Lampropeltis Species

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Housing your snake

Kings and milks are escape artists. If there is any small (very small) gap or hole, or any "give" to the fitting of the top attached to their tank or between the doors and casement, your snake will escape. Kings, more than any other snake, is known for its tenacity it testing it's environment, looking for a way out. Once out, they are very difficult to find. For this reason, the selection and purchase of a commercial enclosure (or design of a custom enclosure) is just as important as your personal selection of a snake. A tight enclosure is more expensive, whether you buy one or make it yourself, but this is an expense that you cannot skimp on. What is the point of saving some money on an inferior enclosure if, in the end, you lose your snake? Doing it right the first time will save you from some grief down the line. 

I do not recommend housing more than one snake per enclosure.

Enclosure

The enclosure you select must have a tightly fitting, locking, top. Available commercially are a variety of glass enclosures with tops consisting of screen mesh and a hinged glass door which locks into place with a small swing latch. Available now are also locking screen tops which can be put on previously purchased tanks. With either of these enclosures, check the give of the tops before you place your snake inside and walk away. Snakes are, for the lack of a better word, squishy, and can squeeze themselves through impossibly tight spaces. Any gaps due to "give" in the doors or tops can be reduced significantly by fitting aquarium airline tubing all around the opening.

Hatchlings may be housed in a ten gallon enclosures. Medium sized adults may be housed in twenty gallon enclosures, but you might as well get hatchlings and young adults set up in a tank large enough for a full grown one. The longer and larger snakes should be housed in a 60 gallon enclosure. Try to get high-sided enclosures so that you may put in some vertical climbing and above-the-floor basking areas. Milk and king snakes, like all the other snakes in the family Colubridae (typically, non-venomous snakes considered to be more highly evolved than the boas and pythons), have only one functioning lung. Due to the lack of space inside the confines of their rib cage, all organs are elongated and so there is now room for only one working lung. Their left lung is still there, withered to a vestigial stub. Because of this somewhat reduced lung capacity, and the fact that when such snakes cannot stretch fully out on a regular basis, they are prone to respiratory infections. For this reason, it is important to give the snake as much stretching room as possible.

Heat

The Lampropeltis that live in climates that experience extremes in heat and cold alter their daily habits to accommodate such extremes. Hibernating through the cold winters, northern and mountain snakes spend the season dormant. Desert species will hide in cool crevices during the hottest part of the day, becoming crepuscular (active at dawn and dusk). In captivity, the extremes do not need to be provided unless you are trying to breed your snakes. In general, provide a temperature gradient ranging from 76-85 F, with nighttime drops into the low 70's. If you are providing an enclosure with high enough sides to establish basking and hiding areas at different levels within the enclosure, you will need to make sure that gradient is both horizontal as well as vertical. Do not try to guess the temperature. You must use thermometers. Ideally, one should be placed in the cool end, the warm end, and at any other area where the snake spends much of its time. The hottest areas should not exceed the maximum stated range by more than a couple of degrees, especially for snakes from temperate areas.

Heating pads (either people heating pads or ones developed for reptiles) can be placed under half the tank, or inside the tank, under half the substrate (depending on the heat source and the substrate - do not put pads of any type in contact with any substrate made with paper or shavings products).. Under no circumstances is a hot rock to be used as is or as the sole source of heat. If you want to use one for a species who basks on hot rocky surfaces in the wild, keeping in mind that desert species stay out of the direct sun during the heat of the day, then it must be connected to a thermostat so that you can control the temperature and check it often. These "rocks" heat up to 105+ F on the surface, too hot for the majority of reptiles, and capable of causing severe burns.

Bright white Incandescent and other heat lights are impractical as the sole source of heat for two reasons: they must be turned off a night, thus allowing too great a drop in temperature, and they bother the snakes, especially the nocturnal ones. With a large enough enclosure, you can use a white light heat source for daytime, and a radiant heat source, such as a ceramic heating element (CHE) or nocturnal reptile bulb, for night. Radiant heat from below can be supplemented with a non-light emitting heat source such as a CHE. If the ambient room air temperature is always warm (in the low to mid part of the gradient required), then you may be able to make do with only one heat source, at least during part of the year.

Humidity and Water

Provide a bowl of water for your snake. This is generally all the humidity they will need. They will often soak in the water, especially prior to a shed. As they often defecate in the water, you much check it daily, cleaning and disinfecting it before placing it back in the tank. One of the problems experienced years ago by Herpetoculturist's and hobbyists keeping Lampropeltis is that the substrate was kept too damp, causing bacterial, fungal and respiratory infections. Make sure that the substrate remains dry at all times.

Note: some books and herp keepers recommend just putting in a bowl of water once a week for a limited period of time. Until such time as you learn to speak Lampropeltis, or your snake learns to vocalize its needs, or you both communicate by telepathy so that you will know when exactly it is thirsty, keep water in there all the time.

Furnishings

Kings and milks are rather secretive snakes, preferring to curl up in a rocky crevice or under a log. Shelters of some sort should be provided in both the cool and in the warm ends of the enclosure. They can range from commercially available "rocky" caves, half-circles of tree bark, and upside-down flower pots. Less aesthetically pleasing is the "green" approach--recycle facial tissue and other suitably sized boxes into caves. They are easily disposed of and replaced when they get soiled.

Enclosures may range from the strictly utilitarian (substrate, caves, water bowl) to being a vivarium, outfitted with substrate similar to that found in the snake's native habitat, rocks, branches, backdrops, etc. It is easier to start of utilitarian, and then design and plan the interior design once you see your snake in place and it has acclimated to captivity.

Substrate

Until you are certain that your new acquisition has no worms, protozoan infections or mites, start it off on paper towels or butcher paper. Easily changed when soiled, these materials will also enable you to monitor the condition of the feces and to detect the presence of mites.

Once you are sure your snake is parasite-free and healthy, you can continue using these papers, or use pine chips or  aspen shavings (cedar and redwood are toxic) The more difficult or complicated you make the inside of the enclosure to clean, the less likely a busy person is going to do it. Find that delicate balance between providing as much interest and variety for your snake and what you can reasonably expect to be able to do on an at least weekly basis.

Feeding

Captive born hatchlings are started off on pink mice, and so feeding them is rarely a problem. Wild caught snakes, on the other hand, may have been feeding primarily on lizards or frogs, making it quite a bit more difficult and time consuming to get them switched over to mice. If you are having feeding problems, read the articles on Feeding Difficult Hatchlings All snakes should be fed pre-killed or frozen thawed prey, never live.

Hatchlings can be started on one-two day old pinkie mice. If frozen mice are used, make sure to defrost thoroughly (leave on counter, under a light, or soaking in warm water). Feed one to two mice every two to seven days, depending upon growth rate desired. Generally speaking, a snake will grow faster being fed several small prey a couple of times a week rather than one big prey once a week. The smaller prey are more digestible than the larger prey, so the snake is getting more nutrition from them.

Sub adults can be offered bigger mice one or more times a week. A good rule of thumb is to feed prey that is as big girth-wise as is the widest part of the snake's body. You will find that they are hungrier in the spring and summer, winding down during the fall; many stop feeding altogether during the winter months even though the may still be somewhat active.

Adult size is generally reached within three years at which time the amount and rate of feeding can be reduced. Feed adult mice or just weaned pink rats. At this point, judgment must come into play. You want your snake to be well rounded, with no visible line of backbone or ribs. The amount of food it takes to maintain that weight and appearance varies between species. Start with once a week; if the snake looks too lean, increase to one mouse twice a week. Another rule of thumb: snakes over four feet long need at least two adult mice each week.

Handling Your Snake

After giving your snake a couple of days to settle in, begin picking it up and handling it gently. It may move from you and it may anoint you with a smelly musky substance from it's vent. Be gentle but persistent. Daily contact will begin to establish a level of trust and confidence between you and your snake. When it is comfortable with you, you can begin taking it around the house. Don't get overconfident! Given a chance and close proximity to seat cushions, your snake will make a run (well, a slither) for it, easing down between the cushions and from there, to points possibly unknown. Always be gentle, and try to avoid sudden movements. If the snake wraps around your arm or neck, you can unwind it by gently grasping it by the tail and unwrapping it from around you. If you start at the head, you will find that your snake is stronger than you are, or at least, more tenacious.