why is my cali king biting me? :(

[Sophi]

Hello,

I've had my little Ajna for a while now, I handle her frequently and she has always been very friendly. She is still young and has a lot of energy but she has never bitten. Two nights ago I was sitting with her, she was poking around my hand and out of nowhere just started biting at my finger. I put her Back in her tank.

The next day my boyfriend went to take her out and she was very nippy. She's never acted this way before twords Anyone.

I have a few ideas as to why she might be doing this but I'm not sure.

She's hungry and the mice we have been feeding her are too small. I got some bigger mice for her but I've been trying to finish off the last of the pinkies since I have no other snakes that will eat them. Ajna has been growing fast so it's possible she's not at full after last feeding. (I feed the snakes on Tuesday) last night she seemed to be in hunt mode, lots of tounge flicking and lots of exploring her tan, so I fed her a few days ahead of schedule.

My other concern is this didn't start happening until I brought home a new ball python the other day. The two snakes have not interacted but perhaps she can smell or sense the ball in the same room? Also when I adopted the ball i had to do some rearranging of tanks and I had to move my king across the room. I didn't change the interior of her tank, but I did move her to the other side of the room.

My other thought is i got new hand sanitizer and a new hand soap... So perhaps the smell bothers her?

I'm mostly concerned that she is reacting to the new ball python. Would she have any reason to be bothered by another snake in the room? Can they sense eachother/do they make eachother nervous?

[jossh27]

I don't really know for sure, but i have heard the term "moody teenager stage" a lot here. lol.

im sure someone with more knowledge will tune in soon

[Minkness]

Pretty much what Jossh said. Also, if the pinks are too small, try feeding her twice a week, and try feeding 2 at a time each time. I have an MBK that recently moved up to fuzzies so I have a punch of pinkies left. Luckily, I also have another snake that will hopefully level up to this size pinkie soon as they are super tiny and the others are large.

Try feeding her more frequently and see if that helps with her moodiness. =)

Good luck and keep us informed!

[Albert Clark]

True that the nippiness is juvenile and younger reptile behavior in mostly all species. Kingsnakes have more of a affinity to be biters in general and need to be handled in a way where it is more expected than unexpected. I have had experience keeping them and breeding them in the past. Just make it a point to expect it and be cautious this way you will be prepared and can possibly avoid it. I really think it's inherent in the kingsnake nature to be more of a biter than most.:blink::blink:

[prairiepanda]

Next time she bites, don't put her back in the cage right away. Wait for her to calm down(if she'll calm down) before putting her away, to avoid teaching her that biting = going home.

Based on your description of her behavior, though, it does sound like her bites were out of hunger rather than a defensive response(which I would expect if the cause was the new snake or hand sanitizer). More frequent feeding and/or larger meals should help :)

[Chris72]

Go back to the old soap (one change at a time).

Sanitize (Purel) then wash you hands, make sure that none of your clothing was worn during feeding and give that a try.

Our Orange Dream fire spider 100% pied can smell everything....anything different. So much so she will look around at my hands, flick all over...decide what should taste good then clamp down. (..F'k..). Still funny because she's not too big.

Something changed, you just need to figure out what that is..

One change at a tine. ;)

[Sophi]

Thanks everybody, I'll try feeding her a size up on next feeding day which is coming up. Her bites don't hurt at all but I don't want this to be a habit when she gets bigger...

[SnoopySnake]

Kings eat other snakes and since you're housing them in the same room he very well could be smelling the other snake, and want it. It's definitely a possibility if this started when you got the bp.

[reptiledude987]

Kings eat other snakes and since you're housing them in the same room he very well could be smelling the other snake, and want it. It's definitely a possibility if this started when you got the bp.
I agree it could be due to the new addition. However in my collection i have a MBK in the middle of my 13(and growing) collection and shows no aggression at all. It is common for them to go thru a nippy stage but they typically outgrow it. If the snake were older I would be inclined to think it may have to do with breeding season but sounds like yours is too young for that to be a factor in this case.

[SnoopySnake]

I agree it could be due to the new addition. However in my collection i have a MBK in the middle of my 13(and growing) collection and shows no aggression at all.

Could possibly vary snake to snake, who knows lol. Just wanted to throw it out there.

[reptiledude987]

Could possibly vary snake to snake, who knows lol. Just wanted to throw it out there.
Oh ya for sure. I wasnt trying to contradict you just putting personal expierence out there.
Granted most of the snakes my mbk can see would way to big for him to ever consider as possible prey.

[Sophi]

Kings eat other snakes and since you're housing them in the same room he very well could be smelling the other snake, and want it. It's definitely a possibility if this started when you got the bp.

This is what I was mostly curious about. I had been handling the bp and setting up her new enclosure before I went to handle my king. I always wash my hands between reptiles but maybe she could still smell the bp. Although she is in the same room as my cresties and my skink and has still never been a biter.

[Obsidian_Dragon]

My king has no reaction to the garter in the room--and the garter would definitely be on his menu! ;)

[Cmwells90]

I would probably say it's a feeding response. Did he latch on or just nip? Latching is a feeding response and usually means he's hungry. Are you feeding just 1 pinky or multiple? if you're just doing 1 and you need to get rid of them, then just feed him multiple. I usually do a weight system so I can always make sure it's the right size, about 10%-15% of the snakes body weight.

I've never seen a king snake become MORE aggresive with the introduction of other snakes. As long as the snake is well fed there's no reason they should want to eat the other snakes.

[Chris72]

Kings eat other snakes and since you're housing them in the same room he very well could be smelling the other snake, and want it. It's definitely a possibility if this started when you got the bp.

Took a second to investigate kings eating other snakes...holy flippin'!

King eats Rattle snake:
http://youtu.be/LdCozo_Ub_Q
(Sorry that's it D-Channel....probably in a studio)

The king is so fast the rattler didn't have time to flinch before it had
a face full of King snake.

No intention to hijack, just really impressed with what that King puts away.

:Wow::Wow::Wow:


Purell your hands before picking up the king. ;)

[reptiledude987]

Took a second to investigate kings eating other snakes...holy flippin'!

King eats Rattle snake:
http://youtu.be/LdCozo_Ub_Q
(Sorry that's it D-Channel....probably in a studio)

The king is so fast the rattler didn't have time to flinch before it had
a face full of King snake.

No intention to hijack, just really impressed with what that King puts away.

:Wow::Wow::Wow:


Purell your hands before picking up the king. ;)

Its pretty crazy what theyre capable of especially for how placid they typically are in captivity. I saw something years ago about them on discovery chan where a king was eating a corn close to the same size to its self. It ate the corn and they showed an xray shot of it with the corn inside it and the corn was zig zaged inside it to try and make it fit but there was still a few inches of tail hanging out of the mouth and it had to regurg the whole thing. the entire process took around 4 hours lol.

[MH4C]

I'll completely agree with kings being on average more 'bitey' than some other snakes. I have 2 rescues at home that were being kept together in a too small enclosure without heating, infested with mites. In their slightly bad shape they were calm and didn't bite at all. I immediately separated them after I got them and after some time and getting them back to good health they are now (both, but the female a bit more) snakes from the depths of hell. They have an incredible feeding response, but I will only handle them with a hook as I've had the female suddenly deciding my finger is food (which is annoying with an adult king) already a couple of times.

As stated, with kings they can just switch their behavior from one moment to the next, and you just have to be wary and act quick :). Best of luck and a nippy snake is still a lot of fun :).

[Sophi]

I took her out for a while yesterday before feeding her again and she seemed to be back to her old self. Very active and very wiggly but no biting which makes me think it was a hunger response.

I upped the size of her mouse after that and it may have been too big. It took her almost an hour to eat the whole thing and she's been staying out of sight ever since. (she has two hides and I have a deep layer of aspen which she can Completey dissappear under.)

No regurgitation though so I guess she was fine.

Little nippy noodle. When she was biting she didn't latch and curl but I think she was trying too. She's still very small and I don't think she could get a grip yet.

[Obsidian_Dragon]

RE: kings being more nippy, I think it depends somewhat on what type of king. My MBK has never showed any inclination to bite. But ho boy, this Brooks king I saw once...

Sophi, I noticed with mine that going up a food size temporarily slowed down their eating. Takes them a bit to figure it out, but they're usually faster after the first time or so. And a bigger meal will take longer to digest. I feed on Tuesday and don't usually see my king out until Friday.

[Albert Clark]

Hey Chris72, that was a fantastic find! Kingsnakes really rule!!! They are appropriately named. I think their propensity to bite is inherent in kingsnake dna. :blink:

[D Grade]

Its moody teenager stage, Ive dealt with it as well and still deal with it occasionally. If it bites, keep holding it to show it that youre not afraid and biting isnt going to do anything to you. If your King is constantly climbing up trying to get out of it viv, open the lid and let it climb out then pick it up. Alot of Kings are also very territorial so picking them up in the viv can trigger that. This is what I do with mine and he never strikes when out of his viv. In fact, he climbs up whenever he sees me since he knows thats the ticket to getting out of the viv for a bit. Kinda goes to show the intuition these creatures have.

[Sophi]

Well the good news is there's been no more biting. :)

She was either just in a bitchy mood or hungry, so she's back to normal for now now.