Lots of questions, please unleash your knowledge.

[XoKarma]

Craigslist and the newspaper in my area seem to have become over in with ads about unwanted snakes needing a home. I have the funds, the time and the space, so I have decided to rescue some of these unwanted beauties. To my surprise after posting on craigslist that I was willing to re home unwanted snakes I received over 20 emails and 15 texts in the first day. Obviously I can't help them all, but I will help as many as I can.

I am mainly versed in pythons and python care, so my questions are:

How aggressive/handle able are king snakes and milk snakes?
How big could I expect one to get?
Humidity and temp wise are they easier to maintain than pythons, or about the same?
What is the largest tank size an adult would need to be happy?
Can/will they eat rat pinks, fuzzy, hoppers, weanlings etc..
What in your opinion is the best habitat set up?
And any other information you'd be willing to take the time to type out and share.
Thank you.

[lmtrej]

First of welcome and good for you on trying to provide a home for some unwanted snakes.

How aggressive/handle able are king snakes and milk snakes?

In my experience with Lampropeltis (7 milks, 2 kings) they are generally relatively easy to handle and non aggressive. There are of course a number of variables such as sub-species, individual personality, age, etc. Milksnakes in particular as a whole have a reputation for being skittish and flighty, this is especially true in younger snakes. Generally as they age most milksnakes will calm down and are easily handled. Both my black milksnake and my sinaloan have been completely calm since they were hatchlings, no musking or biting. However one of my yearling honduran milks has yet to calm down and thrashes, bites, and musks nearly everytime it is handled, yet my other three honduran milks are calm and easily handled.

For kingsnakes, both my brooks king and arizona mountain king are non aggressive. My brooks king has an extremely strong feeding response and will not hesitate to bite if it smells snake or rodent on me, otherwise it is extremely calm. While my mountain king is a shy feeder.

How big could I expect one to get?

This really depends on species/sub species. Lampropeltis range anywhere from 2.5ft (N.A. milks, scarlet kings) -6.5ft (black milks, andeans, hondurans) with the average size probably around 4 feet.

Humidity and temp wise are they easier to maintain than pythons, or about the same?

They are quite easy to maintain correct temperature and humidity. Again this depends on species/sub species but generally an ambient/cool side temperature in the low to mid 70s and a hot side temperature of low to mid 80s. A humidity of anywhere from 40-50% should be fine. If your humidity is lower, simply providing a humid hide or lightly misting the snake after it comes out of blue should help with shedding.

What is the largest tank size an adult would need to be happy?

Depends on species/sub species. I personally keep mine in tubs in a rack system and I use both 28qt and cb-70 (41qt) tubs. A 20gal long should be adequate for most adults.

Can/will they eat rat pinks, fuzzy, hoppers, weanlings etc..


This depends on the particular snake. I feed all of mine on mice of different sizes but both my brooks king and sialoan milk have accepted rat pups with no hesitation.

What in your opinion is the best habitat set up?


I personally keep mine on aspen sani-chips, this allows the snakes to burrow if they choose and makes spot cleaning easy. However I've used newspaper and that worked well for me too. I provide identical hides on both the warm and cool side and have a ceramic water dish in the middle. Simple works for me but if you have the means and the time to provide complex naturalistic enclosures than more power to you.

I hope that helps, if you have any questions about any species/ subspecies in particular I may be able to provide a little more help for you.

[BOWSER11788]

+++1 to above spot on, I had a corn and it was like it was on snake crack, had a King for a we bit and i swore he loved to watch tv but at the end of the day it depends on the snake