California Kingsnake

California Kingsnake, Lampropeltis californiae

California Kingsnake, Lampropeltis californiae.  Snake photographed in the High Desert Museum, Bend Oregon, May 2018.

The California Kingsnake, Lampropeltis californiae, is a member of the Colubridae family of North American Racers, Coachwhips, and Whipsnakes. The Colubridae family comprises two-thirds of the world’s snake population with one thousand seven hundred sixty species placed in two hundred forty-nine genera. Many Colubrids are classified as venomous but very few are considered to be dangerous to humans. There are twenty-six species in the Lampropeltis genus. Due to their ease of care and wide range of color variations, they are one of the most popular snakes in captivity. The California Kingsnake is known in Mexico as Serpiente Rey de California.

California Kingsnakes are highly variable in appearance. They are commonly seen with alternating bands of black or brown and white or light yellow that extend to their underside, where the light bands become wider. They have smooth, shiny, unkeeled scales and a head that is barely wider than their neck. Many unusual color phases have been bred in captivity, including albinos, and are sold in the pet trade. In general, different color phases can be associated with different geographical locations. A striped phase with a white or light yellow stripe on the back occurs in coastal southern California. An unbanded phase with a dark belly and lateral striping occurs in the northern San Joaquin Valley and southern Sacramento valley. A dark black banded phase with a dark underside occurs in coastal Los Angeles County. Finally, a desert phase occurs with dark black bands and narrow bright white bands. Some variants have much darker speckling in the light bands while others have much lighter speckling in the dark bands. Adult California Kingsnakes are typically 76 cm (2 feet 6 inches) to 1.07 m (3 feet 6 inches) in length while hatchlings are approximately 30.5 cm (12 inches) in length.

California Kingsnakes typically mate within a few weeks of emergence from brumation, usually after their first shed, however some wait longer to breed. Those living in the desert typically mate earlier than those living at high elevations. Males engage in lively combat during the breeding season or when they are competing for food or territory. The males lie stretched out with their bodies intertwined, each one trying to get on top of the other to dominate his rival. In the later stage of combat biting may occur. Typically the larger snake is victorious and the second snake crawls away or assumes a submissive position with his head held flat against the ground. Courtship behavior between a male and a female involves neck-biting to hold the female during copulation. California Kingsnakes are oviparous, laying eggs that incubate before hatching. Eggs are laid between May and August, generally 42 to 63 days after mating. Hatchlings emerge after 40 to 65 days and are approximately 20 cm (8 inches) to 33 cm (13 inches) in length. Geography and temperature influence the exact time of hatching with eggs laid in warmer temperatures hatching earlier than eggs laid in colder temperatures. California Kingsnakes reach sexual maturity at three to four years of age.

California Kingsnakes are active during daylight in cooler weather and become nocturnal and crepuscular when temperatures are high. They are mostly terrestrial but may climb low branches and shrubs. They are generally solitary except for the winter when they retreat underground and enter brumation. When disturbed, California kingsnakes will often coil their bodies to hide their heads, hiss, and rattle their tails, which can produce a sound somewhat resembling that of a rattlesnake. They are a powerful constrictor and coil tightly around their prey to kill it. They consume a variety of prey including rodents and other small mammals, birds, bird eggs and chicks, frogs, lizards, lizard eggs, snakes, snake eggs, turtle eggs and hatchlings, salamanders, and large invertebrates. Additionally, they are immune to rattlesnake venom and have been known to consume rattlesnakes.

The California Kingsnake is found throughout most of California, but is absent from the damp redwood zone of the extreme northwest coast, the northeast great basin desert, and high elevations in the Sierra Nevada mountains. Outside of California, they occur in southwestern Oregon, western Nevada, southern Utah, extreme southwestern Colorado, much of Arizona, throughout Baja California, including several islands, and most of Sonora, Mexico. Additionally, an introduced population resides on Gran Canaria Island in the Canary Islands, where there are no native snakes.


The California Kingsnake may be confused with the Long-nosed Snake, Rhinocheilus lecontei (red, black, and white, with a saddled pattern and the saddles do not wrap around their body and their underside is cream or yellow in color with no pattern; long pointed snout with a countersunk lower jaw). 

From a conservation perspective, the California Kingsnake is currently considered to be of Least Concern with a wide distribution, tolerance of a broad range of habitats, and large population size. No major threats have been identified. Their long time survival is threated by loss and degraded of habitat due to intense urbanization and agricultural development. The California Kingsnake is considered harmless to humans, but if handled it is common for this species to bite, as well as excrete musk and fecal contents from their cloaca.