1st kingsnake, many many questions.

[barbie.dragon]

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.

[SylverTears]

She does look small for a yearling, considering how aggressive feeders they usually are. I have baby cornsnakes of 4 months that look bigger then her.. It's hard to tell what to feed her from the picture, but I would definately bump her feeding scheduale up to every 5-7 days instead of every 10 days and more prey items. I believe the 15-20% of bodyweight rule is the same for kingsnakes and milksnakes as well as boas and pythons, but I usually go by the diameter of the prey/diameter of the snake rule. I've heard it can be slightly larger. Ask the guy who is giving her away what her weight is. Kings snakes are actually known to eat other snakes in the wild that are nearly the same size and weight.
You have the temperatures about right, 70's in the cooler end and 85 degree hotspot.

[3skulls]

I would bump it up to rat pinks. Depending on how big it really is. They love to eat!!

Give it a big enough bowl to soak. They do love to borrow. They also like to go poo on you when you pick them up, I always go really slow when doing so.

Kings are awesome and easy to care for. Once you get it, you'll have a better idea on what to feed.

[Daybreaker]

I love Cali kings, I have 2.2 now to grow up and pair.

I do a lower hotspot as well, but still keep ambient temps around ~79-80 with a very slight night drop. They're hardy guys that enjoy cooler temps over warmer, so your temps sound fine. I wouldn't let them drop under 75 though.

I feed my little ones every 5 days until they get to be on adult mice or so then cut them back to every 7 days. I go by the 10-15% rule roughly too, or you can eyeball. Your snake looks like it can easily take mouse fuzzies/hoppers.

I personally don't give my kings bowls big enough to soak in, and I doubt you'll see your king using much of that "second story" ledge you have in there. It will probably be burrowed most of the time which is a good thing. If you feel the need to switch to paper towel substrate that would be fine too since that's what I use: they pee and poop a LOT so it's easier and more sanitary cleaning on my part.

[barbie.dragon]

Hi everyone again,
Sorry I didn't reply for a bit. I had to go pick up the snake and boy is she small!
The information I got so far: Her mom was WC and she was already pregnant and the babies were captive hatched.
She seems awful small but I don't have a colubrid so I don't know how big she should be. He is emailing a file of information (feedings ect.) and gave me a free bag of pinkies to go along with her. Well she, her UTH and the tank was free too so it was nice.
Wow is she fiesty and scared! He had her in a pretty cold room around 65-70F and when I brought her to my house she sprung to life. Pissed as hell though. She struck at everything like 3 times but it's not a big deal.
The pinkies he gave me are the same width as her body. Not to mention she's in shed right now... Just like my ball python... I didn't get her weight yet so we'll see.

Also her skin is pretty dry. I misted the cage once. She hated it. I think I'll mist it again to bump up the humidity. She has a water bowl big enough to soak in. Room temp is at 72 now and I have a heat lamp to warm up the rest of the tank. The hot spot is at around 87F. It's too warm I know, but she's been in the cold for a while and I want to get her warmed up a bit and get her body going. He says he's been feeding 3 pinks. By her size should I stick with 3 pinks every 5-7 days?

Anyways I think I will leave her alone for a week. I think the guy said she hasn't eaten in 3 weeks. I'm not sure. I'm a little sick and I was too busy thinking about not coughing in front of his kids!

Oh where are my manners. Here's a picture I took. I only took one because she was really stressed out (you can see that in the picture). I had to use a tong to get that dollar bill in there!

[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 !!

[barbie.dragon]

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

[3skulls]

Now I'm no Kingsnake expert or anything so there might be different answers out there :p

Looking at my records.
Here is a female I picked up on 07-13-12 Not sure of her age.
07-27 84g
09-30 127g
11-03 174g
12-08 184g

Eating 2 rat pinks a week


Male - obtained 08-04-12 / 2012 hatch date.
08-04 14g
09-30 14g
11-03 16g
12-08 23g
2- mice pinks a week

[barbie.dragon]

Now I'm no Kingsnake expert or anything so there might be different answers out there :p

Looking at my records.
Here is a female I picked up on 07-13-12 Not sure of her age.
07-27 84g
09-30 127g
11-03 174g
12-08 184g

Eating 2 rat pinks a week


Male - obtained 08-04-12 / 2012 hatch date.
08-04 14g
09-30 14g
11-03 16g
12-08 23g
2- mice pinks a week

It's good to have some sort of reference! thanks for the pictures!

[3skulls]

No problem, hope it helps some.