King snake

[dub]

Does anybody know place that has king snakes near Houston? I know they are around but want to catch one or get one. I want a speckled king snake. I am sick and tired of kids knowing more about the animals in Australia or Africa than the ones in their own backyard. I keep find garter snakes and cotton mouths. I got a garter but just can’t find a king snake. I don’t want a captive bread one I want one but don’t mind paying someone if they catch one. But I want the black one with the speckles not bands. But if you know where they are I can catch one too.

[Mike]

Them suckers are hard to find... I usually see about 1 to 4 a year while out hunting.


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[hyan]

Them suckers are hard to find... I usually see about 1 to 4 a year while out hunting.


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I probably see one every time we hunt you know how much snakes love me they will even come out in 30 degrees to scare me


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[dub]

Now are seeing snakes or speckled king snakes?

I have only seen a few in my life but they are pretty for a snake. The ones I saw drew back like they were going to strike and started shaking their tail. Then when I tried to grab them they took off and I couldn’t find em. I was shown a trap that I try if I can find a place I know where they are. I will also bring a net because I am not as young and quick as I think I am.

I am a teacher and want one for my classroom. So I have the summer to get one. If you want to keep the places secret pm me.

[hyan]

Now are seeing snakes or speckled king snakes?

I have only seen a few in my life but they are pretty for a snake. The ones I saw drew back like they were going to strike and started shaking their tail. Then when I tried to grab them they took off and I couldn’t find em. I was shown a trap that I try if I can find a place I know where they are. I will also bring a net because I am not as young and quick as I think I am.

I am a teacher and want one for my classroom. So I have the summer to get one. If you want to keep the places secret pm me.

It was a joke cus in Hawaii we don’t have snakes and for some reason every time I hunt with mike I see a snake we were hunting when it was in the 30s n I almost stepped on one I told mike there’s a f snake he laughed at me n said ain’t no snakes out it’s to cold I picked up and he said we dam your bad luck


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[Mike]

Dub, are you dead set on a king snake? I find quite a few of these buttermilk racers this time of year...




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[dub]

I mostly want snakes from here. I’ll take one of those too. Just let me know when and where we can meet up. I still want a speckled king snake not one of the fancy things found in a pet store. But that buttermilk racer looks cool too.

[Pwilson_10]

I’m lost now y in the hell u want snakes


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[dub]

I am a science teacher and I teach the kids other teachers can’t handle. I teach more hands on and showing. Many of my students have problems adults couldn’t handle so I have to work hard to get and keep their attention. Other teachers may be scared of them but I don’t have problems. I just treat them like hunting dogs that need redirecting. So I will be catching all kinds of critters and just can’t seem to find a king snake. I even found a coral snake but don’t think that would be a good idea in a classroom.

I found out buttermilk racers don’t do good confined.

[Semmes]

No racers do well in captivity.

I used to have keep and breed snakes.

All my life I’ve caught snakes...

I bred Columbian rainbow boas.

I had a room dedicated to snakes and a rat breeding program for years to feed the snakes cause it was cheaper and easier to breed rats and kill and freeze at different sizes and quantity of snakes I had at the particular time.

I had a speckled wildcaught kingsnake for probably three years that a young cousin injured while catching. My cousin was a preteen at the time.

I also had an albino California kingsnake about the same size at that time. It was captive bred.

That speckled kingsnake would never transition to rats...pinkies or hoppers. I had to go catch watersnakes, or anoles, or introduced  invasive Mediterranean house geckos which are common in Baton Rouge LA.

I would walk downtown at night with a flashlight, and ziplock bag and grab geckos off the walls of buildings smack em in the ground and put em in bag and freeze them to feed that one snake as I needed.

I could occasionally scent a pinky rat with a dead gecko and get the snake to take it...not often.

The captive bred king snake readily at rats no problem.

I ended up giving my 13 Columbian redtail to a breeder that I owned for 13 years but never bred cause they are dime a dozen and she was mean as hell. I gave my Brazilian breeding program to a professor at the LSU vet school. And released the speckled kingsnake back into the wild. And gave the rest to a pet store that resold them.

I felt good putn that kingsnake back were it belonged.

I also had a captive bred bluetongued skink. We had it fir 9 yrs...really cool pet. Easy to feed easy going slow docile and omnivorous. I gave it to the Baton Rouge zoo which had a female and their herpitologyst made it part of a captive breeding program. They also had it part of a petting presentation program the had daily and we could go up there and see it when we wanted. They renamed it Gallagher from what we called it ‘stinky’.

My son had a ball python and a tiger salamander for years. Both captive bred he bought at reptile shows. He is off to college in the fall and he gave them to the science teacher at his highschool at the end of this year. Both were kept in the classroom and he taught the teacher how to feed them and they are easy keepers for that environment.

Unless you are willing to put in hella work to keep that wildcaught kingsnake alive and thriving and not have your student watch it suffer I’d suggest one of these other avenues.

A wildcaught viper makes a better pet cause they lazy but ain’t no school gonna let you keep one...
Btw....I owe 96,000 $ to a local hospital for a water moccasin bite.

Good luck in your endeavors

[Semmes]

Another thing to think about is a snake or some other reptiles can be a 20+ year investment in that one animal...a turtle is 100 yrs...unless you plan on passing it on to your kids if they want it even, just keep that in mind

[Mike]

Dang Semmes... I’m just waiting to get bit one day crawling thru this crap going to a bay haha.

We’ve called them racers “blue runners” all my life.


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[Semmes]

Yep that’s what they called here too Mike lol...

If ya get bit on the finger by one them stump tails just suck it up... esp if ya ain’t got insurance... hell you might lose the finger but depending on which one it may not be worth 96k. But if rattlesnake bite ya anywhere get ya a$$ to the hospital hahahaha

[dub]

I plan to feed it snakes when no kids are around to complain. I have creek full of water snakes to feed it. Every wannabe gangster has a boa. I like garter snakes better than boas because they are very active. But the king snake is the only snake in the whole world that has an immunity to the venomous snakes in its area. There are many science areas that I can use it for because I teach every high school science. I also want to teac the kids not to kill a snake just because it is a snake. If any wild caught snake is not doing well you can release it. I would never release any captive bread or non native species.

I’ll give a buttermilk racer a chance and if it gets stressed out I can just release it. I am not into letting anything suffer. If a king snake lives five years I’ll just release it and catch another one. Plus I was told wild caught will bite. I Dolan to have the aquarium locked so if one of them criminals opens then I won’t be upset when they get bit. Just better not hurt the snake.

[Pwilson_10]

Y’all are nutts that’s all I got to say I would have to transfer out ur class if I walked in and seen a dang snake


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[Semmes]

King cobras are immune

[Austesus]

Just wanna say that’s awesome that you help those kids like that, Dub. Sometimes all it takes is that one person that doesn’t give up on a kid and it can turn his whole life around.


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[dub]

King cobras eat other snakes but are not immune. King snakes have an enzyme that binds with the venom making it harmless to the kings. But they can still be injured by the bite.

My students do walk out sometimes but they don’t have any say in what class they get. My students have been kicked out of school and then kicked out of the alternative school. We are their last chance. I will have the snake covered if someone has a phobia. I always want my students to feel safe. I have jumped in and grabbed some big boys. I keep them from getting a criminal charge and to keep the other students safe. But I have not had a student with tusks Even students that assaulted other teachers or principals don’t turn on me because I always treat them with respect. If they can’t take a snake in the room I have a big storage room when that student comes in. I have a way with students to make them comfortable in very stressful situations. They tend to come to my room when they are stressed.

I will be out looking for snakes again today.

[Semmes]

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Snake_venom

Cobras are snake eaters...as are other snakes besides the kingsnake. King cobras eat other cobras...they are mostly immune to cobra bites...

Most venomous snakes are believed to be mostly immune to the bites of their own species.

Here it says rat snakes and couple others are immune to viper bites.

Kingsnakes are not nescessarily immune to the venom of snakes not found in its range.

[Semmes]

There is a type of sea snake that eats other highly venomous sea snakes... I guess they would be the kingsnake of the sea. But to say Kingsnakes are the only snake immune to other snakes venom would be untrue and to say that Kingsnakes are immune to all snake venom would also be untrue...

Just the snakes it evolved to predate