Snuggling Kings...

[Trollbie]

Originally Posted by Jlassiter

It is not terrible that the cool side is that cool....
I wish I could achieve 60s on the cool side and 90s on the hot side.....

How deep is the substrate (Aspen?)
Provide a shoebox size container full of moist sphagnum moss too.....set it in the enclosure so that part is on the hot side and the rest on the cool side.......try feeding her when she is on the cool side for a period of time......

The aspen varies between 0.5-2 in. Depending on how much she messes around in it lol.

I don't about the moss... The humidity is above 60% already. Which is already kinda too high for her as far as I know.

[Trollbie]

This is her set up.

[Kingsnakechris]

Originally Posted by Jlassiter

Calkings can and will breed without a true brumation, but they still need a period of conservation to produce viable sperm and follicles.
I would try it but be very careful as they do not "know" one another by just being next to each other.......and since the female is larger than the male she might see the male as a meal......

my female is smaller then the male. my fault on that. and what does a period of conservation mean??

[Kingsnakechris]

im pretty sure my male is ready. he never seems to stop "searching" and hes off feed right now as well. i just wasnt sure if i could attempt it because i didnt "brumate" my female...

[Jlassiter]

Originally Posted by Trollbie

The aspen varies between 0.5-2 in. Depending on how much she messes around in it lol.

I don't about the moss... The humidity is above 60% already. Which is already kinda too high for her as far as I know.

Who said that is too high?
If there is a humidity gradient your snake will let you know what is good.....
If there is 90% humidity in one area and 10% in another it will choose what it wants/needs.......

Humidity should be like temperatures........
If provided a wide range of both you'll have what the snake wants covered.....

BTW...I'd deepen the Aspen to 3 to 4 inches...but you may not like not seeing your hiding king.
Why do kings hide?
Are they hiding from you/predators?
maybe but that is not the ONLY reason they hide

...they are also hiding to escape the air itself. Kings/Milks will dehydrate easily so they find the tightest hide they can to protect the surface area of their skin from contacting the dry air.......

[Trollbie]

Originally Posted by Jlassiter

Who said that is too high?
If there is a humidity gradient your snake will let you know what is good.....
If there is 90% humidity in one area and 10% in another it will choose what it wants/needs.......

Humidity should be like temperatures........
If provided a wide range of both you'll have what the snake wants covered.....

BTW...I'd deepen the Aspen to 3 to 4 inches...but you may not like not seeing your hiding king.
Why do kings hide?
Are they hiding from you/predators?
maybe but that is not the ONLY reason they hide

...they are also hiding to escape the air itself. Kings/Milks will dehydrate easily so they find the tightest hide they can to protect the surface area of their skin from contacting the dry air.......

Because everything I ever read about milks said that their humidity range is 40-60%? I wasn't worried about it because I know milks are hardy snakes, but I didn't think I needed to add more. I guess I can put some moss in her Repti shelter.

I can add more aspen. I'm not worried about not seeing her because she doesn't just hide all the time. She actually doesn't hide very much.

[Jlassiter]

Originally Posted by Kingsnakechris

my female is smaller then the male. my fault on that. and what does a period of conservation mean??

A period of conservation is achieved mainly by lower temps but some have achieved this with a light cycle. Getting them in tune with the seasons outside seems to work with some Southern Lampropeltis.......

Conservation is when the snake's metabolism is slowed or shut down...
When it is triggered again a male will start producing viable sperm....
Some believe that males need brumation for breeding but females do not....the only reason those folks brumate their females is so they will be on the same cycle as the male......

It is easier for me with a large collection to just brumate them all the same....

[Jlassiter]

Originally Posted by Kingsnakechris

im pretty sure my male is ready. he never seems to stop "searching" and hes off feed right now as well. i just wasnt sure if i could attempt it because i didnt "brumate" my female...

I'd try it....but you may have missed the window of opportunity.......
Once you learn how to palpate a female to see if it ovulating you can pair them up at the right time.....
Or you can house them together through brumation next season and never miss that window......lol

[Kingsnakechris]

Ok, I'm new to this so thank you for bearing with me through all my questions

[Kingsnakechris]

Originally Posted by Jlassiter

I'd try it....but you may have missed the window of opportunity.......
Once you learn how to palpate a female to see if it ovulating you can pair them up at the right time.....
Or you can house them together through brumation next season and never miss that window......lol

Lol looks like I'm waiting till next season. I'd rather be safe then sorry..

[Jlassiter]

Originally Posted by Trollbie

Because everything I ever read about milks said that their humidity range is 40-60%? I wasn't worried about it because I know milks are hardy snakes, but I didn't think I needed to add more. I guess I can put some moss in her Repti shelter.

I can add more aspen. I'm not worried about not seeing her because she doesn't just hide all the time. She actually doesn't hide very much.

Does she cruise her cage at night?
If so, she's looking for food.......or a mate......or the right temps.....or the right humidity........

And you don't need to add MORE humidity....
You just need to provide a humidity gradient........
A spot where it is humid and the rest of the cage can be the same as the room humidity.......deep aspen will isolate areas of low humidity....
If given all the choices/options it will choose what it wants.......
Us as keepers should provide that for our captives......There are simpler ways but they aren't optimal in my opinion.......

Again....no one has to do it my way.....
Take all the information you read or hear and apply what you want to see what works....The trick is seeing how it affects your captive.....

[Jlassiter]

Originally Posted by Trollbie

This is her set up.

A HA!!!!!
get rid of that light....It is drying the air.....Lampros need no supplemental lighting.......
Use a heat pad, heat tape or heat cable.....

[Trollbie]

Originally Posted by Jlassiter

Does she cruise her cage at night?
If so, she's looking for food.......or a mate......or the right temps.....or the right humidity........

And you don't need to add MORE humidity....
You just need to provide a humidity gradient........
A spot where it is humid and the rest of the cage can be the same as the room humidity.......deep aspen will isolate areas of low humidity....
If given all the choices/options it will choose what it wants.......
Us as keepers should provide that for our captives......There are simpler ways but they aren't optimal in my opinion.......

Again....no one has to do it my way.....
Take all the information you read or hear and apply what you want to see what works....The trick is seeing how it affects your captive.....

It seems to me that she's more active during the day. Sometimes she will cruise back and forth along the front wall of the tank for hours, especially when I'm around. She'd do it even after feeding. The people I got her from said she's always been like that.
When she's active and "cruising" around, and I go pick her up, most of the time she reaches for my arm as if she actually wants to come out. But 100% of the time when she's active and I take her out of the tank, she stays very calm and seems happy to be out.
If I touch her when she's not active, most of the time she'll rattle her tail at me.

I don't know, she's just a silly snake. She even squirms around a lot when she's resting. She won't be in the same position for longer than like 5-10min. I'm not sure if that's normal or not though.

I've only had her for a month, so I'm still learning her behaviours, but I've only noticed a few consistent behaviours with her.

[Trollbie]

Originally Posted by Jlassiter

A HA!!!!!
get rid of that light....It is drying the air.....Lampros need no supplemental lighting.......
Use a heat pad, heat tape or heat cable.....

Even with the light the humidity is above 60% in there. I mainly have it on because she's in kind of a dark corner and doesn't get much daylight. She has a UTH underneath, and a little hermit crab one on the side.

I just put the light there a week ago, but her behaviours haven't changed. But I'll take it off or clamp it on the shelf above the tank so it's not on top of the tank directly.

[Jlassiter]

I would just turn it off and not use it for any colubrid.......

When you keep saying 60%.....there is no way it could be 60% humidity EVERYWHERE in the cage.......