Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Fell in love w/ a beauty of a black king at my pet store so ive been doing research on the internet on how to care for them and seem to be finding lots of conflicting info. A few questions then:

Are they mostly nocturnal?
Size of tank?
Proper heating?
How often do they need to be fed?

Thanks

Mexican Black Kings (Nigritis) are not part of the Lampropeltis Mexicana sub species. They are in the Lampropeltis Getula subspecies, but I keep some and will answer your questions. You may get a better response on the Getula subforum or the Kingsnake main forum, though.

As for size of cage. You would need a 20 gallon aquarium if it is of adult size (36" ). If it is a hatchling or yearling it could be kept in a 10 gallon aquarium up to adult size. Some would keep it in the 10 gallon all their lives. On one side of the cage put a small heating pad underneat the glass bottom. Make sure the temp on the "hot" side of the cage is around 85 degrees and the "cold" side about room temp of 72 to 75. The snake when fed weekly will move to the right location to digest the food. Keep a hidebox on both sides of the cage and make sure it has fresh water to drink and soak in. Make sure you have a very secure lid as Kingsnakes are escape artists.
These are just bare minimum recommendations. Some construct elaborate vivariums to "display" their snake, but others like breeders and owners of large collection have a rack system of Rubbermaid containers as I do with 80 snakes.
I hope this helps you and enjoy the black king. If bought at a pet shop make sure it "is" in fact a Nigritis. There are many other solid black snakes out there and they could be confused.
-John Lassiter-