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I have a 2 yr old albino California king. I have only had him about a month, but he has since developed a bad attitude. The first couple weeks I had him he was ok, then around after his second feeding a couple weeks back he started getting real mean. He regurgitated that meal so I figured it was due to overfeeding him (though he took both mice) or being close to shed, so I let him be until he was done. Pulled out a complete one piece shed (YES!). Then I found his current home a bit too small for him, so I got him a 20g tank. When taking him out and putting him in, he musked on me. Figured he was a bit freaked, so gave him another couple days to get used to the new digs. Tried to get him out to feed him, but he was snapping and rattling his tail at me. Now tonight, a few MORE days after that, I saw him peeking out and seeming a bit more calm now, so I went to put in my hand. He seemed ok, flicking his tongue, seeming to "feel" me out. I tried lifting him a bit and he turned on me and nipped me, catching my finger. What could have caused this change in 'tude? I have not been using any new hand soap or other scents or been feeding anyone else and trying to handle him smelling like dinner. Temps and humidity are doing quite well, he is on my back porch so gets ample humidity in FL and more than enough heat. What can I do? I feel like I won't be able to keep him if he is going to keep acting like this.

Zoe

Is there a thermometer in there? Is it getting too hot? If the temp is ok, is there a cooler place it can go? Excessive heat can aggrivate a snake. Besides being uncomfortable, they're more active and willing to be defensive.

Also, you haven't had it that long, and it's switched cages twice within a month. Maybe it's just stressed.

The rattling and musking is probably due to the stress from all the change in environment and the fact that he was in shed. Snakes are not happy when they are in shed and will always be a little more flighty. Never feed in a shed on purpose. As far as the bite. That was a feeding response and that's a good thing. Pull him out with a hook and then transfer to your hand. Snakes are not smart and rely on a few instincts to survive. His instincts are telling him that something moving in the enclosure is food. Now what really bothers me is the fact that you are thinking about getting rid of him. You got a snake not a puppy. Getting bit and musked on is a part of keeping snakes. Get used to it. The bite was your fault and every bite in the future will be your fault. Snakes are incredibly predictable and it's up to you (the smart one) to prevent this sort of thing. Stick it out or send it to me free of charge and hang your head in shame. Sorry to be so rough on you but come on, "you knew it was a snake when you picked it up"
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International Snakes Meetup

ZOE,

Here are some thoughts I have on your dilemma.
Cal kings can sometimes be very active snakes. I used to have an albino striped male, and he at first when I would pick him up, would rattle his tail and get defensive. After picking him up, he would chill out.
Thing is... a snake's eye sight is horrible. Then, on top of that...an albino's eyesight is worse. This could explain him being so jumpy as well.
The main thing I want to stress is the main reason, I believe, he is freaking out.
I would put him in cooler temps. You say you have him on your back porch, and the temps now down in the south are very high. Higher temps, for snakes, result in them being more jumpy, irritable, etc, hence them being cold blooded. His regurgitation is probably a result of the high temps. I guarantee that if you put him in your house with cooler temps, such as anywhere from 75 to 80, he will do a lot better. All of my snakes are kept at 78-82 AT THE MOST.
And to close, he may need some time to get used to being handled. I had a cal king that I purchased from a breeder that was never treated as a pet with regular handling, and he bit me the very moment I laid hands on him, and the very moment I sold him at a show. LOL!
Take care and I hope this helps!
Billy
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Genesis 1:1

I agree, it could very well be the heat and it stressing out over being moved, just not settled yet. Or, maybe the snake is just like that. And yes, even from the nicest of snakes you should expect to be musked, pooped on and snapped at at some point in time. But I have something else to add...just an observation from my own experiences with cal kings and other snake species. Don't know if it is an actual true fact or not, or a proven thing, so please people don't jump down my throat..as I said...it's just an observation:

It's an albino From my experiences albino cal kings are much more often bad tempered than regulars. Even from a lot of the posts I've read here about bad temperaments. I'm not saying all albinos are nasty, in fact I have some sweetheart albinos and some wicked regulars myself, but it just seems more often than not that they are. Almost like the ratio is flipped...say 60/100 albinos hatched are nasty, where only 40/100 regulars are, something like that.
Now whether it's due to their poorer than normal eyesight, or the fact that they're way more sensitive to light/temperature changes than others, or something else, I have no idea. I have dealt with a lot of unrelated albinos of various sizes/ages and noticed it, but here is my personal basis:
I have had 2 albino babies in a clutch be totally different. One turned out to be a total sweety, like the parents (albino mom, het dad), and the other is a monster. He is 5 now and has been a monster since he was a hatchling. Of course, that is the one I chose to keep out of the 2 albinos in that clutch too, lol. All of their het siblings (from what I remember) were nice. I wondered if maybe he had inherited his attitude from his aunt.
The mother, the albino banded, was one of the sweetest snakes I ever owned. I got her and her sister, also an albino but striped, as hatchlings together. The sister was by far one of the, if not THE nastiest tempered snakes I've ever owned, lol. I knew the woman who had their parents, some siblings and grandparents, and albino mother was nice, father was so-so. BUT an albino uncle, and a het grandmother were nasty...very nasty indeed.

I do not know if this has any basis in fact whatsoever, although if anyone out there has noticed anything similar to this it might be a neat study to do, I'd be willing to take a census if we could gather enough people/snakes to participate.
I can imagine it would be a lot of info to gather and wade through, as all kinds of factors would have to be included as well as just teperament; things such as age, size, environment, sexuality, etc.
*Hmmmmm* got me really thinking now, this might be interesting ...lol....

I agree with you, In my limited 5 years of keeping kingsnakes I have noticed that the albino ones seem to be a bit more temperamental in most cases. I have a good friend who has a few pythons, and I think all of his are nice except for his one albino female.
I also think that all snakes can be mean at times, whether they're usually nice or not. They're no different than we are and have good days and bad, and they also have mood swings. They're just not as mentally developed as we are so instead of talking to someone or finding some constructive way for them to releive their anger and bad moods they do the only thing they know to do, and that's bite and constrict and lash out.
But yes..I'm getting off track, it does indeed seem to be more pronounced in albinos IMHO.

Thank you to everyone who responded on this I am not an experienced snake owner, however, I knew what I was getting myself into when I purchased the 3 that I currently own. I have 2 balls and this kingsnake, of course I never expected the kingsnake to be all sugar and spice like my balls, but I also didn't expect him to take on such an irritable disposition.

I was not fully aware that albinos had worse site than regular snakes, so that may very well be attributing to all this. Additionally, it does get fairly warm out there too. I have not been having the lamp on as it has been so warm. I will take the suggestion and move him inside and see how he is doing.

Once again, thank you to all,
Zoe
Zan's Den