Kingsnake Habitat Questions

[preacher]

I hope I am putting this in the right area of the forum, so here goes:

So far I understand Corn Cob Bedding is horrible stuff for snakes. More specifically it breeds nasty environment.

Aspen is what I am using now. It isn't bad, the inhabitant seems like he enjoys it. What is best for my snake is Aspen from what I understand.

I am just looking at what the options are for me. I may try and build a bigger habitat and would like to make it interesting.

I do not want anything bad for him, but if it is OK for him then I want to know my options.

How about rocks, like aquarium colored stuff? I hear its bad if swallowed but I don't feed him in there.

Sand? Coconut?

Does anyone else have a big environment 'display' full of kingsnake?

[Athen]

have a kingsnake it is a beautiful desert king in hes habitat i use the reptical type sand he seems to like it and with the UTH it heats up nicely and gives him a nice place to bask but he is in a relatively small tank ATM and is in dire need of upgrading so his decor is rather sparse at current

[preacher]

OK cool info. Mine is an albino Cali-King. The sand could be useful.

What I would like to do, is get something really nice looking as an environment setup in my living room. I'm not sure exactly how big I want to go yet.

I do not want to get into live plants I think, but I do not want a simple waterdish and sparse aspen like at the petstores.

I'm afraid to get into plants because I think it could be problematic. I may be wrong here though, I am new to snake 'ownership'.

First and foremost, nothing that will be harmful or even stressful to my legless friend will be used. His health comes before any 'decorative display case'.

I hope I can get some education and cool ideas here.

[Athen]

yes i understand exactly what you are saying here is a link to where i go for all my supplies for my reptiles they have a pretty good selection and IMO good prices Sand, Gravel & Excavator and i hope you can get the info you need here i wish i could help more but i am not a great knowledge on snakes i know a little and i enjoy them alot tho i have heard that snakebytestv.com has some good info

[Athen]

im sorry the URL wasnt snakebytestv.com here is a link to the page SnakeBytes TV - Home

[preacher]

Lots of cool info and video there. Thanks Athen.

Anyone ever do a habitata for a kingsnake like I'm talking about here?

[Pavel]

Have you researched what the natural habitat for your snake would be? Might give you some more ideas of what should be okay. If you choose to try live plants, you will need something very durable as many small plants would get "trampled" to death. Pothos would be a durable, rather easy to use plant. How much lighting you can provide would have a big impact on the types of plants you could use as well.

Non-living materials could include large rocks (flat pieces like slate can be very attractive and stacked to form interesting "formations" and driftwood or cholla cactus skeletons.

[Athen]

ehehe i dont mean to be mean in any manner at all but as for the snakes natural habitat its a California Kingsnake =) so its habitat is essentially desert and the likes

[froggsong]

Really, Athen? I didn't know it was a desert snake, and I wouldn't have unless someone told me or I researched it... Not all of California is desert, you know. ::Pokes Athen with a big stick::

[JohnEDove]

No disrespect intended but the "California King Snake" (Lampropeltis getulus californiae) Has a range that extends North to South from the Baja Peninsula North into Oregon and West to East from the Coast into the Desert Nevada and Arizona. They inhabit a wide variety of climate types, not just desert.
The regional differences can be distinguished to a large degree by their natural (wild type) color morphs, Chocolates, High Yellows etc.