King Rat Snake Care Sheet!
King Rat Snake
King Rat snakes, also known as a "Stinking Goddess" this is because they have highly developed post-anal scent glands, when the snake is scared or frightened they are emptied and release very strong odour that can linger. King Rat snakes are a slim but long snake that are a part of the Colubridae family and go through a ontogenetic colour and pattern change from hatchlings to adults, that takes around two years to complete. Their temperment can vary from being extremely shy and nervous to being very unpreditable and not hesitating to bite. King Rat snakes originate from China and have beautiful keeled scales, there are a couple of known mutations (morphs) of this species such as axanthic, hypomelanstic, amelanistic, albino and high-yellow, however they are extremely rare.
Scientific Name: elaphe carinata carinata
Sub-species: elaphe carinata dequenensis
elaphe carinata yonaguniensis
Life Span: 15-20 years.
Adult Size: 5-6ft.
Although they can reach 8ft.
Housing: To house your King Rat snake as a Juvenile we suggest using a 33ltr Really Useful Box as they provide sufficient space. Once your King Rat snake has reached adulthood however, it will require a vivarium that is at least 4ftx2ftx2ft, larger females will require a 5ftx2ftx2ft vivarium. Remember that King Rats are one of the larger rat snakes in the Colubridae family.
We haven't added how to house hatchlings because we are yet to deal with hatchlings. Once this has been done, the care sheet will be updated.
Temperature: Hot spot 28°C/82°F. Cool end 22°C/72°F.
Heating: Snakes cannot regulate their own body heat like we do and require an external heat source in order to survive. In captivity you have to provide the external heat source.
You can heat your enclosure by using a Heat Mat. These are best used with Really Useful Box setups and not vivariums in our opinion. The heat mat should be placed under one side of the setup, so that it covers around one third or at the most, half of the enclosure. The heat mat must be plugged into a mat thermostat or on/off thermostat, its always best to set and monitor the thermostat by a digital thermometer rather than the dial on the thermostat because they can be inaccurate.
However, the downfall to using a heat mat is that it will mainly heat only the surface it is placed under.
You can heat your vivarium by a Ceramic Bulb. These emit no light but can reach extreme temperatures and therefore must be used with a ceramic bulb holder and ceramic bulb guard to prevent your King Rat snake getting burnt. To control the temperatures of a ceramic bulb you should use pulse proportional thermostat, set and monitored by a digital thermometer.
The downsides to using a ceramic bulb is that they can get extremely hot.
Heat bulbs are another form of heating that can be used for a vivarium but in our opinion we wouldn't recommend to use these with King Rat Snakes because if you have a shy individual the light could become stressful.
Heating: Snakes cannot regulate their own body heat like we do and require an external heat source in order to survive. In captivity you have to provide the external heat source.
You can heat your enclosure by using a Heat Mat. These are best used with Really Useful Box setups and not vivariums in our opinion. The heat mat should be placed under one side of the setup, so that it covers around one third or at the most, half of the enclosure. The heat mat must be plugged into a mat thermostat or on/off thermostat, its always best to set and monitor the thermostat by a digital thermometer rather than the dial on the thermostat because they can be inaccurate.
However, the downfall to using a heat mat is that it will mainly heat only the surface it is placed under.
You can heat your vivarium by a Ceramic Bulb. These emit no light but can reach extreme temperatures and therefore must be used with a ceramic bulb holder and ceramic bulb guard to prevent your King Rat snake getting burnt. To control the temperatures of a ceramic bulb you should use pulse proportional thermostat, set and monitored by a digital thermometer.
The downsides to using a ceramic bulb is that they can get extremely hot.
Heat bulbs are another form of heating that can be used for a vivarium but in our opinion we wouldn't recommend to use these with King Rat Snakes because if you have a shy individual the light could become stressful.
Enclosure Decoration: King Rat snakes love to dig and hide, for this reason we would recommend using a substrate that is around 1-2" deep mixed up of Coir and orchid bark, adding leaves and a little moss over the top of the substrate will also provide extra hiding places but still make sure to add hides for your snake to go in to.
You can of course still use newspaper or tissue as a substrate and provide plenty of hides.
A water bowl should be provided in the cool end of the enclosure because this will also help with humidity which should be around 50-65% and the bowl should be large enough for the snake to curl up inside. Retained/Stuck sheds can be a sign that your humdity is to low so moving the water bowl slightly closer to the heat source or giving the enclosure a little spray when your snake is due a shed will help.
You can of course still use newspaper or tissue as a substrate and provide plenty of hides.
A water bowl should be provided in the cool end of the enclosure because this will also help with humidity which should be around 50-65% and the bowl should be large enough for the snake to curl up inside. Retained/Stuck sheds can be a sign that your humdity is to low so moving the water bowl slightly closer to the heat source or giving the enclosure a little spray when your snake is due a shed will help.
Feeding: The general rule that people follow is that the prey item should be a little bit bigger than the widest part of its body, this would leave the snake with a slight lump once it has ate.
We have personally only ever had experience with adults and they have been fed every 10-14 days.
King Rat snakes can be a shy species and Captive Bred(CB) hatchlings seem to be quite hard to get hold of within the UK, Long Term Captive(LTC), Wild Caught(WC) and even Captive Farmed(CF) adults seem to be the most common, although juveniles are sometimes available. This can lead to problems with feeding but frozen-thawed chicks and/or quails left in the enclosure, near or inside a hide, over night can get them feeding again. People even have sucess with feeding eggs because King Rat snakes have a modified neck vertebrae to help break egg shells.
Its also best to wait 24-48 hours before handling again, once your snake has ate.
Shedding: Your King Rat snakes natural colours will begin to dull and your King Rat snakes eyes will go blue/cloudy, this is all signs of your snake going in to shed. After this is completed your King Rat snakes eyes will appear to have gone back to normal depending on the age of the snake, it will then proceed to shed 3-7 days later.
We have personally only ever had experience with adults and they have been fed every 10-14 days.
King Rat snakes can be a shy species and Captive Bred(CB) hatchlings seem to be quite hard to get hold of within the UK, Long Term Captive(LTC), Wild Caught(WC) and even Captive Farmed(CF) adults seem to be the most common, although juveniles are sometimes available. This can lead to problems with feeding but frozen-thawed chicks and/or quails left in the enclosure, near or inside a hide, over night can get them feeding again. People even have sucess with feeding eggs because King Rat snakes have a modified neck vertebrae to help break egg shells.
Its also best to wait 24-48 hours before handling again, once your snake has ate.
Shedding: Your King Rat snakes natural colours will begin to dull and your King Rat snakes eyes will go blue/cloudy, this is all signs of your snake going in to shed. After this is completed your King Rat snakes eyes will appear to have gone back to normal depending on the age of the snake, it will then proceed to shed 3-7 days later.
Enigma Reptiles thoughts on keeping King Rat snakes: King Rat snakes are a fascinating species to keep for the more experienced keeper, they can be quite a hand full and go all out to bite you, show you the classic angry lip curl or be extremely shy and just want to hide away. However if you are in to your Asian rat snake species these are a must to add to your collection!