Broke my Own Rule...

[Najakeeper]

And decided to grow with one of these amazing animals...

I have a Chinese Banded King Cobra male! And he likes to eat chicken . Hatched this august, he is already over 60cm and is amazing.

A lot of interesting things I am noticing already.

-He seems more intelligent than my other cobras.
-He is always watching what I do and he kind of extends himself and stops moving when doing so. Fully aware of the surroundings, no spastic movements like my kaouthia.
-Unlike my other cobras, he strikes with an open mouth if he gets pissed enough to strike. No close mouth bluff.

I will write more when I have time but exciting times ahead...

 

[Beary Strange]

Ah, I love your cobras; they have the cutest faces. Congrats on the new addition.

 

[The Snark]

Proof of the serious fanatic: 20 year commitment. And we can expect frequent posting updates for it's entire lifespan, right?

I'm really curious how it's intelligence compares to the other snakes you are familiar with. I m already aware they make Kaouthai seem, pardon my being blunt, pretty stupid.

Beautiful snake BTW.

PS You are going to train it to follow you when you go jogging so it gets plenty of exercise, yes?

 

[Najakeeper]

Proof of the serious fanatic: 20 year commitment. And we can expect frequent posting updates for it's entire lifespan, right?

I'm really curious how it's intelligence compares to the other snakes you are familiar with. I m already aware they make Kaouthai seem, pardon my being blunt, pretty stupid.

Beautiful snake BTW.

PS You are going to train it to follow you when you go jogging so it gets plenty of exercise, yes?

I over share as it is anyway so I think this topic will be quite a long one . I got a male on purpose and plan to keep it with me over his entire lifespan assuming things go well with my life. But I do not plan to breed it or get a female ever. This is a companion animal for me, the centerpiece of my collection.

I am planning to reduce my collection to a level where I will have one huge cage and a few smaller ones. I have already reduced the number to 14 and will probably go down to 10.

I will write about his intelligence as I notice things. Currently, his awareness is very cool to watch. I need to be very careful with humidity as if I have to restrain him and peel him, I don't think he will forget that mistreatment .

As for exercise, I will see what I can do. I will probably let him go around in an enclosed environment when he gets larger.

I am very excited.

---------- Post added 10-15-2015 at 05:19 PM ----------

Ah, I love your cobras; they have the cutest faces. Congrats on the new addition.

Thank you very much . You gotta see him with an open mouth coming at you .

 

[The Snark]

It's eerie the way they watch when you come into their personally established zone, isn't it? Just like an attentive guard dog.

I felt compelled to mention this anyway. While the guys at the snake farm casually hook or tail carry just about every venomous snake we have here, when it comes to Hannah they are paranoid. Always two handlers and a hook whenever a cage is opened.
It;s so darned easy to get lulled into a false sense of security with them. They move about so laconically it's easy to forget they can suddenly take off at around 15 MPH without any hint before hand.

 

[Najakeeper]

It's eerie the way they watch when you come into their personally established zone, isn't it? Just like an attentive guard dog.

I felt compelled to mention this anyway. While the guys at the snake farm casually hook or tail carry just about every venomous snake we have here, when it comes to Hannah they are paranoid. Always two handlers and a hook whenever a cage is opened.
It;s so darned easy to get lulled into a false sense of security with them. They move about so laconically it's easy to forget they can suddenly take off at around 15 MPH without any hint before hand.

This is another insane thing I noticed right away. I was trying to see if he was gonna take a pinky but he wasn't interested, yet he wasn't moving much either. He was stationary almost like a viper but finally I bugged him enough and he "flew" at me. There is certainly a learning curve here and I hope I get there before getting bitten. This one of the reasons why I got a very young animal so that I can learn and the consequences are more manageable. They are quite different from Naja.

 

[The Snark]

By the way, do give it an enclosure where it can climb. Not a joke. That are amazingly strong and capable climbers that are enthralling to watch and this also adds a measure of safety. Once in a tree they can't pull off that dragster sprint.

What I am most curious about is this 'multiple environments' these animals inhabit and have adapted to. Their primary hunting ground is holes where they munch other snakes. A secondary natural hunting habitat is streams, rivers and ponds, hunting amphibians and they are strong swimmers. They can climb trees to avoid predators as good as the best arboreal snakes. Yet these animals have also developed the ability to range around without respect for territory and hunt much like a reptilian version of a cheetah. How did this animal acquire such diverse abilities? Not only acquiring diverse capabilities but evolving those abilities where they are as capable as single environment inhabitants.

Weird. Can easily take kraits and vipers and each other, zaps frogs and tadpoles like picking out veggies at your local produce market, can live in trees for days avoiding predators, then move several miles away arbitrarily while hunting like the great cats in the grasslands. The females possess a maternal instinct similar to mammals. They certain got their fair share and then some of evolutionary adaptations.

 

[Najakeeper]

By the way, do give it an enclosure where it can climb. Not a joke. That are amazingly strong and capable climbers that are enthralling to watch and this also adds a measure of safety. Once in a tree they can't pull off that dragster sprint.

What I am most curious about is this 'multiple environments' these animals inhabit and have adapted to. Their primary hunting ground is holes where they munch other snakes. A secondary natural hunting habitat is streams, rivers and ponds, hunting amphibians and they are strong swimmers. They can climb trees to avoid predators as good as the best arboreal snakes. Yet these animals have also developed the ability to range around without respect for territory and hunt much like a reptilian version of a cheetah. How did this animal acquire such diverse abilities? Not only acquiring diverse capabilities but evolving those abilities where they are as capable as single environment inhabitants.

Weird. Can easily take kraits and vipers and each other, zaps frogs and tadpoles like picking out veggies at your local produce market, can live in trees for days avoiding predators, then move several miles away arbitrarily while hunting like the great cats in the grasslands. The females possess a maternal instinct similar to mammals. They certain got their fair share and then some of evolutionary adaptations.

What I am planning is basically keep him in the 60cm long enclosure for a few months until he gets acclimated. He is barely that long now anyway and he fits quite well. Then, move him to a 120 cm long enclosure for the next year or so, then attach another 120cm long enclosure to the first one via a large hole. Finally, in his third year or so, design a custom enclosure that is about a meter tall, a meter deep and three meters long for a permanent home. I currently see his aboreal tendencies as when lights are off, he sometimes climbs and settles on the light fixtures and watches the room with those large attentive eyes. It is a bit creepy really .

As for the evolutionary progress of hannah, it is a difficult thing to explain. I mean, all elapids except for sea snakes, kraits and death adders do climb trees for shelter and/or feeding but unless they are specialized tree climbers, they are kind of clumsy. I think almost all snakes can swim if they have to but again only the specialized ones do it very often and so expertly. When it comes to hannah, it seems like they utilize all these potential feeding grounds to a decent extent. I guess this can be attributed to their intelligence. Humans are tropical animals but we also live in Colorado expertly (for some reason... ). This is basically purely due to our intelligence capacity.

Named him Don Pablo by the way .

 

[le-thomas]

What a beautiful animal! Superficially bears some resemblance to a number of colubrid/rear-fanged Asiatic snakes.

 

[Najakeeper]

What a beautiful animal! Superficially bears some resemblance to a number of colubrid/rear-fanged Asiatic snakes.

Agreed. There is a camouflage reason there. Probably not mimic but convergent evolution.

 

[Ratmosphere]

That's a beautiful snake!

 

[Najakeeper]

That's a beautiful snake!

Thank you.

He is amazing really.

He is almost always watching me when I am in the room, quite creepy

Here is a video from today's feeding. He still has no interest in mice but is totally fine with chicken.

 

[Najakeeper]

One observatory update:

The baby king got used to me way too quickly. I have worked with several hatchling/baby Naja like pallida, haje, nigricollis, samarensis, kouthia etc. All of them were constantly agitated animals and they did not cool down. They anticipated me being their presence always as a threat and spitters constantly sprayed venom. This guy came in the first day and after a long journey he was quite pissed off. I saw an open mouthed strike but after that he just mellowed down. Right now, he is perfectly fine on a hook and he seems like he will be perfectly ok if I free handled him, not that I am going to do anything like that but that's the impression. I can only compare that to the cbb water cobras that I am working with maybe but not to any other Naja species.

He is going to have his first shed soon, let's see what happens after that.

 

[The Snark]

Always watching, always alert, always curious.

That mellowing out is the major paradox at the snake farm. The pros, handling snakes from about the time they could walk, go one on one handling with every snake there except the kings and the kings always appear more laid back than most if not all of the other venomous ones. Those guys know something, either from bitter experience or lots of stories about being complacent around kings.

What I can't figure out is the spitters. A rancidly bad attitude with a snake attached. They make hot and bothered rattlers look like old coon hounds decorating porches.

 

[Najakeeper]

Always watching, always alert, always curious.

That mellowing out is the major paradox at the snake farm. The pros, handling snakes from about the time they could walk, go one on one handling with every snake there except the kings and the kings always appear more laid back than most if not all of the other venomous ones. Those guys know something, either from bitter experience or lots of stories about being complacent around kings.

What I can't figure out is the spitters. A rancidly bad attitude with a snake attached. They make hot and bothered rattlers look like old coon hounds decorating porches.

I also do not know why spitters act the way they do really but I stopped working with them. The Samars as adults do not spit but I am even going to sell that pair I think.

In the meantime, king is outside of his quarantine terrarium and is in the 80 cm long terrarium that he is going to spend his first year in. I have a good looking boy:

 

[The Snark]

He's posing!
Do you have plans to breed him in the future?

 

[awiec]

He's posing!
Do you have plans to breed him in the future?

I believe he said no in the first post, this snake is a "companion" animal, which kings have enough intelligence and personality to fit that

 

[Najakeeper]

He's posing!
Do you have plans to breed him in the future?

No interest and/or space to keep a pair happy and healthy. He is going to be a bachelor unless I donate him to a zoo or something at some point in my life, which I do not intend to do.

 

[Coconana]

I have a healthy fear of snakes, especially ones with nasty bites and attitudes! But I must say.. Your collection is fascinating, and I'm loving reading through your posts and learning more about them. Your boy is beautiful, and I wish you luck with the handsome fellow.

Thank you for posting!

 

[Najakeeper]

I have a healthy fear of snakes, especially ones with nasty bites and attitudes! But I must say.. Your collection is fascinating, and I'm loving reading through your posts and learning more about them. Your boy is beautiful, and I wish you luck with the handsome fellow.

Thank you for posting!

Thanks for the nice words. I love my snakes and try to give them the best care I can.

Don Pablo had shed again: