Tis the day for new king snakes.

Do you keep track of his weight? Looking good.

Not really. I periodically throw him on a scale and make sure he's not losing weight and watch to make sure he's growing in general, but that's about it. He's probably about half the size of your guy about now. Over 200, almost definitely under 300.

I am a horrible, horrible, snake keeper is basically what I'm saying here, with the lack of record keeping.

It's been half of eternity, but.

https://images.plurk.com/4X0UOAMCykRpRRzLBQhew7.jpghttps://images.plurk.com/4X0UOAMCykRpRRzLBQhew7.jpg
The snake is snake-sized

https://images.plurk.com/2WteF8gxTv5h4zin0P4kFK.jpg
And this is hands down the best photo I've ever taken.

I also wanted to say that while he is absolutely not above striking at me when hungry, if he's been fed enough even remotely recently - and that includes feeding day - he's an absolutely docile, chill snake.

I know Cal-Kings have a rep for being pretty nasty, but he's just not. He's active and more inclined to explore than my BP, but he's no more inclined to strike for the heck of it and has never been. Not sure what happened there, and I'm not sure I car.e He really is a cool guy.

Your king is looking great and growing well Jack. I have 2 kings and both of mine are really sweet. Neither of them have ever struck at me. I think kings get a bad rep sometimes. :)

He is looking good. Do you know what he weighs?

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Thanks, guys! Glad to hear other people don't find it odd to hear about a 'sweet' king.

I don't exactly know weight. 500ish? Low 500s, probably, or upper 400s. He's not big, but he's snake sized now! (Seriously, I'm awful with weights. I only really do them if food starts getting refused.)

My wife's cousin has a young cali king for her son. I have not seen it yet but they say the cali is pretty laid back. Mine is super laid back, all he will do is rattle his tail. He will huff if he can not see when in shed but that has been it so far. I think the people getting bit must be doing something wrong.

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That's a beautiful snake, and a beautiful shot!

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Originally Posted by Firemaniv

My wife's cousin has a young cali king for her son. I have not seen it yet but they say the cali is pretty laid back. Mine is super laid back, all he will do is rattle his tail. He will huff if he can not see when in shed but that has been it so far. I think the people getting bit must be doing something wrong.

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Yeah, that's about my experience, too. Sometimes defensive, or nippy, but Roger's been a pretty cool little dude.

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Originally Posted by scalrtn

That's a beautiful snake, and a beautiful shot!

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Thank you! I am very fond of my snake and very fond of that shot.

We're picking up a new King today. Son's moving out to college, Mom and Dad are selling the collection. He's got some neat reptiles but the one I'm grabbing isn't being sold - it's being given away because it's aggressive. All that talk about nice kings... Not sure what I expect; all I know is it's three feet long and has a rep within the family. We'll see when it gets here, but I'm about as afraid of a snake bite as I am a kitten. ...Possibly less afraid, all things considered.

The new snake is roughly 3.5 feet long, was crammed in a 10 gallon tank with many, many old sheds, newspaper under him from November (absolutely covered in feces and other filth), and a water bowl that was not only empty but dry and with a quarter inch of dust in the bottom. No hides, no nothing else. I tossed the whole thing - with prejudice.

Was he aggressive? You betcha. He hit those mice *hard*. After which he took a really, really long drink and crawled into a hide.

I'll have to get out soon to get a proper sized set up for him. What he's in now isn't quite big enough, but it's CLEAN (and not a freaking 10 gallon tank!).

Oh and the icing on the cake: An uncontrolled human heat pad that covered 90% of the entire bottom of the tank.

Sounds like had reasons to be grumpy!


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Yeah, I gave him a while to chill out in a better environment, got some food into him and then got him out. He chewed briefly on my elbow while I was removing him from the enclosure, but after that he chilled out and was perfectly fine. He was hungry, thirsty, hot, and overly exposed and therefore defensive, but fix the conditions and the attitude 'problem' went away.

I'm sure the woman I got him from would be SHOCKED, but I'm pretty sure no one who knows snakes at all would be - by either the original 'attitude' or that it disappeared almost overnight.