Cannibalism...

Tim_Cranwill · 08-28-02, 10:10 PM

Hey, everyone knows that Kings and Milks have an appetite for eating reptiles including their own species. Does anyone have any first hand accounts of this taking place? I'm not considering keeping any together, but I do have a story...

I had 2 female Garters give birth to 30+ babies last month. One of the babies was very weak and looked on the verge of dying. So, to satisfy some sick urge of mine, I put the poor little guy in with one of my California Kings. The King took him down after only a few seconds. A few days later, just before I released all of the baby Garters, I put two more babies in with the same king and his sister. The Garters survived for like 5 days. The kings didn't even give them a second look. They did eat mice during this time, so they were hungry.

Anyway, I've always been curious about how cannibalistic kings and milks really are and I'd love to hear some stories.

snakedude_03 · 08-28-02, 10:20 PM

hmm.. never tried.. but i dont think i will try.. i think i will stay with mice and rats lol.. dont really wanna kill other snakes...

crimsonking · 08-29-02, 01:52 PM

I got 4 adult Cal. kings from a friend/ breeder who "wanted to get rid of the $#!+" because a female ate his best albino male at breeding time. Since then, I've had no problem with her or any of the others,but I DO watch them closely. His loss=my gain-60+ babies from them this year. Mark

snakedude_03 · 08-29-02, 07:18 PM

lol.. i gotta find a friend that has some nice kings he/she plans on breeding...

Tim_Cranwill · 08-29-02, 08:18 PM

Interesting. Do you keep the 4 kings together?

crimsonking · 08-29-02, 09:56 PM

No, no, no! I don't keep them together all the time. Just when it's breeing time. These Cal. kings are the most aggressive feeders I've owned.It's a chore to toss in a mouse or two without getting tagged. And when they bite with the intent of eating, they don't let go. A 5-10 min ordeal that's no fun. When I go into my snake room it literally will come alive with activity when I turn on the lights!Big kings are always hungry.More handling more often would help as they all calm down once I've taken them from their boxes.I just have to make sure I have no rodent smell on my hands.LOL