Common Kingsnake

(Lampropeltis getula)

"Eastern Kingsnake"

Color Photograph: U.S. Geological Survey

"Speckled Kingsnake"

Color Photograph: Louisiana Department of Wildlife andFisheries

"Black Desert Kingsnake"

Color Photograph: Jeff Servoss, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service

"California Kingsnake"

Color Photographs: Chris Brown, U.S. Geological Survey

Example of the Smooth Scales of the Kingsnakes

Common Kingsnake (Lampropeltis getula)

Identification: 36 to 82 inches in length. An extremely variable species, both geographically and individually. Overall coloration black or dark brown. Most populations with some pattern in dull white ranging from narrow bands to chains of dots, or light speckles, to wider white bands. Scales smooth. Anal plate single, undivided. Belly ranges from white to heavily blotched with black.

Geographical Variation:

Eastern Kingsnake (L. g. getula): A black (sometimes shading to dark chocolate brown) snake with narrow rings or spots of white; 21 scales rows. Range: from New Jersey in the north to northern Florida in the south, westward to West Virginia, west North Carolina, and western Alabama.

Florida Kingsnake(L. g. floridana): Scales tipped with chocolate brown and with yellow at their bases. White markings narrow, sometimes of connected white dots, and commonly obscure. Range: Central and southern Florida with isolated populations in northeastern Florida.

Speckled Kingsnake (L. g. holbrooki): Dark scales with a light spot in their centers; light bands present, but poorly defined; 21 scales rows. Range: From Iowa and Illinois in the north, southward to eastern Texas, Mississippi, and Alabama.

Black Kingsnake (L. g. nigra): Shiny black, either without light bands or with faint light bands only; 21 scales rows. Range: Eastern Illinois to southern Ohio and West Virginia, southward to northern Georgia and Alabama.

Desert Kingsnake (L. g. splendida): Black to dark brown above usually with numerous whitish, narrow bands formed by scales with white spots in their centers. Range: Western Texas, through southern and central New Mexico to southeastern Arizona.

Black Desert Kingsnake (L. g. nigrita): Completely shiny black without white markings of any kind. Range: Mostly in the state of Sonora, but ranging northweard into extreme southeastern Arizona.

California Kingsnake (L. g. californiae): The California Kingsnake comes in two forms; on with conspicuous white bands, and the other with lateral white lines. Range: All of California, southern and central Nevada, westward into western Utah and Arizona.

Range (see map below): The Common Kingsnake has a wide distribution across the southern half of the United States from New Jersey south to Florida in the east, westward through the southern midwest to the southwestern United States and most of California. The species also occurs in northern Mexico.

Habitat: The number of habitats lived in by the Common Kingsnake is large and depends on geographical distribution. In the east the species occurs in pine forest and into the everglades. More western populations can occur in prairie, desert, to river swamps.

Food: The Common Kingsnake is primarily a predator on other snake species, but will also eat lizards, rodents, and any other small vertebrate it can catch.

Behavior: This species is diurnal during the spring and fall, becoming nocturnal during the hottest days of summer. It kills its prey by constriction. Although spending most of its time on the ground, it does occasionally climb into shrubs.

Reproduction:  The clutch consists of 3 to 6 eggs. The eggs are laid in June and July. Adults mate in the spring.

Common Kingsnake (Lampropeltis getula)

Similar Species:

The Common Kingsnake can be confused with a number of other black, common snakes becauses of its variability. The first piece of advice is to learn the appearance of the Common Kingsnake in your particular geographical region. Secondly most of the species it might be confused with have either keeled scales (not smooth) or a divided anal plate.

Rat Snake (Elaphe obsoleta)

Pine Snake (Pituophis melanoleucus)

Eastern Racer (Coluber constrictor)

California Mountain Kingsnake (Lampropeltis zonata)