Reptile & Amphibian Forums

On average, based on your experiences, which species usually is longer. The Honduran Milk Snake or an Eastern (Chain) Kingsnake?

I'm not concerned with record lengths, but curious about what I could expect the average normal length to be.

It seems like there is much variability listed on the web.

Thanks!

Chain Kings are probably the longest of the Common Kings (Getula), but some Hondurans can get pretty hefty also. Many do not get to huge sizes, it all has to do with what genes they have mixed into them. You'll be hard pressed to find a pure Honduran Milk in the hobby today.
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What's wrong with using CAUTION?!?!?!
King Snakes! Who can make a better mouse trap?
~ Jorge Sierra www.SierraSnakes.com

Both will easily get into the 4 to 5 foot range, and others can surpass this by quite a bit too. It really depends on many different factors to give one definite answer. These factors are environmental temps, size of prey, frequency of feedings, type of bloodline, and the individual's genetic pre-disposition for ultimate size. Any of these things or combinations of things can make a huge difference in overall size over the years.

This Honduran milk apparently had all these optimum factors going in it's favor...LOL!..

~Doug

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"a snake in the grass is a GOOD thing"

serpentinespecialties.webs.com

"some are just born to troll and roll"

Wow! That has to be the biggest one I've ever seen pics of, lol.
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What's wrong with using CAUTION?!?!?!
King Snakes! Who can make a better mouse trap?
~ Jorge Sierra www.SierraSnakes.com

"Wow! That has to be the biggest one I've ever seen pics of"

Yep, that's gotta be one of THE largest Hondos ever known to exist Jorge. ........1t's just ridiculous huge!

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

serpentinespecialties.webs.com

"some are just born to troll and roll"

holy god I hope one of mine gets nearly that long. That's an impressive beast!
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We wouldn't have 6 and a half billion people if you had to be beautiful to get laid.

I can't help but agree with Doug yet again.

I also can't help but notice with this post and those you've made in the milk snake forum you're searching for the biggest bang for your buck... no matter who says what, no matter how many years of experience they have, nobody can tell you that one particular subspecies of milk or king is going to give you the biggest colubrid possible... far too many variables for that to be answered definitively... pick the one whose look you like the best... meet it's needs as best you can... and be happy with what comes.

Again... nobody here, or in the milk snake forum, can guarantee what you're looking for... surely there must be something you're looking for whether the snake is 4 foot or 6 foot?

Gerry

It really isn't about bang for the buck.

I don't exactly know what I'm looking for, so for now I'm looking at everything. There was a really pretty tangerine hondo at the store today...and the store manager knows the local breeder. I guess a set of eggs are about to hatch at the end of the month or so. It was super cute.

But I really like the idea of a chain king--they're native to the area, which has certain appeal. But he doesn't know where the chains really come from....so there is a loss of appeal. He also said Geogia chain kings are threatened, and I would hate to add pressure to wild populations unknowingly.

The basic criteria are this:
We want a snake thar rarely exceeds 6 ft. We're aware of and willing to deal with exceptions if they occur.

I want it be longer than an average male corn snake, and those are usually no more than 42" (again exceptions can happen and neither of ours are near that length now, so who knows)

Smaller than a female ball python. Those usually are about 4.5 ft and much bigger around, but again ours isn't full grown yet, and exceptions happen.

We want something without strict care requirements. keeping the humidity up for our BP is enough work for now. That basically leaves for our region a male BP, a yellow rat, or one of the longer milks or kings. There might be something else I don't know about.

The yellow rats are wild caught and I'm not a fan of that really.
The male BP, well it would be another BP, with humidity issues.
So what are the longer milks and kings and what do those look like? Again, I come back to hondos or polyzona.

I mean, when they're awesome, they're awesome.

I love rats, both north american and old world, and might look at the yellows despite them being WC. I don't know how big they average though, and I have seen them hit over 6' a few times.
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We wouldn't have 6 and a half billion people if you had to be beautiful to get laid.

Lots of choices as you're no doubt finding out

Simple, easy care would be an Andean or Black Milk... they don't much easier than those two... but both could easily get to 6' with proper care and feeding.

Good luck with the decision process... it's always a tough thing for me as well.

Gerry