Kings eating other snakes

[Zincubus]

I agree with this. I personally hate the phrase "just normals" and this is why I'll never breed bp's. The market is way too fickle and any time you start talking about feeding snakes that you produce as part of your breeding program to other snakes because you can't or don't want to go through the trouble of finding buyers for them... it just makes me uneasy. Is this really why we get into snake breeding? To find the "next coolest morph baby" that'll end up browned out and honestly not as good looking as an adult normal? And discard the normals as if they are feeder rats? I don't know. Just doesn't sit well with me.

But your snakes, your life. Your choices.

Here in Manchester , England . Local stores sell 'normal' Royals for £69 / €89 ... They sell easily enough and presumably the store gives the breeders around £25 each snake ?

[Hypancistrus]

Here in Manchester , England . Local stores sell 'normal' Royals for £69 / €89 ... They sell easily enough and presumably the store gives the breeders around £25 each snake ?

In my local area of the US, I have seen out of egg normal ball pythons for as little as $15-20. There are a great many in rescues here, as well. My normal came from a rescue. So there definitely are some issues with selling normals, particularly if you are unwilling or unable to wholesale them to pet stores. If I WERE to breed BP's, then, I would attempt to structure my breeding to produce the fewest possible normals-- in my case I would probably choose to focus on pieds, breeding only pieds to pieds. That way I am not producing snakes with little to no value.

Then again, I do not breed my animals as a business. It's a hobby. I rarely make any money, and it never covers the cost of maintenance and supplies.

[Mike41793]

I'm sure an adult king of quite a few different species would be able to handle a hatchling bp no problem. The king we have now is just a baby but once its to adult size it will get fed any unhealthy babies and healthy babies that I can't find a good home for. Last season my buddy got het albinos, het hypos, and spider het albinos to feed to his monitor. They were all healthy. The rats I feed to my snakes and the roaches I feed to my spiders are all fed healthy and cared for well but also feeders. Everything has to eat.

[Black Swamp]

I was just wondering about this myself. I'm not breeding ball pythons yet, but soon I will be. One of the ladies I'm getting is a fire spider that I am assured has no wobble. No wobble in the lines, either. Everywhere else I read says that all spiders have some degree of wobble. I want to extract the fire from the fire spider, but I'll get spiders while I'm working on that. What do I do if they have wobble? I have no intention of selling unhealthy snakes. What if I get kinks, failure to thrive or stillborns? What if I'm drowning in normals that won't sell, I can't find someone to buy them wholesale and I've run out of room to house them and feeders to feed them? I think it's responsible to have a contingency plan, especially since king snakes eat more than just other snakes.

I raise meat rabbits, pigs, chickens, rats and mice, and I have contingencies in place for them, so why not for my ball pythons? Plus, it makes it easy to justify getting another snake

[John1982]

I'm getting is a fire spider that I am assured has no wobble. No wobble in the lines, either. Everywhere else I read says that all spiders have some degree of wobble. I want to extract the fire from the fire spider, but I'll get spiders while I'm working on that. What do I do if they have wobble? I have no intention of selling unhealthy snakes.

Just because the person selling you the snake hasn't recognized the wobble in their spiders, doesn't mean it isn't there. It's simply something that comes with the territory when working with that particular morph. A wobble in itself is not a good reason for culling - except in extreme circumstances - as folks willing to buy spiders should already be on board with a bit of quirkiness.

[John1982]

If you want to feed your snake eater the occasional cannibalistic cuisine, that's fine. It's perfectly natural for them and your curiosity in the process doesn't just magically change your name to Abby Normal. I would suggest finding a reliable source. I personally couldn't trust some random person selling dead snakes for feeders but I am particular about what I offer my critters. The sentiments "quality in, quality out" are just as pertinent in regards to prey as they are in their more common application for breeding.

[Hannahshissyfix]

I was just wondering about this myself. I'm not breeding ball pythons yet, but soon I will be. One of the ladies I'm getting is a fire spider that I am assured has no wobble. No wobble in the lines, either. Everywhere else I read says that all spiders have some degree of wobble. I want to extract the fire from the fire spider, but I'll get spiders while I'm working on that. What do I do if they have wobble? I have no intention of selling unhealthy snakes. What if I get kinks, failure to thrive or stillborns? What if I'm drowning in normals that won't sell, I can't find someone to buy them wholesale and I've run out of room to house them and feeders to feed them? I think it's responsible to have a contingency plan, especially since king snakes eat more than just other snakes.

I raise meat rabbits, pigs, chickens, rats and mice, and I have contingencies in place for them, so why not for my ball pythons? Plus, it makes it easy to justify getting another snake

I would not trust buying from someone that claims a spider has no wobble along with the rest of its lines. They're either lying for a sale or don't know what the subtle wobble looks like.

[Mark C]

It would have to be a very, very large kingsnake to eat even a newly hatched BP, I would suspect.

I don't normally like to necro ancient threads, but wow. This is dangerous. An adult common kingsnake (L getula) is easily capable of killing and consuming an adult BP, and will if given the chance. I've seen it happen.

[Bogertophis]

I don't normally like to necro ancient threads, but wow. This is dangerous. An adult common kingsnake (L getula) is easily capable of killing and consuming an adult BP, and will if given the chance. I've seen it happen.

I agree with you on both counts- First, an adult king snake can certainly kill snakes larger than themselves- they're very effective constrictors- though consumption may be another matter. Snakes have been known to die from trying to eat one that's the same size as they are, so one that's much larger can be problematic (causing internal injury- & snakes can die from regurgitation alone if they aspirate).

And we generally avoid adding to necro threads but you're forgiven, lol. I'm surprised no one cleared this one up long before now. (And welcome!)

[Mistery510]

This went from feeding snakes to snakes to someone guaranteeing a Spider doesn't have the Wobble....

Did you ever get the Spider?? Did it had the wobble?