Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I got my first California Kingsnake after thinking about it for a few years. Its black and white banded, I guess that's the normal color, nothing special. It seems to eat pinkie mice just fine; it could probably handle something a little bigger if I had it. It squirms a LOT and poops on me if I take it out and basically panics. I also bought a normal albino corn snake (no other mutant genes is what I mean, the seller said it has no other mutants) and its placid to the point of being cloned (mass-produced on an assembly line). The kingsnake seems more intelligent than the corn, though I don't really know what I'm basing that on.
Anyway, what should I be told about keeping a kingsnake that I might not know about? That might cover anything.

We have a black and white kingsnake also. There were three at the petstore when we picked it out. We tried getting the one with the best personality. Your snake probably isn't pooping on you, it's called musking. It's basically a defense mechanism. I think of it as a skunk spraying on it's predator. It's from stress and fear, trying to ward off the enemy. Usually, snakes become accustomed to handling (what snake really enjoys being held?)...but they will eventually settle down, usually. I've heard of some people that have very aggressive kingsnakes. Ours is great...we love it. He never strikes at us, he "seems to" not mind being handled and will even crawl up onto your hand when you stick your arm in the cage, and he's just a "cool snake". Kings are usually good eaters too. Not sure if this helps...but good luck with your new snake...and post pics if you have them.

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Lisa

0.0.1 50/50 California Kingsnake
0.0.1 Candy Cane Kingsnake
0.1.0 W/C California Kingsnake
0.0.1 Normal Cornsnake
0.0.2 W/C Kingsnake Eggs (due to hatch around 8/8/04)