FLORIDA KING SNAKE

Description
Size 120cm-183cm...4ft-6ft depending on the sub species.

Life span (Captive) Kings have the potential to live for over 18 years. Records exist of Kings over 21 years of age.

Origin USA & Mexico

Range Found throughout the whole of the USA and Northern Mexico.

Habitat Pine barrens, deciduous forest, rocky outcrops/hills and desert scrub land.

Temperament: With regular handling from young, most Kings are calm and placid but it should be kept in mind that some individuals can be aggressive and all will bite if they detect the smell of food on your hands, for this reason you should not handle any King after handling rodents, amphibians and reptiles including other snakes.


Captive Care
Caging: Kings are not highly active and don`t need huge enclosures. The cage should allow a minimum of 1 square foot of floor space to each foot of Snake and be approximately a third of the snakes length in height. Hatchlings should start out in an appropriately sized small cage as some hatchlings can become stressed and stop feeding in an oversized cage.

The cage should contain:

Some form of substrate:  paper, chipped bark, Astro turf etc.

A hide box. This can be cardboard, so it can be easily replaced if it becomes soiled.

A piece of drift wood to aid the snake when shedding its skin

A water bowl. This should not be so large that the snake can sit in it and fairly heavy to avoid it being spilt.

A heat mat with thermostat. this should only cover between a third and a half of the floor space to allow your snake to thermoregulate.  A thermometer to check the temperature.

A popular alternative to the heat mat is a normal light bulb with a wire cage around it attached to a thermostat at one end of the cage. This gives light for the owner to see his snake as well as heat for the snake. Never use a Dimmer switch instead of a thermostat to control the temperature from the bulb, despite what some people say this method can be fatal in hot weather.

Temperature: 27-30 degrees Centigrade.....80-87 Fahrenheit.

Lighting: No special lighting (UV etc) is required but an ordinary low wattage light bulb for ease of viewing can be installed. This  must be connected to the thermostat to avoid over heating the cage.

Food: Captive Kings feed on mice appropriate to the size of their mouth. Hatchlings start on pink mice every 5-6 days and graduate up to an adult mouse every 7-10 days as they grow. Very large snakes may require 2 adult mice per feed. They will also take other small rodents such as gerbils, hamsters and young rats. Wild Kings also feed on amphibians, reptiles (including other snakes) and birds. There is no need at all to feed your snake with live food. Shop brought frozen rodents are available from most pet shops and if well thawed to room temperature these make an excellent all round food for your snake, which wont bite back and injure the snake. Wild rodents carry parasites and should be avoided at all times. Never handle your snake straight after a feed as it will regurgitate it`s meal. Snakes that are preparing to shed their skin, rarely feed until after they have shed.

Water requirements: Your snake requires CLEAN drinking water at all times. This should be refreshed daily. Corn Snakes also like to bathe, but continued emersion can lead to skin problems and large amounts of water in the cage can lead to high humidity resulting in lung problems. A large half filled bowl of water can be offered for an hour or two weekly and when the snake is sloughing.

Social Structure:. Wild Kings are loners and prey on any other snake they meet including Rattle Snakes and other King Snakes. They only come together to breed. For these reasons Kings should always be kept singly.

Activity period: Wild Kings are active from dusk till dawn but captive animals tend to be active and visible all day

Sexing: Whilst you can guess the sex of your snake from certain body features (males have longer tails and chunkier heads than females) the most definite way of sexing a snake is by probing. If you have not been shown how to do this properly by an expert, I suggest you ask the breeder/supplier to do this for you as an error can injure the snake.

Miscellaneous information: Kings breed so well in captivity that it is unusual to find any wild caught animals for sale .Several of the sub- species are available in colour mutations, mainly albino. It`s worth keeping a note of when your snake feeds and sheds it`s skin as it`s easy to forget a once a week feed and your never quite sure when the next shed should be due.


Suitability as a First Exotic Pet
Kings are a good first snake. They are mainly friendly, calm and placid making most a good place to start in snake keeping. They also don`t outgrow their welcome in the way that some Boas and Pythons can.

Things to Consider
Who will look after your new pet if you are away? Can you get food easily from your local pet shop? Can you deal with a bag of dead mice in your freezer? Can you handle the mice to feed your pet? Are you prepared to take on an animal that could be with you in twenty years time? Is the rest of the family happy to live with a pet snake?