New Snake Owner

Cloudberry · 02-13-13, 05:37 PM

Hello! I'm pretty new to the herp scene, about 6 months ago I got my first gal.
She's a BEAUTIFUL california king, I believe she's a mosaic?
Aside from not finding a name that felt appropriate for her, we've had a great start. Unfortunately, in the last couple months I've found myself losing my confidence.
I read around the forums quite a bit, and seeing other kingsnakes behavior definitely aleviated my fears, I understand that she could use a larger cage and that I shouldn't be concerned by her being bitey.
Either way, I ended up finding a lot of information that just gave me more questions!
If anyone would be willing to take the time to answer any of them I'd really appreciate it!

1. What temperature should their water be at? Is one large water container alright or do I need to have another one in the hotter part of the cage?

2. Do I only put moss in for added humidity when she looks like she's about to shed? Or have it there as a humidity option? If so how long can I leave it before I need to change it out?

3. Speaking of humidity, is there a maximum healthy % for kingsnakes? I've heard respiratory infections aren't uncommon for them.

4. I've read that if your snake has behavioral problems, the best method for socializing is handling it frequently for short periods of time instead of infrequently for long periods. By short do they mean 10 minutes? 5 minutes? 30 minutes? And what do they mean by frequently? Every day? 5 times a day?

6. My snake will randomly bite, usually not out of alarm or aggression just a sort of exploratory prod and then she goes for it. In light of that should I be letting her burrow around in my clothes? I'm worried that if she latches onto my stomach or something that I won't be able to get her off without help.

There's more but I'm gonna leave it at that for now, the list is getting a bit daunting :P

Thanks for your time!

**Aaron_S** · 02-13-13, 08:53 PM

1. I just use cold water and one dish is fine.

2. You can add moss at shedding time.

3. The large water dish should maintain enough humidity for your kingsnake. They aren't high humidity animals.

4. Handle it daily (except for 48 hours after eating) I'd say for 10 - 20 minutes at a time.

5. I wouldn't have a nippy animal anywhere near my body or stomach.

Cloudberry · 02-14-13, 05:32 PM

48hrs? I've read 26?
Right now I have to feed her every 3 days, so it makes it hard to handle her daily.

rmfsnakes32 · 02-14-13, 05:40 PM

Every 3 days is to much. 5 to 7 days is fine

Cloudberry · 02-14-13, 10:04 PM

I fed her less often and she tried to eat herself.

SnakeyJay · 02-15-13, 07:03 AM

Then feed her bigger prey, what are you feeding her at the moment?

Cloudberry · 02-15-13, 12:02 PM

Med sized fuzzy mice, she's probably about a foot long?

Kingsnakechris · 02-15-13, 12:15 PM

I'd go one size up for her food size, pretty much everything Aaron said is correct but he forgot to mention no handling during her shed cycle. Shedding can be very stressful on a younger snake and when their eyes blue over they can be very nippy and flighty because they can't see you. Other than that just work on getting a bigger size cage and try upping her fod size.

Falconeer999 · 02-15-13, 02:02 PM

I have a Florida king that eats small fuzzies - he's 2 feet long. He'll go about 7 days between feedings (can tell he is ready to feed when he's on his cool side and above his substrate - all other times he burrows).

A medium fuzzy every 3 days for a 12" snake sounds like an excess of food...

Kingsnakechris · 02-15-13, 02:12 PM

It is a bit excessive. Try offering slightly bigger meals less frequent.

Cloudberry · 02-20-13, 02:50 PM

Sorry for the delayed response, and thanks so much for all of yours! I've been in Moving Limbo for the past couple days x_x

I'll switch over to every 7 days, any recommendation on food size? Think it'd be alright if I just fed her 2 medium fuzzies instead of 1?