California King Snake - New Pet -Advice Needed Please!

NicoleL88

Hi everyone,

I'm posting here on behalf of my boyfriend. Over the weekend he bought a baby California King Snake at our local pet shop. The snake is about 12 weeks old (maybe 16) as far as I can remember.

When we first brought him home he loved being handled, didn't mind being picked up from his new habitat, was very docile and would happily sit anywhere for a long period of time.

Yesterday evening my boyfriend made the mistake of reaching into the habitat while Ekans (his name!) was asleep and tried to pick him up. Obviously Ekans didn't respond well so my boyfriend left him alone.

This morning the snake was awake so my boyfriend tried to pick him up again but it pulled away from him. When he did manage to scoop him up it appeared as though the snake was trying to bite him. He kept making really quick movements.

We'd understand if he had acted this way from the beginning but this is just since last night, more so this morning. We're really worried that we won't be able to handle him.

I guess the question is: why the sudden change and what can we do?

Cameron Poe

It's probably just freaked out with the change of environment. Leave him be for a week, just change his water and feed him. Wait a couple of days after feeding and then pick him up. He might still be a bit jumpy but that's normal enough in a young snake. I wouldn't be too worried about being bitten, a snake that size ain't gonna hurt you. If he does just don't pull away as you can break their teeth.

antocann

shoudnt realy handle him for a week-2 weeks , needs time to settle in to the change of envirment

handle as often as you can , then he wil settle down