Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I have purchased a juvenile albino striped Cal King four days ago. He ate a dead pinky the day I bought him, which I saw. He (or she)is about 14 inches long. I have read two books about kings, as I am new to snakes. I also have a Thayeri, which is a great pet. However, this new snake is mean as HELL! Everytime I put my hand inside of the cage, he strikes, rattles his tail, and musks. He even played dead once. My question is how do I tame him down. I have read many posts on this forum as well as books, and the pet shop care sheet, with no info on how to break him of this habit. Is handling and letting him bite me the only way to deal with this? Is there any other way? I will feed him in a seperate container, and follow all of the rules regarding temperature, feeding, handling, etc. Thanks for your guidance, it is appreciated.

That is common behavoir for hatchling cal kings. They will somtime grow out of it, but from my experience if they are that way as hatchlings it's just the personality of the snake, it usually don't change reguardless of the amount of handling. I have an adult that has never changed, had her since a hatchling.One more point, there is no need to feed in another container, feed it in it's own cage.

A lot of young snakes are nasty. Remember humans look like a big predator so the snake is going into defense mode. My young 50/50 Cali King is about 16-18 inches long and has been in my possession for about 10-12 days now. When I brought him home I placed him in his enclosure and left him alone for about 5 hours. I checked him out and he was sitting on a tree branch inside his enclousure ignoring the hide boxes. I dropped in 2 fuzzies and the snake ate both in a matter of minutes then went on hunt mode. I had an extra fuzzy from my rat snake and the cali king ate that also. I left him alone for 2 days after that only bothering with him to check the temp,change the water and clean up any feces.

After 3 days after I got him and 2 days after he ate is when I started to handle him. Now when I went to pick him up he was really ticked off. He rattled his tail,musked me and gave me one strike but missed since I was fast enough to get my hand out of the way..lol... Anyway once I had him in my hand he musked for the first 5 mins then calmed down. I placed him back and picked him up again the next day. This time he musked again but I held him for about 10 mins and left him roam up my arm and through my hands/fingers.The next day I held him again for 10 more mins and this time I did not get musked! Now I can pick him up and not get musked or have to worry about him getting all rowdy with me! Some snakes are just different from others. Just handle him like 5 mins a day and he will get to learn that you are no threat to him and should calm down.

My yellow rat snake is a different story. He has been nasty from day 1 and even though he has tamed down he still will sometimes strike at me,mostly when I look for him in the subtrate. He hasn't musked me in awhile but I am the only one in the house he will even let handle him. If my wife goes near him he curls up and the head goes into the 'S' and he sometimes vibrates his tail while I am holding him none the less! I try 2 hold him a few times a week but he is a wild one and is all over the place.

Thank you for your replies. Things are getting better, he has not bit me yet. He continued with the strikes, tail rattling, musking, and he eventually played dead.
Today was different, he let me pick him up with no trouble. He did not go into any defensive modes or anything. He last ate a frozen pinky on Saturday, should I feed him again? The Petco employee told me that he should eat one pinky a week, I don't know if that is enough.