California King Snake (with Arizona added)

[WilliamBoyd]

California King Snake

I photographed him in a local park in Northern California.
He was about 3' long.

 

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[Magic Fingers]

Re: California King Snake

I am beginning to realize I will need to have some good boots on when I start MDing.
I am glad we don't have many snakes here in Montana.

 

[Urban Grund]

Re: California King Snake

Pretty cool find.

 

[Harry_Morant]

Re: California King Snake

Mmmmm snake - is that why its called the King Snake - love me tender

 

[Bigcypresshunter]

Re: California King Snake

Mmmmm snake - is that why its called the King Snake - love me tender

All Kingsnakes eat other snakes, so maybe. The Scarlet King (Florida) is the prettiest in my opinion. All Kings are tame and make nice pets. Nice Cali King.

 

[WilliamBoyd]

Re: California King Snake

Arizona King Snake

Photograph taken near Flagstaff.
He was about 2' long.

Also known as a Sonora King Snake, Mountain King Snake, or
Scarlet King Snake, and they are found in many parts of the US.

I saw one many years ago near Big Sur, Monterey, California.

 

[Bigcypresshunter]

Pretty Garter. That Arizona King is also beautiful. The Florida Scarlet King resembles the poisonous Coral Snake.

Red touch Black,
Good for Jack.

Red touch Yellow,
Kill the Fellow.

They both like to live under the bark of rotting trees. I remember climbing an East Everglades tree when a loose piece of bark came off in my hand. Trying to cling to the tree and hold my hunting rifle, I had a red, yellow, and black banded snake inches from my face. Now how did that poem go? Red touch yellow?... red touch black? ...or was it jump back?...

 

[desertfox]

I use to have King Snakes as pets when I was a little tike. Now day I just let them go their way as I go mine.
Thanks for the pictures, I had forgotten how pretty they are.
Happy Hunting..

Desertfox

 

[leslie(nova scotia)]

yo W

From the land of the Bluenose.....are tose puppies venomous? Looks like a nasty critter! Nice shot!

 

[Bigcypresshunter]

Re: yo W

From the land of the Bluenose.....are tose puppies venomous? Looks like a nasty critter! Nice shot!

Only the Coral Snake is poisonous. They need to bite something small, like a finger, to inject their poison. I dont think they can make a quick strike. The King Snakes are all non-poisonous.

When I was young, my "pet" scarlet escaped in the apt building and the neighbor killed it, bragging to everyone that he killed a Coral. I think everyone should learn their local snakes before going around killing them and bragging about it.

 

[Old Dog]

Leslie,
Look at the coloration, it will tell you which ones are poisonous.

As posted above
Red to black= a friend to jack
Red to yellow+ kills a fellow

A coral snake is a poisonous one, it has venom similar to a cobra.

Thom

 

[blurr]

That's one purdy snake. It would make a beautiful hat band. hehehe


Well, this isn't a King Snake, but it is a beautiful animal. It's rare and protected, and indigenous only in San Mateo County. It's the San Francisco Garter Snake.

That snake is absolutely "Flaming"

John

 

[Don in SJ]

Nice pic of the King Snake, I believe Feline Peachy posted one here last year from California. I have a few good pics of King Snakes here in NJ. They have been on my property many times and about 10 years ago, I got to catch two of them mating for a couple hours on the property and about 4 years ago, during one of our summer dry spells, one appeared on the cruising the mucky shoreline of my almost dried up pond and he found a watersnake for lunch. Now I really like King Snakes!!! They also love to go down the mole holes, so there is another big plus for them...........

I will have to go thru my CD's but I have a photo of a Scarlet Snake I found while metal detecting many years ago, I never knew such a beautiful small snake like that even existed, yet alone in Southern New Jersey. I will make it a point to look for that photo, I don't think I posted it here before.

Don

 

[Bigcypresshunter]

I guess there are many varieties of Scarlet Kings. We also have an Everglades Scarlet. I found one crossing the road and didnt know what it was. I released it.
The pictures I have are from online. I have some old snake pics, but dont have a scanner.
Scarlet Kings can be found by first finding an area that has them. Then go around lifting up old wood or rotting logs. Scarlets and Corals both like to bury themselves under rotting wood or bark.

 

[Don in SJ]

I guess there are many varieties of Scarlet Kings. We also have an Everglades Scarlet. I found one crossing the road and didnt know what it was. I released it.
The pictures I have are from online. I have some old snake pics, but dont have a scanner.
Scarlet Kings can be found by first finding an area that has them. Then go around lifting up old wood or rotting logs. Scarlets and Corals both like to bury themselves under rotting wood or bark.

The snake I found was a Scarlet snake, not a Scarlet King Snake still looking for the photo, oh the snake was dead, it looked like it had two puncture wounds, maybe from a Hawk. I gave the snake to the County Nature museum, and I checked, they still have it in the same bag, in their freezer!!!

Added:

Here is the old photo, had to take a photo of the photo, LOL, so the quality not up to snuff. This is a NorthernScarlet Snake (Cemphora coccinea copei)
The length varies 14-32 inches. The white undersdie of the Northern Scarlet Snake distinguishes it from the very similar Scarlet Kingsnake which is not found in New Jersey. It is a mostly nocturnal snake. It's range in New Jersey is only in the southern counties.

Don

 

[Bigcypresshunter]

Red touches Black, Good for Jack, still holds true.

If the Red touches Yellow, kills a fellow!

 

[blurr]

Don, nice photo (despite being a photo of a photo LOL). That's another very beautiful and colorful snake. If people saw more photos like these, maybe they would come to appreciate snakes a little more. Seems something pretty is more likely to be spared than something drab, like the average gopher snake. Although snakes always startle me when I first see them, they are quite fascinating to watch. I saw a pair of California King Snakes mating once, many years ago, and they seemed to actually caress each other with the full length of their serpentine bodies. I guess that makes me a voyeur?

John, I got your little pun about the San Francisco Garter Snake. Funny thing is that although it's named after that "flaming" city, the snake is not found in San Francisco. Instead, it is found only in the county immediately south of San Francisco, that being San Mateo County. Weird, huh?

Pretty weird TT, but par for the course for your part of the world huh? Garter snakes are about the only snakes we have around my little slice of heaven, not nearly as "flaming" as yours' though

 

[WilliamBoyd]

I have seen only one San Francisco Garter snake.
I was hiking with a lady friend on the southern side of Mt. San Bruno.
I pointed to the snake and she jumped up into the air and ran back 10 feet.
I guess women and snakes don't get along.

 

[Old Dog]

I got to catch two of them mating for a couple hours on the property and about 4 years ago,
Don

Jeesh Don,
This is enough info for me to say ...
Buddy, you got too much time on your hands.

LMAO
Thanks for sharing Buddy,
Thom

 

[sniffer]

if I remember correctly the king snake can be bitten by poisonous snakes and not be affected

Sniffer