why is my cali king biting me? :(

[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.

[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.

[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.