Lampropeltis beginner Q's

[adamofsound]

Hi,

I keep several species of gecko and have been in the herp hobby for several years now, and really like the look of these snakes. caresheets indicate they are well tempered, so I thought this might be a good place to start.

I've been reading caresheets and set up an enclosure to a san luis potosi king (L. mexicana mexicana)

the snake is an 04 hachtling

here's how I am going to have it set up:

18.9 L rubber maid
warm end 88F cool end 79F, heated by UTH
paper towel substrate

hide at each end and one in the middle.

water dish.
also, I assume at this stage I will be feeding pinks or fuzzy mice. I dont know the exact age of the snake yet, but I am working on the assumption that it is 6 months or less.

any help or suggestions are appreciated.
Adam

[Manitoban Herps]

That sounds perfect, find out for sure what it is feeding on, if it is mice or rats you will be set.

Good luck!

[MarcB]

Adam,

Your set sounds adequate! You've done your homework...

[vanderkm]

Mex mex are wonderful snakes - and your set up sounds fine. The only thing you might consider is a tub with some height to it - our guys loved to climb when youngsters and we added branches for them. Likely the only disadvantage with these snakes is that they gain weight pretty quickly and it seems that having more room and places to exercise will help to control this. Ours are out of their hides and cruising around their cages more than any of our other snakes - wonderful pets!!

congrats on a great choice,

mary v.

[bighillreptiles]

I would go with Mary's set up i have seen one of her babbys at a friands house and keep trying to get it off of him but no why lol beautiful snake to start of with also a hondo would also be a good one to start off a new additcion

[vanderkm]

The snake from me that is down there Paul is a Mexican milk - the mex mex I was referring to in this post are Mexican kingsnakes - quite different personalities. While the Mexican milks are beautiful, the mex mex kings have tons of personality and are not nearly as shy as the milks.

This is our male mex mex - he is always out of his hide forever checking stuff out in his tank and totally sweet - these guys never even dream of biting. They stay under about 3 feet and the only problem we have had with them is their tendency to get chubby - they are always starving and don't really need much food.



A closely related durango mountain king


and variable king


I just love these snakes - they are absolute sweeties - cannot believe they are not more popular.

mary v.