Pedigree of the royal snake, popular types of snakes and their features, tips for keeping at home, purchase and price for it. It is not a big secret for anyone that today it is good to be an individual, but the whole concept is perceived in completely different ways. For someone to be special means having real friends or a happy family, for someone having two or more higher educations and a monthly income above the average is also to some extent an achievement. But there is another category of people, they try their best to show their individuality and unrivaled taste in more aesthetic needs. For some, it is necessary to have clothes and shoes from the latest collections of famous couturiers, someone buys super-expensive brands of cars or real estate, which certainly no one has, while others use pets as a way of self-expression.
In the era of our modernity, it is not at all a problem to see in the house of your relatives or just acquaintances the most, that is, pretentious and original animals. Raccoons, hedgehogs, lemurs, monkeys and even hippos - all of these representatives of the world's fauna have been living in human domain for many years. But there are also those who want to daily contemplate in their home some completely original living creature. If you fall into this category, turn your attention to the king snake.
In relation to this reptile, everyone has completely different thoughts and impressions. Someone reveres her as a majestic animal, and someone as a living deadly weapon. According to many literary sources, snakes live on our home planet for twenty million years longer than humans. Many legends, stories and myths soar over their heads, these long living creatures, which say that there is no one more dangerous and more terrible on the entire globe. But there are also people who worship the snake as a sacred animal, it is not for nothing that snake venom was used in medicine as a panacea for all kinds of pathological conditions. Some will think that this cannot be, or this is pure fiction, then one has only to remember that, probably, it is not in vain that the cup entwined with a snake has become a symbol of healing.
Often it is possible to see the image of these living creatures on the image of family coats of arms and in illustrations to the myths of ancient Greece, this snake may not be so harmful, since people have perpetuated it since ancient times as a symbol of health, justice and greatness.
Keeping a king snake in the house may not be the easiest thing to do, but it is always interesting. Such a pet will not give you a paw, bring a stick or purr in your ear, but believe me, contemplating such a miracle of nature every day, you will not only get used to it, but also learn to love the snake and even admire it. Looking at these living creatures, it seems, you can draw inspiration, with its graceful graceful appearance and behavior, the royal snake can serve as an excellent psychologist.
But before you start such an exotic pet in your house, you should consult with other members of your family, well, and get to know better the very future inhabitant of your home.
The origin and home ranges of the king snake
Scientists have been studying the world of snakes for very many years, these mysterious creatures excited the interest of people, even in those ancient times, when there were no scientists, as such. But the discovery of the genus of royal snakes dates back to 1843. In addition, modern people of science have classified these representatives of the animal kingdom into the class of reptiles, the squamous detachment and the narrow-like family.
As for the native territories of these cute creatures, then nothing can be said for sure. More than 20 of the most diverse snakes are numbered in the genus of royal snakes, and each lives on its own territory and climatic conditions of the external environment suitable for it.
Types of king snakes and their characteristic features
Royal Florida snake
Lampropeltis getula floridiana - this inhabitant of the southeastern part of the United States, his Fatherland respects the flowering state of Florida. For her comfortable and safe habitat, she chooses areas near which rivers and small lakes are located; she feels quite happy in the thick of swampy wooded areas and in the midst of a large number of reed thickets. Some individuals also inhabit the locations located nearby planted plantations and fields.
This beautiful reptile leads a predominantly diurnal lifestyle, but if the summer is too hot, then this sly man goes out on the trades, either early in the morning, or at dusk. Some individuals can lie down in some secluded shaded corner throughout the daylight hours, and crawl out late at night in search of food.
This long native of Florida is based on small mammals, in particular rodents, small birds, reptiles, frogs, sometimes they have the strength and courage to attack venomous rattlesnakes and even snakes. But in the event that food is very tight on the territory they occupy, then they can quite afford, without much remorse, to devour their relative, who turned out to be weaker and less agile and attentive.
As for the spring appearance of this already-shaped, this is a rather dimensional creature, the body of which grows in length over 1, 8-2 m. each individual can have its own individual amount of gray or yellow color scheme. The scales on the body of this creature are usually contrasting - in the projection of the base, their shade is noticeably lightened, while the edges are very dark. Some representatives of their species are painted by nature in completely different colors. In this regard, scientists sometimes classify them as completely new, hitherto unknown species. But after a while it turns out that these conclusions are erroneous and the object of their study was an ordinary Florida royal snake, just with a peculiar color.
Royal Black Snake or Nigrita
Lampropeltis getula nigrita - as a permanent place of residence, this species of narrow-like chose for itself rocky terrain, around which an abundant amount of lush vegetation grows. It is possible to meet this scaly in Mexico, in the Sonoran Desert and in the territories of the southeastern part of the United States.
Most of their time nigrita spend on the surface of the earth, occasionally they can get out on low bushes in order to inspect the nearby territories, by nature they are excellent swimmers, so they can afford and plunge into the reservoir.
By their nature, these reptiles are very active and hardworking, so their period of activity lasts almost round the clock. If they go in search of prey in the daytime, then their main assistant is their vision, which cannot be called excellent, but at night a well-developed sense of smell and tactile sensitivity becomes very useful for them.
At the end of the meal, these living "ropes" prefer to spend time in safe shelters alone with themselves. With the onset of cold weather, the metabolism of such scaly nigritis slows down greatly, and during winter it stops completely, and the snake gradually plunges into a deep winter sleep.
These beauties hunt small snakes, sometimes even poisonous ones, since in the process of their vital activity they develop the necessary protective reactions of the body to many poisons, they also like to feed themselves with lizards, frogs, rodents, catching them directly in their burrows. They will not refuse to dine with some birds and their eggs.
Royal nigrita is completely non-poisonous, her main weapon is her strength and might, she simply crushes her victim with her muscular body, having previously immobilized her with her powerful jaw. The appearance of this species of king snakes may not be very bright, but still adorable. The skin of this snake is painted in one solid, seemingly not very remarkable black or dark brown color scheme. But as soon as this already-shaped one gets out into the sun, her skin begins to shine and shimmer with a beautiful shine and a slightly bluish tint. Very young individuals sometimes have some painted elements on the skin, in the form of yellow dots and specks, but with reaching puberty they gradually disappear.
The length of the nigrita body varies from 60 to 200 cm, it all depends on the conditions of the external environment.
Thayer's king snake
Lampropeltis mexicana thayeri is of medium length, narrow-shaped, in length it grows to a maximum of 85–100 cm. If we talk about body color, then there is no constancy, in one social group absolutely diverse in color snakes can live. But most often, the main color tone is either silver-gray or delicate peach, occasionally there are individuals on the body of which the correct stripes of three colors are drawn. On the crown you can see a small speck of light shades, and on the back of the eye socket there are dark lines. On the skin of this royal scaly, there must be a specific ornament, which is represented by stripes or figures of irregular shape, painted in different shades of red or brown.
In open nature conditions, this snake is found in the foothill and mountainous locations of Mexico. All his time during daylight hours he tries to spend in his burrows, or carefully wrapped up in a forest litter. And with the onset of dusk on the ground, he reads to slowly get out in search of food. Birds, small rodents, frogs are the favorite dishes of this already-shaped species, but young individuals are very capricious - they feed exclusively on lizards.
Mountain huachuk king snake
Lampropeltis pyromelana woodini - This Arizona native chooses the Huachuca Mountains for his personal natural living space, but is most often seen on rocky areas somewhat elevated above the ground. Leads predominantly a daytime terrestrial lifestyle. When night falls on the ground, this creature is conveniently located in the crevices of trees and their rhizomes, and also, on quite legal grounds, can settle down in holes that other animals have constructed.
The maximum body length of the Huachuk scaly snake is approximately 90 cm, although some individuals grow up to 120 cm. The entire body of this snake is painted with beautiful stripes of black, red and white. There are approximately 35 to 42 white stripes. The black lines tend to taper towards the lateral parts of the snake's body and never extend to the abdomen. The projection of the abdominal cavity is most often painted white, against the background of which barely noticeable stripes of a light beige shade are drawn. The head is painted by nature in a coal-black tone, only the olfactory organ is represented by a whitish color scheme.
Magnificent king snake
Lampropeltis getula splendida - already, based on the name of this reptile, we can conclude that this is a very beautiful living creature, and this opinion is not erroneous. This living beauty grows to about 110-135 cm in length. On the black head of the snake, you can see the light shades of the stripes, in the projection of the labial plates. The base color of the peel is already-shaped chocolate brown or deep black. The scales, which are located on the lateral sides of the body, have a large amount of yellow tint. On the entire surface of the snake's body, rather large spots are drawn, which have a completely chaotic shape, between themselves they are limited by thin lines of a beautiful yellow color. Only a part of the abdomen is devoid of ornament, which does not make this miracle of nature less magnificent.
This living "splendor" is common from Texas to northern Mexico. The reptile feels very comfortable in places devoid of moisture, but nevertheless it often makes its way to water bodies, through dry plains and shrub thickets. They feed on everything that other snakes do, cannibalism is no exception in their society.
Caring for a king snake, keeping at home
When bringing such a peculiar pet to your house, first of all you need to take care of where he will live. Since your king snake will not jump and run, a horizontal terrarium is perfect as its personal roof over its head. When choosing the size of such a dwelling, it is necessary to be guided by the maximum dimensions to which your pet can grow, but it should be remembered that at home these people from the wild tend to slightly outgrow their relatives from open areas. Therefore, choose a house for the snake in which it would be able to maintain its physical activity and, at the same time, so that the walls of the terrarium would not hinder its movements.
One of the most important rules for keeping snakes at home is the correct temperature regime, which is well maintained with the help of special heating devices; a thermal cord or a thermal mat is well suited as the latter. Which should be placed in one of the corners of the terrarium - this will be a more "tropical" corner, therefore, the further from this corner, the cooler your pet will be. Thus, you leave your long buddy to choose the right conditions for himself at one time or another.
Air humidity is equally important, especially during the moulting period. To maintain the desired moisture coefficient, it is necessary to carry out daily spraying of the terrarium, just make sure that the water does not get on the king snake, it can be very frightened, and it does not need extra stress. In addition to spraying, it is recommended to install a container of clean water in the terrarium, this will be both a drinker and a personal spa for your friend. There he will take baths, and during the "dressing" period he will not leave this private pool at all.
As a substrate, you can use coconut soil, gravel, coarse sand, you can also place a small amount of sphagnum, a hot corner will be a good place for it, where the humidity will be minimal, and he can slightly adjust it. to sleep and retire from the eyes looking at him.
At home, king snakes must be fed either with hamsters or laboratory mice, once every five days, in no case overfeed your pet. He, of course, will not refuse an extraordinary meal, but this can negatively affect his health, and, consequently, life expectancy. From time to time, you can offer the snake vitamin and mineral complexes, it is best to add them to the water.
Purchase and price of a king snake
Buying such a pet is not particularly problematic. The price for such a reptile ranges from 3,000 to 25,000 rubles.
Fight rattlesnakes and king snakes in the following video:
