Help for new snake owners!

[Viperx2000]

We have had our 2 year old Cali king for about a month. He was very docile and calm for the first week or two that we had him.


Since then he has started to bite every time we attempt to handle him. It is not a striking bite and he doesn't appear to be defensive in the tank but once he is on our hands he will place his nose directly on our skin for a second or two and then bite and won't let go. We can only handle him with gloves now and he does not even attempt a bite with the gloves on.


Recently we have noticed his skin on his belly near his tail appears to be coming off but only in this area. Could this be a bad shed or something else? There has been no changes to his eye colour that we could see that would indicate a shed.

I have tried to attach some pictures but the forums will not allow me to do so.

[smy_749]

Are you using an undertank heater? Is it on a thermostat? Do you have a temp gun?

It could be a burn, hard to tell from the picture. My albino cali king was a sweet baby, and after a few months became a demon snake. It doesn't make a difference to me either way, but if you want him to chill out, have someone like stephenbakir teach you to hook train him. Best of luck

[Viperx2000]

Thank you for your response. Yes I do have an under tank heater. The hot side of the tank varies from 80 - 85 degress and the cool side is 75 degrees. I don't mind the bite it doesn't hurt at all really but the wife gets a little frightend by it. Taking him out with a hook I do not believe would help much because getting him out isn't an issue. He doesn't get defensive at all. It is when he is actually being handled as soon as he gets near skin he stops... puts his nose directly on the skin and then bites slowly....

[smy_749]

Thank you for your response. Yes I do have an under tank heater. The hot side of the tank varies from 80 - 85 degress and the cool side is 75 degrees. I don't mind the bite it doesn't hurt at all really but the wife gets a little frightend by it. Taking him out with a hook I do not believe would help much because getting him out isn't an issue. He doesn't get defensive at all. It is when he is actually being handled as soon as he gets near skin he stops... puts his nose directly on the skin and then bites slowly....

Its not about taking him out with the hook. Its called hook training because he will learn to associate the hook with 'no food' and he will turn off his feeding response. It doesn't matter what the ambient temps are on the hide side because the snake doesn't float in mid air. He will be resting directly on the undertank heater so you need to get something that can accurately read surface temps (a temp gun). If the ambient air in the hot side is 80-85, then you can gaurantee that the surface hes resting on is much hotter.

[Viperx2000]

Its not about taking him out with the hook. Its called hook training because he will learn to associate the hook with 'no food' and he will turn off his feeding response. It doesn't matter what the ambient temps are on the hide side because the snake doesn't float in mid air. He will be resting directly on the undertank heater so you need to get something that can accurately read surface temps (a temp gun). If the ambient air in the hot side is 80-85, then you can gaurantee that the surface hes resting on is much hotter.

Ah OK, I understand the hook training theory now thank you. I will see if I can get a temp gun to check the surface temp.

[smy_749]

Ah OK, I understand the hook training theory now thank you. I will see if I can get a temp gun to check the surface temp.

Keep us updated! They have temp guns at most hardware stores for under 30 dollars. Comes in handy and you can use them to check for drafts in your home where heat is escaping :P

[bcr229]

Also make sure that your hands are clean when you pick him up, as odors of other snakes or food could bring on a bite. My Cali King almost got me a few weeks ago when I made the mistake of handling him after picking steamed crabs for dinner. Oops, never knew he liked seafood...

If your wife wigs out, tell her that when they're that little, getting bitten is like being attacked by velcro.

[smy_749]

Also make sure that your hands are clean when you pick him up, as odors of other snakes or food could bring on a bite. My Cali King almost got me a few weeks ago when I made the mistake of handling him after picking steamed crabs for dinner. Oops, never knew he liked seafood...

If your wife wigs out, tell her that when they're that little, getting bitten is like being attacked by velcro.

And when she asks " And what about when hes an adult ? " lol

[bcr229]

And when she asks " And what about when hes an adult ? " lol
By then he'll be hook trained, dear. ;)

[Starbuck]

my cali king did the same thing when she turned about 2 years old.
Hook training turned her around in no time.

Can you tell us more about how you feed your snake? Is it F/T, live? what size mice, and how often? Do you feed in a separate enclosure?

Good luck, he's a cute king :)

[Terranaut]

Also make sure that your hands are clean when you pick him up, as odors of other snakes or food could bring on a bite. My Cali King almost got me a few weeks ago when I made the mistake of handling him after picking steamed crabs for dinner. Oops, never knew he liked seafood...

If your wife wigs out, tell her that when they're that little, getting bitten is like being attacked by velcro.

This is your issue here. Mine does this as well. Was your handsright before handling him . Don't touch anything but him. Try it today and you will see. Kings eat anything that moves so if your hands smell like anything other than soap they may think it's food. Watch the same behavior when you feed him. He will strike and coil. After the prey is dead he will sniff and tongue at it then slowly open his mouth and bite it. Same as your hand. I do not hook my king. I just grab him. Never an issue other than the slow food bite like yours. Gotta love kings!!

[Viperx2000]

This is your issue here. Mine does this as well. Was your handsright before handling him . Don't touch anything but him. Try it today and you will see. Kings eat anything that moves so if your hands smell like anything other than soap they may think it's food. Watch the same behavior when you feed him. He will strike and coil. After the prey is dead he will sniff and tongue at it then slowly open his mouth and bite it. Same as your hand. I do not hook my king. I just grab him. Never an issue other than the slow food bite like yours. Gotta love kings!!

First of all, thank you all for your replies and suggestions. I have searched and posted to many forums and received very few respones on any of them. In fact I think the amount of responses I have gotten on this one topic here are greater then all the other questions I have asked else where.

As far as feeding goes F/T Adult Mice are fed. When we got him the zoo told us one every two weeks...... Thinking it may be that he is still hungry we have upped his feeding two adult mice a week a 2 days apart. We feed him in a seperate rubber maid container.

As for the hand washing I make sure to wash before every attempt at handling right from the sink to the tank to attempt and pick him up. We do have a Cat.... I wonder if the lingering smell of cat in the air may be setting him off?

[Cor8et]

We do have a Cat.... I wonder if the lingering smell of cat in the air may be setting him off? I`v both a cali and a cat, cat`s always looking in my viv`s as they do... never really noticed any of the snakes paying attention to the cat. There is glass between them though.

As said before wash and sanitize your hands/arms first


This is a great site for information, no need to go elsewhere tbh


Welcome :)

[Starbuck]

I would try feeding in the enclosure for several feedings (this goes hand in hand with the hook training), and see if that changes anything. This way, any time he is out of the viv, he KNOWS he is NOT getting food (period). This may cut down some on the biting. Hook training will help to get him out of the viv without thinking your hands are 10 little mice descending from the heavens :)

R.E. the skin issue: when did you notice it? does he spend a lot of time soaking? or a lot of time over his heat mat? Are the temperatures you mentioned ambient (i.e. stick on the wall thermometer), or do you use a temp gun, or do you have a probe to measure at specific locations? As long as it doesnt get worse, i would consider waiting it out and seeing how it changes with his next shed. At that point you may need to see a vet.

[Viperx2000]

Hi thanks for the advice. Will try the hook training methord see if that helps. Noticed the skin problem just a few days ago. Temps I mentioned are ambient I am gonna try and get a heat gun to check the surface temps. He doesn't spend a lot of time soaking or basking he is very active in his viv and if he isn't in his hide he is normally moving about the viv on both the hot and cool side.

[Mark Taylor]

Hi and welcome you have a had some good advise so far hope to see you holding it without the gloves soon:)