King Snakes are a large group of American snakes. You can find King Snakes of one kind or another in the USA and in Mexico. I will be discussing the common King Snakes as their care is much more simple than the smaller King Snakes, such as the Grey Banded King snake and the Arizona Mountain King Snake.The Common King Snake complex has several subspecies : Californian King Snake, Mexican Black King Snake, Florida King Snake, Desert King Snake, Eastern Chain King Snake and the Blotched King Snake. These snakes vary in size with the Florida King Snake growing the longest, up to one point eight meters. The rest of these King Snakes have also been reported to grow to this length, however the Californian King Snakes I have kept have only grown to one point two meters and I have never seen a Mexican Black that is any way near that length. I think that a length of one point five meters is a realistic size for these snakes. The King Snakes mentioned above can be kept in the same way as Rat Snakes and Corn Snakes. Provide a cage of between 60-90cm long and between 30-45cm wide by 30-45cm high, obviously the bigger cages are for the bigger snakes. Use a bedding of corn cob. Supply a hide box and a small water bowl. You can decorate the cage with rocks, wood and artificial plants. Use a heating pad to maintain a temperature of between 25-30 Celsius, place the heat pad under one side of the cage. Keep King Snakes separately as they eat snakes in the wild ( my Californian King Snake nearly killed my Yellow Rat Snake which is more than twice his size). King Snakes are also cannibalistic and should only be put together when breeding, this should be supervised to make sure no one gets eaten. Feed your King Snake mice, rat pups and rat weaners. Feed the appropriate size food two times a week for a hatchling and one a week for adults.
Californian King Snake. This snake is the most popular King Snake species and my personal favourite.