Every time I try to hold my California Kingsnake It gets vicious and tries to bite me lately.?

Question

I bought a California Kingsnake about 4 or 5 weeks ago. It is almost 2 feet long. During the first two weeks of me having it, it was just fine and it never tried to bite me or do anything harmful. I would hold it a lot and play with it for about an hour every day. During that first week, I could tell that he was very hungry. I feed him a pinkie mouse once every 6 or 7 days. Just about a week ago before i fed him, i tried to pick him up and he bite me. Ever since then, he has been doing the same thing and becoming more and more vicious. I know that he istrying to bite at me because he is hungry, but i don't want to over feed him. What should i do to calm my snake down?

i do feed him inside the cage but i use a long pair of tweezers to do it. i first move the pinkie around a bit and then drop it in the cage by the snake. i will try feeding him outside of the cage but how will i get him to be nicer again so that i can take him out?

Answer 1

Are you feeding him inside of his cage? They should be fed outside of the cage, otherwise they begin to associate your hand reaching in towards them with food. They will "strike first and ask questions later."

My California Kingsnake was nippy with me at first too...sometimes he would even rattle his tail at me to try to scare me out of picking him up. I thought that probably indicated that HE was scared. So I started putting my hand in, and letting him cruise over and smell me, and let me pick him up when he was ready. That reduced his aggression a lot.
Now he gets a little sassy with me after he eats and I try to pick him up to put him back in his cage...so I tried the same technique, and it seems to be working.

I also have a Boa Constrictor though, and she gets aggressive around meal time...she's a lot bigger and it hurts more when she bites, so I actually put a towel over her head before I pick her up. Cheesy, I know, but it seems to be working for me.

Answer 2

First, you aren't feeding him enough. my king shake is a little over a foot and a half, and she is eating 2 pinkies a week. yours should be eating at least one good sized fuzzie or a hopper, maybe two, if he will take them. second make sure the temp is right. Go to this sight, it will tell you everything you need to know.

http://www.petsmart.com/global/articles/article_detail.jsp?CONTENT%3C%3Ecnt_id=10134198673361544&bmUID=1168160394362

aside from that the best thing i can tell you is to handle him as much as possible. that snake is more that likely about 6 months to 9 months old. if you got it from a pet store chances are that it was not handled that much. pet stores try to handle their animals as little as possible so the animals don't get stressed. they failed to realize that with snakes that makes them mean. the reason that the snake was good for you when you first got it was because it was stressed. after it got acclimated to its new surroundings it went back to its old self.

Answer 3

Buy a book which tells you not only how much to feed the poor snake but gives you greater knowledge of all their needs. Feed the poor thing for goodness sakes! Its growing & needs more nourishment than you are giving it. Think about it, would you want someone to feed you an inadequate amt of food?

Answer 4

i think it can decide 4 himself how much it wants 2 eat ur taking its responsibilty so feed it as much its needs n let me tell u snakes dont make gud pets when it was baby it was different now its growing n they r wild creatures never expect snakes 2 be like how dogs r poisonous or non venonmous snake r snakes they dont care abt anything but abt themselves coz they eat their own babies when they r hungry i dunno how can u have a snake pet anyways now u have it ur taking care of it so feed it dont keep it hungry just always keep food in its cage it will eat when it feels like i think thts the best thing 4 it 2 stay calm.