Desert Kingsnake

About the Desert Kingsnake

The desert kingsnake (Lampropeltis splendida) is a species of kingsnake native to Texas, Arizona, and New Mexico, United States. It is not venomous, colored yellow and black. The desert kingsnake's diet consists of rodents, lizards, and smaller snakes, including rattlesnakes. They normally grow 3–4 ft long, but have been known to grow up to 6.8 ft. They are docile creatures when confronted by humans. If they do not try to escape, often they "play dead" by flipping over onto their backs and lying motionless. Some who domesticate kingsnakes, such as ranchers, do so in the hopes that the kingsnakes will feed on other snakes, which might present more of a threat. It was previously considered a subspecies of the common kingsnake. The desert kingsnake belongs to the Colubridae family, which is the largest family of snakes in the world.

The snake's glossy dorsum is black or very dark brown colored, finely speckled with off-white or yellow. These pale flecks form dimly defined narrow vertebral crossbands, between which the intervening rectangular areas are black. Pale yellow scales may predominate along the lower sides. The abdomens of both adult and young snakes are mostly... Wikipedia →