Kingcobra (Ophiophagus hannah)

Kingcobras are the true kings under the snakes. Most venomous snake keepers also have a deep respect for these snakes which is the largest venomous snake in the world. Only one species is recognized and is named Ophiophagus Hannah, which literally means snake eater.

Kingcobras live in South East Asia there can be seen big differences between specimens from the various countries they inhabit. The Kingcobra from Indonesia is mostly brownish or blackish from color and has a slender body. The kings from China are mostly Banded and heavy bodied, the Malaysian Kingcobras are know for there yellow colour and orange heads the specimens from Thailand have a more brow-yellow coloration which shows some light banding, Other specimens from other countries can be more black or grey. Stories are known about Kingcobras growing not bigger than 200 cm that live arboreal in Kalimantan .  

Kingcobras are from nature snake eaters but specimens are found with monitor lizards in their stomach. In captivity can Kingcobras get used on feeding with rodents or fish but this can be allot of work. Baby Kingcobras can better be fed with snakes than with rodents which they mostly won’t accept. After babies grow over 120 cm can we start to get them on rodents with a great variety of tricks. Some people stuff snake sheds with dead mice, o0thers stuff dead snakes with mice, scent mice with snakes, force feed them for months with mice, put mice in egg yolk, tie mice on snakes etc…etc… Every king reacts different on these elements and there is still no definite way of getting Kingcobras used to eat rodents, fish or chicks. Some baby kings start eating pinkie mice because they get irritated by the movement of a baby mice in their enclosure baby kings also seem to eat better when they are kept in a arboreal setup of which they can hunt from above. Force feeding Kingcobras is a real pain and many of the force fed babies die because of pieces of food in the lungs, also stress is one of the reasons many king babies die in captivity.

 Kingcobras are animals that live in the Tropical rainforests of south-east Asia . Also in captivity they like to live in a enclosure which has allot of water, high temperature and humidity.  

Kingcobras are also used in many religions in South-east Asia in some cultures are Kingcobras kissed on the head as shown in the pictures below. 

Adult Kingcobras are kissed on the head to prove that the person is a great man

Baby Indonesian Kingcobras

Adult Indonesian Kingcobra

2 year old Malaysian Kingcobras

Baby Chinese Banded Kingcobras

Copyright©2002 Richard Mastenbroek

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This page is not build to stimulate people to keep venomous snakes. All Captive information given on this page is based on own experience