Kingsnake or milksnake
- Thread starter vlcek81
- Start date
King Snakes are kinda dorky and.... hate to say... unintelligent. That's why so many people love em though, and THEY WILL NEVER SKIP A MEAL. Lol! Unless something is terribly wrong, like a sewed up mouth ect xD
Milk Snakes are relatively similar, more intelligent and more interesting natural colors. They have less color morphs than King Snakes but are arguably better looking with the banding and tri colors they can have. They can be a little hard to start as babies I hear but that isn't too common especially with CB.
Both are great choices, it's probably going to come down your preference of natural color vs mutations, and how many times you want a snake to attempt to swallow your fingers (a lot of Kings do this..)
There's TONS I didn't cover but I think those are the main things I'd address to anybody interested, such as yourself.
Good luck!
And, here's my Striped California King Snake just to give you an idea. I don't have any milks to share though unfortunately
Good luck on your decision!
PS - I also keep Boa Constrictors, a Macklott's/Savuensis hybrid and a Northern Pine snake and have had plenty others, if you ever want to chat ill be here! I can go on about reptiles all day..
Milk Snakes are relatively similar, more intelligent and more interesting natural colors. They have less color morphs than King Snakes but are arguably better looking with the banding and tri colors they can have. They can be a little hard to start as babies I hear but that isn't too common especially with CB.
Both are great choices, it's probably going to come down your preference of natural color vs mutations, and how many times you want a snake to attempt to swallow your fingers (a lot of Kings do this..)
There's TONS I didn't cover but I think those are the main things I'd address to anybody interested, such as yourself.
Good luck!
And, here's my Striped California King Snake just to give you an idea. I don't have any milks to share though unfortunately
Good luck on your decision!
PS - I also keep Boa Constrictors, a Macklott's/Savuensis hybrid and a Northern Pine snake and have had plenty others, if you ever want to chat ill be here! I can go on about reptiles all day..
i'm kinda partial to kingsnakes.. and not because they are stupid and won't miss a meal. lol. i only had one that thought it was cool to bite the hand that fed him. but he has since wandered on to greener pastures.
i have a couple king snakes and a couple gopher snakes and even though i can keep the gopher snakes in a tank together, i just don't like them or their personalities as much as i like my king snakes. one of my king snakes i've had since she was a hatchling, she even got out of the snake bag i had her in and she got lost in the frame of my truck, i had to disassemble the interior of my truck to find her.. lol.
i have a couple king snakes and a couple gopher snakes and even though i can keep the gopher snakes in a tank together, i just don't like them or their personalities as much as i like my king snakes. one of my king snakes i've had since she was a hatchling, she even got out of the snake bag i had her in and she got lost in the frame of my truck, i had to disassemble the interior of my truck to find her.. lol.
That dorky, escape the bag and get lost in the frame of a truck type of personality is basically what I mean by unintelligent/dorky. Unintelligent may not be the best word that's why I said I hate to say that... but none of my other snakes do stupid things like my King (of course any snake can escape and get lost.. but you get the point im sure lol), but that's just his personality. I know everyone has different priorities about what they want in a snake, which is why I covered the things that most people who have never kept the species would be concerned with... feeding, morphs, personality. Nobody likes to get a species that will not eat, has a negative personality (in the keepers eyes, because that's what matters of course.. not what we enjoy), and if it's a priority, doesn't or does have a lot of morphs. Especially if they havent kept that particular type of snake as I pointed out. I think those are the 3 most common issues when purchasing a new animal, so I went with those.
Milksnakes ARE king snakes.
Personally I'd go with andean milk snake, it can be kept at room temperature. Trend to be less shy or skittish than other milk subspecies. they are also one of the biggest milk snake subspecies. The downside is the cost.
variable kings would be really cool.of you get into breeding. Every baby in a clutch could be different.
mexmex kings are also really cool looking.
Theres also the mountain king snakes to
There are too many awesome lampropeltis to chose from! Lol
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Personally I'd go with andean milk snake, it can be kept at room temperature. Trend to be less shy or skittish than other milk subspecies. they are also one of the biggest milk snake subspecies. The downside is the cost.
variable kings would be really cool.of you get into breeding. Every baby in a clutch could be different.
mexmex kings are also really cool looking.
Theres also the mountain king snakes to
There are too many awesome lampropeltis to chose from! Lol
Sent from my SPH-D600 using MonsterAquariaNetwork App
Not really.. milk snakes are milk snakes... king snakes are king snakes.... They are all in the same genus, but a variety of species. That would be like saying carpet pythons are green tree pythons.
I have a few california kings and I wouldn't say they are dorky at all, they do weird things sometimes, but all snakes do. I am not quite sure how cali kings got their reputation for being stupid snakes, they are right on par with most other common colubrids from what I have seen. Although none of mine have ever tried to eat themselves....
I would be looking at something bigger though. a 55gallon is a lot of wasted space for a king snake or a milk snake, neither of which climb all that often (and that's a tall tank). All my adult kings are in 20 longs. That is sufficient space but if you want to give them more room then a 40 breeder would suffice, a 55 is just to tall. Look at snakes that are semi arboreal and will utilize the space. maybe some of the asian rat snake species, there's quite a few interesting ones, some getting rather large for colubrids.
I have a few california kings and I wouldn't say they are dorky at all, they do weird things sometimes, but all snakes do. I am not quite sure how cali kings got their reputation for being stupid snakes, they are right on par with most other common colubrids from what I have seen. Although none of mine have ever tried to eat themselves....
I would be looking at something bigger though. a 55gallon is a lot of wasted space for a king snake or a milk snake, neither of which climb all that often (and that's a tall tank). All my adult kings are in 20 longs. That is sufficient space but if you want to give them more room then a 40 breeder would suffice, a 55 is just to tall. Look at snakes that are semi arboreal and will utilize the space. maybe some of the asian rat snake species, there's quite a few interesting ones, some getting rather large for colubrids.
Yea i wanted to get an actually glass tank for reptiles with the screen lid that slides into the top, but i would have to get rid ofmthis 55 first, since i am in no rush to get the new snake, since i just got a new baby ball python. I'll try to sell this tank to make room for another.