adopting a kingsnake

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bfhslilred93

Feeder Fish
MFK Member
Apr 18, 2008
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new england
thinking about adopting a california king from the aspca. anyone have one? know a little of what they will need? i've got a 20long which should be enough till i build the wall. i'll pick up a heating pad and a uv light next trip to the lfs. im kinda a newb with snakes so what kind of uv would be best? should i get eco terra substrate or go the paper towel route? its my christmas present to myself. :headbang2 will post pics when/if i get him/her.
 
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Snakes don't need UV lights, so that would be a waste of money. If the room it's in gets into the 70s in the winter, one that is no longer a baby should be able to overwinter just fine without supplemental heat as long as you don't feed it. Babies should be fed though, so if you get a baby, give it a warm spot in the mid-80s so it can digest its food properly. Substrate choice depends on how much money you're willing to pay and how much effort you're willing to put into keeping the cage clean. My snakes all get a few layers of newspaper so they can hide between the layers if they want, and when they make a mess, it's easy to clean. But that's up to you.

Have fun with your kingsnake; I hear they're a little bitey.
 
I've yet to have my king snake bite me.

Substrate is dependent on what you want, not what the snake wants :) I use reptile sand. To clean it, I put it through a really fine sand sifter, and just throw out what doesn't go down :) He likes to dig in the sand, and since he's a desert snake, seemed fitting.
 
Yea kingsnakes are very easy to take care of. Mine would always bluff like he was going to bite me but never did. Just keep them on paper towel and a heat pad and your pretty much set. Keep a moist hide and a couple dry ones. I wouldn't go anything less then a 40 gallon for one they love to move.

Chad
 
My cali king is going on 12 years old. Great snake...i've been bitten maybe twice in that entire time. Shes about 5.5 feet and in a 75g. Considering they are very active snakes i would go 40 breeder or 55 minimum. She went to the 75 from a 29 and never does the endless search for escape except for when i put her back.

Heat pad, heat emitter, basking bulb...all good. For substrate i do half aspen half reptile carpet/glass....she seems to prefer the glass to cool off in the summer. IME they love to burrow and like a big dish for soaking.

Great snakes good luck and post pics.
 
Cali king absolutely great snakes. i am personally not a big fan of the paper towel route. i completely understand why some do it though. it was mentioned of putting them with sand which is great if they are from a dry region. you really need to do some research on the locality of this one you are planning on getting, if you need help pm me or post here. pics would be the easiest way to find the locality.
 
escape artist thats something to keeping mind.....i got ahold of one for free that was found in my local bank vault and yes inside. They had no clue on how it got in. All i can say is glad it wasnt my bank. And within 3days it escaped out of a container i had it in and out of a tank. The other word is eatting machine! My buddie owned a pet store and had a black mexican king escape(baby) well my buddy came in the next day to find 30mice pinkies missing. Sure enough the king that was the thickness of a pencil was found about the the diameter of a quarter...lol I never knew they would go to that extreme. Other than that nice snakes though.
 
nice snakes, my friend's had his since the third grade, now in 11th. very hardy snakes.
 
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