# Colubrids > Ratsnakes >  First King Ratsnake

## lmtrej

I just received my first King Ratsnake or _Elaphe c. carinata_ from Seth Rock at Rock Reptiles.  Seth was very communicative throughout the process and even called me within five minutes of delivery to make sure every thing arrived ok.  Definitely a good guy to do business with  :Good Job: 

This is a male 2012 hatchling that is 66% het. for hypo.  The father is an extremely striking high yellow Kingrat and the mother has a good contrast of dark black with bright yellows.  I can't wait to see this little guy color up.  Fortunately there was no musking so I can't say if he'll live up to the other common name of Stinking Goddess.  Here are a few quick cellphone pictures before I put him away to settle.

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_Pyrate81_ (12-03-2012)

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## Coleslaw007

Very cool. I love his eyes. Props on getting a tongue-flick pic  :Very Happy:

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lmtrej (11-29-2012)

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## TheWinWizard

Nice. Good luck with him.

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## lmtrej

Thanks Winwizard.  For a baby colubrid he was relatively calm, we'll see if this changes though once he's warmed up.  Although my leucistic texas rat is one of the calmest snakes I own and that doesent fit with their reputatuon.
  Honestly though besides their looks their reputation of being agressive face biters is part of what interested me in them.

Are there any other carinata keepers on this site? They seem to be few and far between.

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## carlson

How big do these get as adults? I like how they look just haven't looked into anything about them much

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## lmtrej

> How big do these get as adults? I like how they look just haven't looked into anything about them much


From what I've read it seems they get anywhere from 5.5'-8' so they are on the larger side.  I'm keeping him just like I do nearly all of my colubrids, low to mid 70's on the cool side low to mid 80's on the warm side.  Pretty straight forward as far as their husbandry goes.

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## lmtrej

Well tonight was feeding night so I decided to offer him some food.  Within 10 seconds he had calmly taken the f/t fuzzy from the hemostats and even came back for seconds.

Couldn't have been a smoother switch from live to f/t  :Very Happy:

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## AKA Reptiles

That's awesome. Congrats on a successful switch. I'm really diggin his eyes. They look sick.

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lmtrej (11-30-2012)

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## kevinb

I love love love king rats! I can't wait till I can get one. Mines going to be albino though  :Wink: .

Very nice looking king rat.

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## lmtrej

> I love love love king rats! I can't wait till I can get one. Mines going to be albino though .
> 
> Very nice looking king rat.


Thanks Kevin, I'm happy to finally have mine and hope that your snake keeping situation changes soon.  I like the normal King rats the best although I did stumble across pictures of a Chinese keepers axanthic and leucistic carinata which were mind blowing.

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## chago11

Nice I want one. Can you pm me contact info of the person you got him from?

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## lmtrej

> Nice I want one. Can you pm me contact info of the person you got him from?


Pm sent

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## lmtrej

Well he's yet to miss a meal with me and I'm feeding him a small meal 2-3 times per week.  I've got to say he's been relatively calm, nothing like what I was expecting, a little tail rattling during feeding but nothing else.  When handling he's fast and confident but not aggressive what so ever.  He had his first shed with me almost three weeks ago and already his appearance has changed, can't wait to see him grow.


Due to less than ideal temps I only took one picture outside but this more accurately shows his color.

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_Pyrate81_ (01-24-2013)

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## lmtrej

Here are a few pictures of my king rat two sheds later.



His yellow is just starting to come in




Nice little lip curl

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## lmtrej

Here's a quick little update after his most recent shed, getting brighter  :Sunny: 











And my favorite shot last

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_Pyrate81_ (06-09-2013)

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## BLM94

That color change is really spectacular! It's hard to tell in the pictures when he's perched/tangled up in your arm, how long would you estimate him to be?

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## lmtrej

BLM94, he's about 37 inches and 215g as of today, when I received him in late November he was about 55g.  I'll continue updating as he grows and changes.

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BLM94 (06-04-2013)

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## Anya

whoah, that's amazing!! The changes are fantastic.

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## Pyrate81

All I have to say is Wow!    :Surprised:

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## lmtrej

Another shed and another update.  He's currently weighing in at 270g empty.









Here he is giving my right hand a much appreciated break.

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_3skulls_ (08-04-2013),_Anya_ (08-03-2013),_Pyrate81_ (08-04-2013)

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## Anya

What a gorgeous boy. Glad to see he's growing up well. ^_^

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## Pyrate81

Thanks for the update and pics.  He's looking great!   :Smile:   :Good Job:

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## lmtrej

Thanks everyone, here are a few more from today...hands free for a change.























- - - Updated - - -

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## lmtrej

Another shed...and well you get the idea by now, 283g empty.

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_Anya_ (10-22-2013)

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## lmtrej

He shed again last week so here are a few updated pictures, he's 318g empty now.

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_Anya_ (10-22-2013),_Mephibosheth1_ (10-22-2013)

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## Anya

He's simply amazing. <3 I love this boy. Will you be breeding him?

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## lmtrej

Thanks Anya, I'm not currently breeding any of my snakes.  They're all just pets but I imagine in a few years that I will be breeding, coincidentally he'll be mature enough by then.  I'm interested in getting more _carinata_ and they're definitely a species that I'd like to breed eventually, very interesting and exciting snakes.

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_Anya_ (10-22-2013)

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## Anya

I want dibs on a baby.  :Wink:

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## PorcelainxDoll

That guy is so cool! I love his color change! 

1.0 Ball Pythons(Twizzler)
1.0 Cat (Loki)

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