Reptile & Amphibian Forums

hi, i am interested in a mex. blk. kingsnake, i was wondering if anyone would like to share their experiance with this snake, good or bad, and just any basic info that this snake requires? thanx for all messages.

-Robert

n/p

I'll have babies ready in 3 or 4 days.
I'm waiting for them to shed and eat.
They are great snakes - as good of a pet as a corn snake.

Tim
Third Eye

They are an absolutely beautiful specie. Their care in captivity is the same as most kings. Readily take rodents and all that. The one that I have experience with is a major biter and musker but that's just an individual and no reason to believe that they are all like that. I say go for it. Stunning animals.
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International Snakes Meetup
International Herpetology Meetup

i was wondering if anyone would like to share their experiance with this snake,

I have kept nigrita off and on again over the years. Great snakes, easy to keep, feed and breed. I don't agree with Jones about the temperament. I have found that nigrita are generally dog tame snakes (sometimes babies are defensive, but that is true of all kingsnakes).

You should be able to get one at a herp expo in the coming weeks somewhere or search the ks.com classifieds for nigrita. They are widely bred and should be pretty easy to find.
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Chris Harrison

On the temperment part. My mex. black is as friendly as can be. He puts up with just about anything. I have no doubt that there are aggressive mex. blacks out there, but I would wager that most keepers find mex. blacks to be friendlier than your average king.

Fine looking snakes, they stay smaller than most kings, and I've never seen one that wasn't a good eater. They're little black vacuum hoses, I swear.

I've never liked kings much (I know what am I doing on the forum?) because they were musky and shy BUT I bought a little yearling Mexican Black King at a show in May for $25.00 and she has been nothing but great. She eats frozen thawed pinks and fuzzys no problem. Never musks, doesn't strike or act defensive at all. Very active- which I didn't expect. She's got an excellent temperament, though that may not be the norm. Easy to care for too. Now if I could just find a male MBK to match!
Lora

Hi all. I have been wanting a Black Mexican King for the longest time and finally got one a few weeks ago. He is 4.5 feet of shiny coal black majestic beauty that was proven, not handled much, and fed from it's inclosure before I got him, so my work was cut out for me. He is a very aggressive feeder and will lung at any movement inside or outside of his new 60 gal aquarium home. I must admit he intimidated me. It took a few days to get up enough guts to remove him to feed him.... then to remove him again to put him back in his home after feeding. He was even more aggressive after eating cuz he was still in feeding mode. But he is soooooo beautiful and I will work with him till he (hopefully) simmers down. I just hope it's not too late since he's an adult.

Oh yeah, and I call mine the garbage disposal of the group. I feed him last and besides the two adult mice that he normally gets, he also eats anything that my other snakes refuse. The other day I offered him two large pinks (peach fuzzies) and he even ate those. My 3 foot Eastern Milk Snake that came with this King looked at me as if I was nuts when I first offered them to him. Aren't snakes fun?

MissHisssss

I have a mexi black classroom snake. When he was a hatchling, he was a bit flighty, but never aggressive. Now he is about
4 ft. and totally docile and friendly. When the kids come in the morning, he perks up and slithers up on his driftwood at the front of his tank. He watches them and tongue flicks and is, to use a nonreptile word, "personable". He eats f/t rat pups with never a regurge or refusal to eat. Out of the tank he calmly coils around my arm. We love to take him outside to see his rainbow irridescence.
His temperament is like his father's. His mother, on the other hand, is a holy terror. In one handling session,she hisses, musks, deficates and swallows fingers up to the knuckle given the chance. However, she seems to be the exception rather than the rule. Every snake is an individual in terms of temperament. Yet, my experience has been that mexi blacks make great pets.
Regards,
althea

I bought one a few months ago. It sheds perfectly. However some of the scales never seem to get smooth. Temp is fine in cage. The only problem I have is that the pet store were I bought the snake only fed him live mice. He has to be fed in the dark, so I don't know if the mice are biting him. He did eat dead two times but since then will only eat live. Otherwise cool snake. He gets along with my other snakes.