Our Californian King Snake has been a little ‘ off ‘ colour and not eaten for a few weeks so we took him up to the Vets to have him checked over. Nothing to worry about – just an infection in his tail. The vet administered antibiotics and the keepers are checking him everyday and putting sudacrem on the infected area to help the healing process. (Sudacrem is a miracle cream and we use it here on all sorts of birds and animals to help heal up wounds etc..) Some facts on Californian Kingsnakes
Native range: Found in the southern States from California to Arizona
Size: Aprox eight to ten inches long at birth, they average three to four feet in length as adults.
Handling: These snakes rarely attempt to bite! They need to be handled gently without pinching or squeezing.
Food: Fed a diet of mice mainly. Hatchlings usually feed readily on newborn ‘pinkie’ mice and should be fed about every five to seven days. Increase in food as the snake grows.
Reproduction: Although examining the tail can sometimes determine the sex, many adult snakes can only accurately sexed by ‘ probing ‘ Most specimens will require hibernation to breed, but some will readily reproduce under normal circumstances. Typical clutches consist of 10-15 eggs although some clutches of over 20 have been recorded. Incubation takes from 55 to 60 days at an average temp’ of 81F.
Reviewed 29 October 2012 NEW
