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Today me and my old man went mountain biking on this trail by the countryside of Tulsa, OK. We were just about done with our trek when my dad yells at me and says to get over here. I drop my bike and run over to him to find one of the most awesome sights I've ever seen. Right infront of us was a Speckled Kingsnake (4 1/2 - 5 ft) constricting a full grown Copperhead right in the middle of the trail! The Kingsnake was curled up in a ball and the Copperhead's head was looking upwards as if trying to slither away.. but you could tell it was done for as the Kingsnake already had almost the entire rest of its body constricted. I poked the Copperhead with a stick to see if it was even still alive and surely enough it bit at the stick and seemed mad and in pain. After touching the Copperhead again, it started to continuously try and bite the Kingsnake. I couldn't tell if his fangs were penetrating the Speckled Kingsnake or not. But we decided it would be best to just put the Copperhead out of its misery and stop it from damaging the Kingsnake. So we quickly crushed the Copperhead's head and bam, it was dead. After that we put it the Kingsnake and the dead & constricted Copperhead in the bag gently and carried them to the car. I was very happy because not logn ago my baby ball bpython died for unknown reasons and now I have a new and awesome snake! So when we got home I put it in my passed away python's aquarium. About 2 hours later I checked on the Kingsnake to see whats happening and he completely swallowed the entire Copperhead.. he was as fat as can be! Now the Kingsnake is just resting in the cage's substrate and sipping water.

My only questions being:

Was anything I did said above against the law? And is it ok to have killed the Copperhead and to keep this awesome Speckled Kingsnake as a pet, or would I have to let it go? Thanks!

Legally, you need a hunting license to collect snakes in OK but otherwise I don't think you did anything illegal. I'm not opposed to occasionally collecting a snake or two as a personal pet but a captive born speckled king would probably make a far superior pet to a wildcaught adult that is probably very accustomed to eating snakes as a large part of it's diet. Unless you were looking for a locality specific animal from that area.
Hopefully you decontaminated that cage really well since your python died of unknown causes. I would think it's too late to consider releasing it if you've already kept it in this cage. It will probably make a good pet once it's acclimated but it will need to be treated for parasites and may require a little work getting it to take rodents.
Chris

Boy I hope you fumigated that cage and the surrounding area if your python died for no reason. Even if you did and the king does fine (which it probably will) I'd be leery of releasing it because you can never be too sure what parasites it might catch in captivity. Since this king is an adult and has probably sampled just about any prey it can find, I doubt you'll have much trouble getting it on rodents. If you do, just scent them with copperhead musk-LOL!

Good luck and neat story too!

Van

Unfortunately I DIDN'T decontaminate the cage until 10 hours after having him in there. I didn't have a place to put him so I almost had to put him in it at the time. So you're saying my dead baby ball python (captive bred) likely had some kind of contageous parasite disease? I'm pretty sure it died from starvation considering its thickest part was less than an inch thick (those rotten petshop owners!) How screwed is my snake and I?

And if I don't let it go will I get arrested or fined? I don't want that to happen! And how do I inspect him for parasites? I've monitored him for a few hours yesterday and I never saw even one external parasite or bug on him. Checked his eyes and checked almost every scale and never saw one tick. So if he has some it must be in the inside of him.

As far as collecting the snake, you should have had a hunting license. But I doubt you will get in trouble for this unless some cop or wildlife officer searches your house- don't take that as an excuse to go out and collect more without a license however!

Do not release this snake now. Your python probably did die of starvation but you can still never be sure what an exotic species may carry, even if it was captive born and especially if it was in a petshop with numerous other reptiles, both captive born and exotic. If this snake does start having health problems, take it to a vet ASAP. If you do release the snake you run the risk of introducing an exotic parasite into the native populations.

To check for internal parasites, it would also be best to take it to a vet. If you have access to a microscope, you can do it yourself by examing the feces for worms and protist parasites. To get rid of them, you would still have to go to a vet to get some medication prescribed (I think).

Good luck with it

Van

>>Today me and my old man went mountain biking on this trail by the countryside of Tulsa, OK.

You don't need a hunting license if you're under 16--you didn't mention how old you are.
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Chris McMartin
www.mcmartinville.com
I'm Not a Herpetologist, but I Play One on the Internet