Reptile & Amphibian Forums

3 weeks ago my teenage son bought a 20 inch Albino California Kingsnake. At the moment we keep her in a 10gal tank. Once he/she is bigger we will move her into a bigger cage that my husband and son are building.
We did do our research before we bought the snake, but till today we had no luck finding any pictures online that would resemble our snake. Now we are not sure if we really got what we paid for.
It is not about the money, because she is a great snake!
Just things like:
-They told us she needs one pinkie every week.
BUT She eats 3 of them at once and you cant even see a lump.
-They told us she would grow up to be around 3-4ft. long.
BUT everything I could find says about 48inches, maybe even more.
-They told us it was a female.
BUT as she was hanging out in her tank something was hanging out of her lower part that didn't look female at all. Just once... but it was there!

Now we are concerned about the identity of our new baby and we are a bit scared not to give her what she needs because we were miss informed!
We don't care if he/she ends up to be 12ft. long or if we have to feed her a piglet a month once she is grown up.
We just want to do the right thing!
We are 99.9% sure that it is a Kingsnake... just not 100% sure.

She is very calm, never jumpy when handled and looks and acts very healthy.
Her/His pattern is very 'crisp' soft yellow and a light purple.
(A purple Albino???) Red Eyes.
Her/His belly has a few orange spots.
He/She shed the 2nd day we had her in our home and started eating the day after.
No mites or other creepy crawlies.

We just have a few basic questions:
1. Are 3 pinkies a week enough? Or can we upgrade to something larger. (We plan to feed live mice at some point, just like the Boa)
2. Is it really a California King? I hope someone can let us know for sure.
3. They told us she was abut 4 Months old. Somewhere I read that 20 inches are more likely 1 year old or older. How old is our new family member???

My son is not all new to snakes, he already owns a Boa that is doing really well.

ill add some pictures hope they will help!
Body

Pattern Daylight

Body2

In daylight

Thanks a bunch in advanced,
Heidi
(new snake mommy)

Yeah, thats an albino CA kingsnake. They grow to an average of three and a half to four feet. If you feed them a lot they can get larger. Yeah, pinkies are too small. You can still feed it pinkies but you will spend more money that way. You should try to go to something larger like a crew mouse or hopper. Something around two to three weeks old (the mouse). Once a week is fine or when ever they want to eat. Your snake could be one year old if it was fed a lot. In the wild, I would say two years old. Its hard to say if its 100% Cal king because the pattern is strange. It could have a little desert king in it but more likely its a normal Cal king with an aberrant pattern. You could call it an aberrant albino Cal king. It looks nice too.
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I picked up a few books. Once I get into something, I have to know everything!!!
I compared the pictures of other CK Albinos, no luck finding the same patern... but I found a Mole Snake (Lampropeltis calligaster rhombomaculata). Same pattern, different color.
Just makes me more curious, haha.
I feel like I caught a fever!

Last feeding she ate one Hopper. She went after a 2nd one, but didn't eat it. We will keep offering her two, once a week. I don't mind trowing one out, as long as she is full and not hungry.

Well, you can always freeze it and offer it later after you thaw it out. Most cal kings will take them without any problem. Good luck with your snake.
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freeze the mouse for a seoond time???
is that healthy?

>>freeze the mouse for a seoond time???
>>is that healthy?

Oh, I thought you were talking about fresh. I've refroze mice after thawing them in the past with no problems. To be on the safe side, don't do it. But I think the freeze would kill any kind of bacteria or whatever could get into the mouse. I have a book stating there have been several observations of snakes eating dead very rotten road kill on the sides of roads. They mention the road kill being so rotten it fell apart as the snake attempted to eat it.
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Again... Thanks for all the help!
Luna is feeding on frozen Hoppers and she seems to be ok with one every 7 days. (Won't take a 2nd one!)
She gained some weight and is getting ready to shed for the 3rd time since we got her.
First she looked like a pale, long worm... now you can tell that she is a "Snake"!

Pic of Luna in her new Tiki Hide that I built for her.