Breeding kingsnakes

[ErnieG'sgeckos]

I have a pair of adult calikings the male is albino banded the female is a banana banded, I want to breed them next year but wanted to know some success stories on the how some of you breed your kings. Would like to know the details of your feeding schedual, brumation methods, and the warming up process. thanks to all that help.

 

[ErnieG'sgeckos]

can anyone help me lol

 

[Gregg M]

It may be a bit late in the season to brumate now... In my experience, it is not vital to brumate kings to get them to breed anyway... I did not brumate all of my kings when I bred them...

If you do brumate them you should do so for 8 to 12 week at temps no higher than 60 degrees... What I do for brumation is, I stop feeding them 2 weeks prior to their brumation date... Any undigested food in their system during brumation will become septic and kill them... I take their bin from the heated rack with them in it, put the cover on it, and put them in an area of my house where it is between 68 and 70 degrees and keep them there for a week... I will then put the bins with the snakes in them and put them in the basement where it stays a constant 54 degrees... Be sure that they have water at all times... Even though their body functions are slowed down dramaticaly, they are still active and will seek out water during brumation...

I check on them once a week to make sure they are ok and to make sure their water dish is full...

One week before you take them out of brumation fully, warm them up slowly to the temp you will be keeping them at for the rest of the season... After two days of being at their normal temps, start feeding heavily... Maybe every two to three days... You will see some rapid growth and the female will shed 2 to 3 times before she ovulates...

I usually wait a week or two (a few meals) before introducing the male and female out of brumation... When they "wake up" they have ravonous feeding behaviors and you may only end up with a single animal from a pair...

Your first time brumating a snake might be a bit scary at first but it is really no big deal and these reptiles have evolved to do so and withstand a much longer brumation period in the wild compared to what we give them in captivity...

Hope this helps and good luck next season...