well i got my first snake today

[xBurntBytheSunx]

i got my first snake today, i'd planned on getting a rosy or rubber boa and could not find either at the reptile show. i was told rosy boas are hard to come by, even though a lot of people had been asking for them and that rubber boas dont' do well and are hard to come by.

i found a very pretty female california king snake and got that instead. she's about 3-4' and i don't have a camera to take pics but she is cream and black.

she seemed a bit stressed by the time i got her into her enclosure so i won't be handling her for a while.

now that i have her home i'm nervous that i'm taking care of her correctly. I have her in 3-4" of aspen bedding, and am using a lamp from the pet store for heating b/c they didn't have a proper sized under-tank heater.

is their any advice any of you snake enthusiasts would have for me about anything?

i guess the questions i have now are will my snake get aggitated if i need to dig it up out of her bedding for feeding/maintainence? it seems docile, but nervous. how long will it take her to get used to me? also what size water dish should i use?

any advice is welcome, thanks

 

[Kid Dragon]

Congratulations, the more you handle that snake the more docile she will become. Its not a bad strategy to let her get use to her enclosure. I have so many snakes I just use newspaper, which makes their tank easy to clean. It also avoids the accidental ingesting of aspen or other substrate.

I give my snakes a waterdish large enough so that they could soak their whole body in when they curl up. They like to do this before they shed.

California Kingsnakes aren't the best mice killers in the world, they sometimes grab the mouse by the tail and end up getting bit by the mouse. For that reason I would recommend feeding prekilled thawed mice. Feed them in another container so they won't bite when you reach in thinking its dinner time.

The more you handle this snake the better pet she will become, and they make good pets. In my opinion they are more interesting and more active than a rosy boa. Good Luck.

 

[Mushroom Spore]

is their any advice any of you snake enthusiasts would have for me about anything?

The only thing that immediately comes to mind is: do you have thermometers in the tank? You can't just throw a heat source on there, because each reptile species has a temp range it needs to be in. Being even five degrees too warm or cold for too long a time can cause some serious problems. So you should make sure you have some way to check the temps for your kingsnake. I don't know their needs, but I'm sure someone else here can tell you once you post your current temps.

Also you should measure the temperature *on the substrate* and not stick a thermometer up on the tank wall, because that will only tell you the temps near the top of the tank. And the snake's not up there, obviously.