Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hi,
You should check out the post in the small terrestrial snakes forum of herperhelmz feeding his ringneck a black and white striped cal.king, no reason for it really if you ask me, sure its a test that will tell you what might happen in the wild if those 2 met. But for us to see that as kingsnake lovers its bull sh*&t. What if I asked that guy for his albino ringneck to see what happens when I put it in with my close to 5 ft. wc reche canyon female cal.king..?, I bet the tables would turn, but i could never do that as I wouldnt want to watch any snake eat another snake, I hate feeding baby lizards to my baby pyros that dont take mice from tha start. Anyways, peep it,
jeff teel

That guys is always posting pictures of snakes eatting other snakes. A lot of people on the forum do not agree with him at all as he has been bashed by just about everyone.

It's obvious from the picture that the cali king is already killed. That ring neck really would not stand a chance with a cali king of that size. It's almost as big as the ring neck is and kings to my knowledge are a more powerful constrictor.

I also saw that photo and the Cal. King in the pic was already dead, near dead, or in someway totally incapacitated. There is no way that ringneck would takedown a cal. king of the same size.

Steve

All that said, I would not put too much money on the Cal. king surviving a tangle with a ringneck. The ringneck has an uncanny ability to bite and hold the glottis (sp.?) of a predator snake. It basically suffocates the king I guess. I once very nearly lost a Cal king to a southern ringneck that got into my outdoor snake enclosure, for that reason. I have also heard of others who have had similar experiences with ringnecks.
If the posts of a teenage herper really bother you, why not try and educate him? That's really the only way to get a message across I think. I know not all of us got attention that way when we were young, and it does bother me that someone takes pleasure in watching (any) death, but we may just add fuel to the fire by berating him.
Just my worthless two cents.
:Mark

Ringnecks are a lot like Black Racers,they throw a loop around the prey and chew it to death or suffacate it. Some people have also suggested that ringnecks saliva has toxins to help it kill the prey. I know ringnecks are known snake eatters but I have seen king snakes tackle snakes twice their size and come out on top. Now I am sure a ringneck could be able to take down a smaller(hatchling)king snake but anything 20 inches IMO the king will be having a ringneck for dinner!

What I was getting at is if you look at the picture you can see the king is stunned or already dead because the king is putting up no fight what so ever. Now if this was a fully alert cali king even if it was grabbed around the neck by the ringneck the cali would have thrown a few coils around the ringneck to kill it or get it off of it. Even with the ringneck and it's toxic saliva king snakes have a tolerance to the venom of all north american snakes. There is no way the king would just sit there and be eatten like that! While it could lose a battle with another snake it would definately fight back and clearly this cali is already hurting. You know those pictures would be different if the king was alive! I am not saying the king would win because they are also eatten by other snakes but a 5 foot cali king could kill and eat any snake on the west coast of equal or lesser size and maybe even something a bit larger then itself.Someone posted pictures of a small 2 foot king getting the upperhand on a 5foot whip snake.Great pictures..looks like the whip snake tried 2 make a meal out of the king but lost.They are just the more powerful constrictor. I have seen eyes burst in rodent prey from the embrace of a king snake.

This guy has posted atleast 10 pictures of snakes eatting other snakes,while that is part of nature he once said he goes out and gets WC snakes,lizards and whatever else to feed to his pet snakes. Thats just wrong,and when people tried 2 tell him that he has the option to feed frozen mice/rodents he just shrugs it off I guess and posts more pictures like this. Some people are just ignorant and no matter how many times you tell someone something they remain ignorant.

The ringneck is rear fanged so the kingsnake may not be able to put up much of a fight if susceptible and envenomated. As you said though, the size of the Cal king may make the difference as kingsnakes are also known snake eaters and strong constrictors.

If some teenager (assumed) wants to get his jollies feeding a couple snakes off it really is no big deal. It isn't as if these things are rare. Some species in herpetoculture almost seem as common as mice.
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Rick Staub
R&R Reptiles

True Rick,dekay's are known to be feeder snakes as well as garters and ribbon snakes. A few other snakes considered junk snakes are also used as feeders.

I guess a lot of keepers of known snake eatters wants to see their pet snake consume another snake. I mean I 'WAS' going to feed my cali king a f/t garter snake. I had captured the garter and was ready to deep freeze him but had 2nd thoughts and let him go. I just figured there was no sense for me to kill this snake in order to feed it to my pet snake but I was curious none the less. I just watched my old tape of rattle snakes,they show a rattle snake being confronted by a cali king. It was cool cause the rattle snake will not bite the king snake but try to use its body to thump the king on the head. Needless to say once the king made it's move the rattle snake was biting it but didn't get away and the king had it's meal.

Speaking of Cal. Kings here is an article with photos on the web of a Cal. King taking down a coachwhip two to three times it's size. This pretty much sums up why getula Kings pound for pound are the most powerful snakes period. At the top of the article it says it is estimated that the mass of the coachwhip is atleast five times greater then the kingsnake.

http://www.arts.arizona.edu/herp/duel in the desert.pdf

Thanks Steve! I seen that not to long ago and thought it was awesome! I also feel that the coachwhip tried to eat the king in that series but the king got the upper hand. I would have loved to see how it turned out. The king has a good solid coil around that coachwhips neck and you can see from figure 3 and 4 that the coachwhip is in distress. I feel kings are the most powerful constrictors in north america. I mean big bull snakes and pine snakes are pretty strong also but kings are just monsters when it comes to constricting.I really want to know which constrictor in north american really is the strongest pound for pound!

I seen some show in discovery where there were messuring the pressure from boids. It was pretty cool cause they proved that boids focus on putting pressure around the heart of their prey which is why they die so fast. They were looking to see if it is true with all snakes. While feel all constrictors try to focus on the heart of the animal but a lot of times when my king was eatting fuzzies he would try to get around the neck of the animal rather then the chest area first,then go for another coil or two and sometimes you wouldnt even see the rodent because he was burried in 3-4 coils. But I seen TWICE the king burst the eye balls of the fuzzies and thought UGH..nasty..lol

My corn snake is a lot faster then my king when it comes to striking prey. I feed prekilled,fresh because my wife thinks frozen mice are gross,so I put the mice down myself. Anyway I use a large plastic shoe box for feeding and I'll use tongs to wiggle the mouse around and in 2 seconds the corn is all around the mouse. My corn and rat snake are definately faster then my king but all three of my snakes have a hearty appitite.

My corn is 2002 CB and I feed her two adult mice every 7 days in one sitting. I was actually thinking about moving her up to weanling rats but it's hard to get them where I am and I don't want to order any just in case she doesn't accept them.She is about 36 inches long,might get bigger might not. My king I usually feed two-three hoppers every 5-7 days.He is still a year old and next year I will feed him once every 7 days but he has grown like a mad man this year. 17 1/2inches long in May and now he is 30 inches with 5 sheds this summer.His head is a lot smaller then my corn and he is not as fat that is why he is on hoppers/large fuzzies still. My yellow rat is only 14 inches long and gets 1-2 pinkies/peaches every 3 days.He will usually eat one sometimes two,two pinkies definately and just one peach/small fuzzy.

I still would not try feeding a tiny ringneck to a five foot king. As I said in my experience the ringneck bit down and held on to the opening where the king's tongue is located inside the mouth. The king nearly died. I doubt from any toxin, just couldn't breathe or whatever. Anyway, many, many yellow rats are used for feeding king cobras too. There is a lot of that kind of thing going on. When it's the ONLY thing your pet will eat, that's one thing, but feeding a "perfectly good" snake to another when something else is available seems a bit much. I must say however that I did feed a severly kinked up black racer neonate (sure to die within a day)to a zonata that had been refusing all other items this year. It seemed to have brought his appetite back, because he's now feeding on live fuzzies again.
I have never doubted the king's power over most other snakes, but with the stories I have ben told, I wouldn't put a ringneck in with any of my kings.
I have tried to feed my scarlet kings ringnecks in the past and they paid them no attention at all.
Eastern coral snakes I have found around here ate ringnecks like candy when offered when nothing else worked.
As for the kid, do you think ignoring his posts would help?
:Mark

.. that I highly doubt that is HIS snake. It seems he has posted the pics for someone else. (Regalringneck?)
So maybe all the ire is misdirected?
Personally, if I had to resort to snakes as food, I could most likely get all the road kill I need, sadly.
:Mark

I know some snakes will only accept certain prey items. I had a garter snake who would only eat toads/frogs or salamanders.I eventually got him to accept goldfish much to the delight of my pocket! I was feeding him wc toads but didn't think I should be taking them from the wild as they help control mosquitos which I hate..lol So I would buy some frogs from the local pet store. Then I tricked him to feed by buying tadpoles which he went right after. The next feed I had tadpoles and goldfish and he ate the tadpole then the goldfish and had goldfish ever since.

My first yellow rat snake stopped feeding on pinkie mice and would only accept anoles for the next 3-4 feedings even though I offered anole scented pinkies.After awhile he went back to eatting pinkies but was always a little problem feeder.Anyway from his other posts he shows his ringneck eatting pinkie mice so I really see no reason why he feeds his ringneck salamanders,snakes,lizards and other prey items when pinkies are cheap and a lot healthier then another reptile.

We've been over this a billion times, let it go. That is not my snake, it is a regal ringneck snake that is 22 inches long. The california king looks to be around 14 inches or so. I would've never used the king as food, as it looks awesome, but when you can't get the feeder snakes that you want, you get the ones that are available.

Did any of you happen to read regalringneck's post? This is one of many experiments to see if regal ringneck snakes in the wild will react to a kingsnake as food.

Regal ringneck snakes, as far as anyone knows, will only accept other reptiles as food(snakes and lizards). I had my 20 inch northern on a diet of scented pinky mice and fuzzy mice for the last 2 weeks or so, then she just stopped looking at them as prey.

Everyone here knows that more pics will be posted, I don't ask you to ignore them, as you may learn a thing or two in the process about ringneck snakes. I find a regal ringneck snake's diet to be a very interesting thing indeed, and I'm sure where they can be found, they are the "kings" just as much as a kingsnake, a regal can take down a snake bigger than itself and eat it, just incase some of you didn't know that.

Have a good day people, and don't always just hate me because I don't think snakes eating snakes is wrong, there are thousands of other pics out there of kingsnakes eating other snakes, coral snakes eating other snakes, and of course, ringneck snakes eating other snakes.

Michael
Michael's Place

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www.freewebs.com/mikesnake
Michael_Fedzen@hotmail.com

Hi,
I didnt even realize it that it was a f/t snake-(so i dont think its as cruel now) but when i first saw it i was just like what..?, you know..?. Anyways, just goes to sjhow, I shouldnt speak till I know whats up i guess, my bad!,
jeff teel