Elaphe Carinata: King Rat Snakes

asnakelovinbabe · 02-02-12, 10:17 PM

I hold a special place in my heart for this species. I LOVE my carinata and they are all special in their own way. This season I hope to produce a clutch of them! Here they are: the ones that don't have "good" photos of will in the summer... I can't exactly plop them into the snow and take pictures outside now can I?!

Here is Ra... my first King rat... before I got him, I did not even know what a king rat was. I saw him at a show, and I knew he must be mine.

Lol... he is smelling the flowers I SWEAR!

Ra is the Chuck Norris of snakes. He is able to kill you with a glare.

Ra tolerates me well.. we even had a photoshoot together!

And then Came Isis... I purchased her as a wee snakelette fresh out of the egg! Watch her grow!!!

The day i brought her home...

Few weeks later...

asnakelovinbabe · 02-02-12, 10:18 PM

Growing...

Still growing...

A little more

and some more

and lately she's looking like a young adult!

asnakelovinbabe · 02-02-12, 10:19 PM

Next came Midas, another adult male:

Midas at one time apparently was injured. He has a scar on his head and holds his mouth slightly agape sometimes. I don't mind though!

My fourth carinata.. Phoenix. Yes he was my THIRD male and I had only one subadult female. But when you see him, you know why I had to have him!!!

And recently, I acquired this stunning adult female. Venus is full of piss and vinegar. She is AWESOME, and MEAN. I LOVE mean snakes, so I don't mind. You have to not mind snakes with an attitude to work with carinata.

I will soon be cooling Phoenix and Venus in hopes for eggs this spring!!! Phoenix is all over her when he sees her, so I know there's a good chance they will breed successfully!

alessia55 · 02-02-12, 10:22 PM

Fantastic photos! Also... that photo of you and Ra... is the one I always see on the Oaks PA reptile expo website!

alessia55 · 02-02-12, 10:23 PM

Phoenix is really something!!!

wow!!

What is the personality like of all these? feisty?

Trent · 02-02-12, 10:38 PM

Awesome pics!!!

Dayv · 02-03-12, 05:42 AM

Wow!

Those are some of the best pics I have seen. What camera are you using? All I have is my phone camera which is not great at all. Want to get a camera soon so I can take some better pics of my corn.

bigsnakegirl785 · 02-03-12, 06:48 AM

lol Dayv love your avatar! XD
And your snakes are beautiful! Hope you get lucky!

asnakelovinbabe · 02-03-12, 10:18 AM

Glad you saw my other post about my camera. It has served me well!!!!

kernel · 02-03-12, 11:19 AM

Beautiful snakes! I take it their attitude like that of bull and gopher snake?

DragonsEye · 02-03-12, 11:31 AM

Lovely snakes! Phoenix is simply stunning!

Awesome photo of you and Ra. (Talk about a photo to catch a guy's attention!) The 6th pic of Isis is a hoot.

andybe18 · 02-03-12, 11:57 AM

Awesome pics of some awesome snakes - the pics of the colour change through the years on your girl is fascinating - thanks for sharing.

Shmoges · 02-03-12, 02:03 PM

Eating while you hold it!!! Thats awesome!! Isis reminds me of a vine snake with the white and black lines on the side. Do they bite you much? I love how intense they look, I am getting tired of our blue eyed lucy rats cause they bite all the time. Holding every other day seems to mean musk and blood every other day lol.

asnakelovinbabe · 02-03-12, 02:25 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Shmoges

Eating while you hold it!!! Thats awesome!! Isis reminds me of a vine snake with the white and black lines on the side. Do they bite you much? I love how intense they look, I am getting tired of our blue eyed lucy rats cause they bite all the time. Holding every other day seems to mean musk and blood every other day lol.

It depends entirely on the snake. Generally King Rats are extremely temperamental ranging from "psychotic" on one end of the spectrum to "hisses at you every time you open the tub" on the other end. I find them all to be flighty, the moment I slide out a tub or lift a hidey they start moving around... They don't stay coiled up like a corn or rat would.

Ra has his moods but has only bitten me once in the years I have had him, and I deserved it... he was already upset with me but I picked him up anyways and he lashed out and whacked me right on the lips! haha... Normally he tolerates handling well but is always softly hissing the entire time to let me know he's disgruntled.

Midas is a very calm and gentle boy... he takes his food so nice and calm, whereas the others all snatch it and scare the #*$^@(# out of me in the process. He is easy to hold and USUALLY doesn't even hiss at me when I open the tub.

Isis used to be downright nasty as a baby but as she is growing she is losing her fear of me. She is of course always softly hissing but doesn't bite, and yes she will eat while I hold her! That's a long way considering at one point she would not even eat if I was in the same room. I would consider her to be "tame" for a king rat, as in I can reach in on any day and scoop her up and the most she will do is wiggle around a bit.

Phoenix is a hoot. The moment I open the tub he starts ZOOMING back and forth, flinging aspen all over the place and hissing loudly. What I like about him is even though he doesn't lie me one bit, he doesn't turn on me and get defensive.

Venus is borderline psycho. I open her tub and not only does she start flinging aspen, but she rears up, puffs up, postures, hisses LOUDLY, like a bullsnake, flattens out her head and strikes with all of her fury. Would not want the pointy end to whack me... because she MEANS it.

If you want a tame cuddly snake king rats are NOT the droids you are looking for. If you want a BIG colubrid that is seriously heavy, stubborn, feels rougher than sandpaper and has mood swings that make a pregnant woman seem rational, then they are the snake for you.

One thing I WILL comment on is that I feel their nickname "Stinking Goddess" is largely undeserved. I have kept a zillion OTHER species that better deserve that title (natrix natrix, smells like skunk and they aren't afraid to use it). You might find it odd for me to report that I have NEVER been musked by any of my king rats. I have no idea what it smells like. But even as aggressive as mine are, they don't musk me... so really it's NOT that bad... Even if their musk does reek, they certainly aren't liberal with it, at least mine aren't. Heck my black rat snake has musked me plenty of times!

Shmoges · 02-03-12, 03:55 PM

Rats certainly are different from any other colubrid I have kept. I thought my San Diego Gophers were scary at first but now they are as tame as a corn snake. I wonder how trans pecos are temperament wise?