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I've had the privilege of knowing four species of Kingsnakes as animal companions. I know that each subspecies has its own unique traits, and that individuals can differ from group traits.

Mexican Blacks (I prefer Sonoran Black Kingsnake, since political boundaries are less relevant than actual home range) are generally known to be:

1. voracious eaters
2. extremely mellow when handled

I have found this to be true, but have also noticed something unique.

My first female loved to drag her food around after it was dead and play with it! I once watched her drag her prey to two different corners of her vivarium and rub along it for several minutes before she fed.

My new male hatchling drags his prey away from the initial strike spot to finish constricting. Their subspecies seems most likely of all to drag their food - and they are especially skilled at striking and constriction.

Anyone else observed this?
Share any other insights unique to Mex Blacks?

Ameron
Pacific Northwest

I too have noticed that my 11 mth old Mex Black must always drag is food to anywhere other than where he first 'attacked' it. And yes, he is a voracious eater and is very easy to handle. Sometimes he'll just coil up around my hand/wrist and sit there while I watch tv and sometimes he'll want to explore. Such a great snake - I'm glad I got him.
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Check Out My Albums

1.0 Ball Python "Aragorn"
1.0 Kenyan Sand Boa "Gimli"
1.0 Saharan Sand Boa "Frodo"
0.1 Rough-Scale Sand Boa "Arwen"
0.1 California Kingsnake "Gentoo"
1.0 Mexican Black Kingsnake "Indigo"
1.0 Snow Corn snake "Chile"

0.1 Australian Cattle Dog/Pointer
"Kira"

">>Mexican Blacks (I prefer Sonoran Black Kingsnake, since political boundaries are less relevant than actual home range) are generally known to be:
>>
>>1. voracious eaters
>>2. extremely mellow when handled

I also keep four of the seven sub-species of getulus. Including one Mexican Black, a pair of Yuma,s (Calkings), a pair of Crane Cty. Desert Kings and seven brooksi (florida kings). In my case, the Mexican black is the nastiest by far. I'm not saying that this means MBKs are nasty. I think it means that these generalizations we make about differet subspecies are hardly the rule. However, I've never seen a brooksi of any age that was even the slightest bit nasty. Then again, an adult brooksi is almost garunteed to take a test bite from time to time.

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Martin Whalin
My Email

Quotes from guys named Carl:

"Science stops at the frontier of logic. Nature does not, she thrives on ground as yet untrodden by theory."
-Carl Jung

"It is foolish to let singleness of purpose deprive one of the joy and delectation of the many wonderful sights and sounds incidental to the quest."
-Carl Kauffeld

I love the look of Mexican Black Kingsnakes. So jet black and shiny looking, kinda like Gun metal ^_^

Anyone know of an online breeder that sells these o_O I've looked everyone I know.

Er.. I've looked *everywhere* I know.

This place has them (my vet recommends this breeder):
www.snakemuseum.com/index2.htm


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Check Out My Albums

1.0 Ball Python "Aragorn"
1.0 Kenyan Sand Boa "Gimli"
1.0 Saharan Sand Boa "Frodo"
0.1 Rough-Scale Sand Boa "Arwen"
0.1 California Kingsnake "Gentoo"
1.0 Mexican Black Kingsnake "Indigo"
1.0 Snow Corn snake "Chile"

0.1 Australian Cattle Dog/Pointer
"Kira"

Is that a pic of Indigo? He's a beauty ^_^

How old is he? How long is he?

Thanks - It's a Mex Black King, but I named him "Indigo". Kind of a play on the fact that Mex Blacks are known as the "poor man's Indigo snake".

In that pic is was 8 months old and my records say he was 14 inches (not sure how accurate that measurement is) - he's 11 months old and 22 inches now (I need to take some updated pics).

He's a great snake in every way!

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Check Out My Albums

1.0 Ball Python "Aragorn"
1.0 Kenyan Sand Boa "Gimli"
1.0 Saharan Sand Boa "Frodo"
0.1 Rough-Scale Sand Boa "Arwen"
0.1 California Kingsnake "Gentoo"
1.0 Mexican Black Kingsnake "Indigo"
1.0 Snow Corn snake "Chile"

0.1 Australian Cattle Dog/Pointer
"Kira"

I currently have 2 MBK's, an 02 male bought at a White Plains NY show and an 03 female I got a couple of weeks ago from Satyrday Reptiles. The male, Jose, was originally bought with an 02 female. That female was by far the NASTIEST snake I have EVER owned, out of all different kinds including WC venomous, hands down. She struck, bit, rattled, musked and whipped at everything that came within 3 feet of her...with her box CLOSED. She would actually JUMP out of her box to bite you. She was also the only snake I have ever had escape, come back, then escape again never to be found (yet). It's been close to a year since her second mysterious escape without any sign of her so I went ahead and bought a new female, Caroline, who is absolutely beautiful but so far turning out to be every bit as nasty tempered as the first female I had!!!

I don't get it, Jose isn't exactly 'sweet', but he tolerates being handled with minimal rattling and whipping about. But that's 2 of 2 females who are super bad tempered, and they are completely unrelated.

As far as the dragging around of prey, never noticed either of these current 2 do it but the first female I had did do it a few times that I remember.

Here is a photo of my current 2, Caroline the 03 female on top, Jose the 02 male on bottom.

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"Klaatu...Verata...Nicht--cough, cough, cough!"

I was gonna go to the White Plains show in July but, I've driven there before from here and its the biggest pain in the butt to get there. Traffic and everything is horrible. Turns a 3 hour drive into a 5-6 hour drive, and thats just 1 way.]

Still looking for a good online breeder, thanks for the website Tiger ^_^

Your snakes look very healthy - and attractive.

But, my gawd, how brave you are to house Kingsnakes together!

Thanks, despite the bad attitude of the female I love them both, they're beautiful to me.

But no no, they aren't together in the same cage. Jose is much much bigger than Caroline, but with her nasty temper I think she'd probably give him a run for his dinner!

It does kinda look like they're together but they're actually in 2 different boxes of the same type, and on the same bedding.

I am hoping to breed these 2 in future once Caroline is big enough, check back with me in a couple of years and I may have some baby pics to post hehe.
~Roo
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"Klaatu...Verata...Nicht--cough, cough, cough!"

In my experience eastern, California, desert and Mexican black kings are all voracious eaters - I don't have much experience with the other types of kings.

I have found that the MBKs are less nervous and less likely to chew on their owner in an over-enthusiastic feeding response than the other kingsnakes mentioned above.

As far as dragging food, I'll have to keep an eye on all my kings for this behavior. I suspect that they are so excited about eating, that part of the "celebration" is to drag the food around. I'd surmise that most kings would do this, but will now watch for it.

Despite the writers who said their MBK's are nasty, I've found them to be the best of the kings if you're looking for a pet, and second only to corn snakes when it comes to pet suitability.

Tim

Third Eye

Wow is that pic your MBK? He/she looks absolutely flawless o_O

Thanks.

It's interesting that the non-friendly MBKs reported are overwhelmingly female - just the opposite of what I would have thought.

I think that the best snake animal companions are:

Kingsnakes more active & spirited
African House stay small, voracious eaters, fastest strikers
Corns so inbred now that many are colorful jewels that
decorate the cage but seldom move

(Mine went bye-bye after he demonstrated a pattern of defecating on my window shades while out exercising.)