King snake

[Joe S.]

My daughter was riding my parents' side by side around the yard today picking up sticks. All of a sudden she comes running up to me saying she almost hit a snake. It was by the pond so i wanted to go make sure it wasnt a moccasin. My mom is elderly and we dont need that in the same yard with her. So i walked over to where she saw the snake and saw no sign of it. I knew it couldnt be far so i just stood still and listened. Sure nuff in just a few seconds i heard a bird in the bushy tree near me start going crazy. I got to watching and noticed it would fly to one branch then quickly fly away over and over. In a moment the bird made contact and i saw the snake fall off the limb. I watched as it pulled itself back up and get hit again. Twice. After it had enough it dropped to the ground and i got a good look at it. My old buddy king snake was the one causing all the ruckus. So i put my gun away and took out my camera. Still intended to shoot it, but this way instead. We like king snakes.

 

[contender]

Good for you! Kings are good for homes & yards!

 

[jgt]

I had one a bit larger than that one living in my barn for a while. I missed him so thought he moved on. One day I opened a cabnet that was hung on the wall and was looking at him face to face. I bout soiled mah drawers.

 

[Joe S.]

We have a rat snake about that big that we see around the yard some. But we also have another king that is probably 5-6' long. He is a beast! Havent seen him myself lately but i think dad sees him from time to time.

We had a copperhead in the yard a while back. Saw him a couple times. Im hopin the kings made him move on. We dont like copperheads.

 

[Mike Armstrong]

Your guys' king snakes don't look much like the ones in California; same shape, VERY different paint job!

Ours come in basically two shades. The common California king is black with cream-colored (real cream with the butterfat left in!) rings. Very striking; very Hollywood.

The mountain king snake, now endangered because snake collectors always go for pretty, is red and black and yellow and superficially resembles a coral snake. I'm sure that got a lot of them killed back in the day.

We like kings for the same reasons you guys do--they eat bad stuff! But they are big trouble in places that didn't have snakes before Mr. King showed up. Google "King Snakes in the Canary Islands"!

 

[Rick Courtright]

The mountain king snake, now endangered because snake collectors always go for pretty, is red and black and yellow and superficially resembles a coral snake. I'm sure that got a lot of them killed back in the day.

Hi,

I know Mike and many others of you are familiar with some form of the old adage to tell coral snakes from similar ones, including some of our king snakes out here:

"Red touches yellow, dangerous fellow..."

http://www.aaanimalcontrol.com/blog/red-touch-yellow.html

"Red touches black, you're ok, Jack":

http://www.californiaherps.com/snakes/pages/l.zonata.html

I've only seen one or two of our tri-colored king snakes here, but have run into many of the dark (black or brown) ones with the narrow white, cream or yellowish colored bands. Once saw one that was dyslexic or something: his wide bands were cream, almost white, the narrow ones a light brown. Dunno if that's a normal variation or maybe some modification of albinism? Either way, it was a very pretty paint job on that one!

Rick C

 

[Mike Armstrong]

Apparently albinism isn't uncommon in California kings. And they have been bred in captivity to be sold as pets. Some of the kings released on the Canary Islands were albinos and now they are all over the place.

They apparently favor lava flows ("malpais" or "pedregal") even tho they stand out sharply against the black rock. Since there are no snake predators there, it is not a disadvantage!

I have nothing against reptile collectors as long as they know something about their "pets." (Many simply don't). And abandoning domesticated animals in the wild is a trashy stunt in ANY situation.

 

[Don Lovel]

When I lived in Arkansas, I caught every kingsnake I found and took it home and dropped it through a hole in my kitchen floor.
After seeing 31 copperheads in two evenings, I decided enough was enough

 

[Joe S.]

Wow! Were these copperheads in your yard? Sounds like you shared a nest with them.

 

[Jim Puke]

These 2 are about all we see in Ga.

And, this is why we like them.