Coconut

2020

Acquired	2020
Source	Joel Reep, Prismatic Reptiles, Wasatch Reptile Expo
Notes	Badly kinked tail

I've always wanted to buy captive-bred Arizona Mountain kingsnakes and raise them for breeding but I don't know if I have the patience to deal with finicky baby snakes that won't eat. However, at the Fall 2020 Wasatch Reptile Expo I was talking to Joel Reep at the Prismatic Reptiles table and my son spotted an AZ mountain king that Joel had on the table for $25. We looked at it and saw that it had a badly kinked spine. I wasn't exactly looking for an animal like that but my son was excited about it so we bought it and named her Coconut.

Oct 2020, soon after we purchased her

Coconut has done really well for us as far as eating and general care goes so she doesn't seem hindered by her deformity. She has bitten once or twice and she can discharge feces at will, but for the most part she handles fine if you hold your hands flat and let her crawl around on her own terms without constraining her or squeezing.

Given her physical condition there is no chance we will try breeding her. I would hate to find out that the kinks in her spine don't allow eggs to pass and she ended up egg-bound and dying. But the small size of this species would make it easy to make room for a pair so maybe Applegate pyros will happen for us sometime.