1st kingsnake, many many questions.
Hi everyone,
I'm just going to get to the point.
I am getting a California kingsnake <for free off of craigslist> with a set up and everything. I have a tstat and everything for a snake. I have another snake at home so nothing surprising there.
I've been doing a lot of husbandry research and from what I found the cold side needs to be 75F and the hot side 85F. That's an average I took from the numerous caresheets I found. Now I have some more questions.
How do I determine how big of a prey item the snake needs? For my ball python I just take 15% of her weight. Is it the same for kings? I'm guessing it's not and the only thing I've read was the prey item needs to be the same girth as the snake's thickest body part. Now the guy said the kingsnake is 12 months old and he feeds it " 3 f/t pinkies every 10 days."
That to me sounds really really little. But then again I don't know much about kingsnakes.
And for the heating I know they want the hotspot around 85F or so and kingsnakes seem to like to burrow. So it should be 85 at the glass right?
Here's a picture:
She is in a 20 gallon tank. She looks awfully small, smaller than my 4 month old ball python.
http://i.imgur.com/VGD8M.jpg
Re: 1st kingsnake, many many questions.
Quote:
Originally Posted by
3skulls
Ahh she is cute. 2-3 pinks every 5-7 days should be fine.
If she was in that cool of a room and off feed for a few weeks, he could have been brumating her..?
I have never sprayed my Kings, just gave them a bowl big enough to soak. Never had a bad shed and my oldest is 20+ years.
My smallest one is just a tad smaller than yours. (by looks) he is around 25g. I give him 2 mice pinks a week, sometimes I'll throw him 1 extra if one of my Rats leaves one behind. He is growing at a pretty good rate.
I also have a King that loves to chew on my finger. Sometimes they just don't bite and let go :p
My oldest has never bit.
I love when they get their tails going :)
Keep us updated. I love Kings !!
Ahh ok thanks! She's settled down quite nicely. She was exploring a bit and now I think she's sleeping? Is she small for her age? I was told she is around 12 months old. Can you give me a very rough average growth rate for a female cali kingsnake? She's shedding now but it's coming off in flakes :( He said he kept her cold because there was no where else to really put her but I live in California so the weather isn't too bad. In fact he said her mom was a WC that was already preggers and she's a captive hatch. Anyways she is adorable! So different from ball pythons hehe
Re: 1st kingsnake, many many questions.
Quote:
Originally Posted by
3skulls
It's good to have some sort of reference! thanks for the pictures!