trauma.
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Bob/Chris
Pyromaniac AKA Greatballzofire

And that is a very logical reasoning to me.

One of the hardest things with starved animals is getting them to the point of proper feeding. I cant take in an animal that is skin and bones with no last known meal and feeding it 8 mice. You have to slowly introduce more and larger feeders. Failure to do so will result in a dead snake. The slow buildup can be a pain. Hoppers 3 times a week for several weeks, slowly moving up to larger food and eventually getting on a regular feeding cycle. DEF time consuming venture.
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Cindy Steinle
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Gradual increase is absolutely the only way to rehabilitate a starved animal. They need to rebuild all their intestinal flora and fauna.

How did you happen to come into possession of this little king?
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Bob/Chris
Pyromaniac AKA Greatballzofire

>>Gradual increase is absolutely the only way to rehabilitate a starved animal. They need to rebuild all their intestinal flora and fauna.
>>
>>How did you happen to come into possession of this little king?
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>>Bob/Chris
>>Pyromaniac AKA Greatballzofire

He was an owner surrender at a shelter for aggression. Being fed one small mouse every 4-6 weeks. They also turned in the mice. Pinkies. How he lived this long I will never know.
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Cindy Steinle
PHFaust
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Aww...the poor little guy...at least the owner turned him over to a shelter instead of just "releasing" him to fend for himself.

Kudos to you for helping this fellow creature. I recently got to do a small good deed myself; I donated 30 pounds of home grown frozen mice to the local wildlife center, for the raptors and owls.
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Bob/Chris
Pyromaniac AKA Greatballzofire