aberrant ca king

Question
QUESTION: Hi Mr. Taylor
i notice a little bump on my ca kings' back. its about 2in. away from the tip of his tail and a slight discoloration where the bump is, should i be alarmed about the bump?  i have also notice  that his belly scales feel torn or more like roughed up, hes had the scales like this for awhile now maybe 6 months, but not when i got him 11 months ago.
i want to get a female for breeding and if i do should the female be the same species of kingsnake as the male i already have or should it be from a different species of kingsnake?  does it also matter if the male is older?
how do i tell when to allow them to mate?

ANSWER: OK as far as breeding is concerned I would highly recommend that you go with the same species not necessarily the same morph if you don't want to.  Now then about the scales.  This is something I am personally not familiar with.  In order to help you further I would ask what type of substrate are you using?  As this may be the cause of the issue as well as humidity and even heating.  If you wouldn't mind getting back to me with the humidity, substrate, and heating that parameters I could further assist on the subject of the scales.  age definitely play a role when breeding snake but the trick to it is to make sure that the female is of appropriate age and size and so forth.  You'll have to hibernate them both prior to breeding for best results and I would recommend reading Bob Applegate as he is a premier breeder of the species himself with if I am not mistaken over 40 years experience.  His website is www.applegatereptiles.com and he is also available for any questions you may have.  He is awesome to speak with too.

---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: i use aspen snake bedding from local reptile shop, heating i use am infrared heat lamp, and for humidity i do not know because i haven't gotten gauges.
also what would you suspect of the bump on its back?

i also have a few other questions regarding the King:
since its about 11 months old, when i feed it thawed pinkies, should it constrict it or should it not matter? every snake i have seen would constrict its prey but is it because its eating pinkies or is it still too young to learn to constrict the prey
also how would i enforce it to hibernate/when?
what age should males/females mate & also would i put both in a terrarium and watch to see if they attack each other

Answer
OK well, Aspen bedding I am thinking that you're referring to pine shavings.  This wouldn't in my experience cause any scale issues.  Infrared meaning a Ceramic Bulb or a Red Heat light?  The only issue I have with Red Lights is that they disrupt the normal circadian rhythms as far as sleep goes.  Is this snake a wild caught?  I don't mean to offend but I have to ask.  As far as the bump goes I have seen one bumpy snake so to speak in the same genus while I was visiting Robert Applegate and he stated that the snake was simply overweight.  This doesn't seem to be the same issue that you're having though so I am kind of stumped.  
Kings are known for not constricting and just swallowing live prey so this doesn't surprise me at all.  Hibernation occurs in the fall and winter and is totally controlled by you.  The heat and lights are shut off for three months.  Before shutting them off, make absolutely sure that the snake has cleared its gut so to speak.  Meaning you feed it and then don't shut off the lights until after that last meal has passed.  Males are usually ready to go in a year or so I would give females 2 to 3 years.  When putting them together there is a really funny story that Bob Applegate refers to when he was breeding he had a female that tried to eat every male he put in the females enclosure.  For some reason no matter how much she ate she saw all the males as snacks.  
I cannot remember exactly how he got her to finally breed but I would refrain from leaving the two together.  Put the lucky couple together after both have been hibernated and returned to normal feeding regime then when she is a few feedings out of hibernation I would place the male in her enclosure and watch to make sure they do not try to eat one another after copulation takes place remove them to their respective enclosures and repeat as many as 3 to 4 times through Spring months.