California Kingsnake

Facts about California kingsnakes. The California kingsnake is the most commonly bred and kept kingsnake in captivity. "Scientific name for the California Kingsnake is Lampropeltis getula californiae". They reach there adult size at about between 3 and 4 years of age. The California kingsnakes can grow up to 5 feet (1.24 meters). In the wild, you can find the California kingsnake of areas from wilderness to the desert range. They are night time hunters, when looking for food in cooler weather. They spend most of their days hiding in branch and leave piles, rock piles, or in abandoned rodent burrows.
If in captivity, California kingsnakes can live for up to 20 years, with 10 to 15 years being normal average. The California Kingsnake is shiny, smooth with unkeeled scales. The snakes head is a little wider than the neck. The California kingsnake when seen, it has alternating bands of brown or black and light yellow or white, on their underside the light bands become wider. In the northern San Joaquin Valley and Southern Sacramento Valley the California kingsnake has no bands with a dark belly and lateral striping. On coastal southern California snakes have a striped phase with a light yellow or white stripe on the their back. In the coastal Los Angeles County Kingsnake have dark bands with a dark underside. In the desert the snake has narrow bright white bands with dark black bands. Some Kingsnakes will have with much light speckling in the dark bands, others have much darker speckling in the light bands. The California Kingsnake is a popular snake that is kept as a pet. Many colors of this snake that are abnormal, are from breeders,that are breeding them that way.
The California kingsnake eats many types of pray, such as small mammals and rodents, mice, snake eggs, lizards, lizard eggs, turtle eggs and turtle hatchlings, salamanders, frogs, birds, bird eggs and chicks. Kingsnakes have a digestive enzyme that will allows them to eat another snake that are venomous, this includes copperheads, rattlesnakes, coral snakes and water moccasins.
California Kingsnakes reach sexual maturity in 3 to 4 years.
When the California kingsnake Breed this usually takes place within a few weeks from emergence from hibernation, usually after they shed their first skin, Desert snakes may breed earlier.
1 to 2 months after breeding females lay from 5 - 25 eggs, around 12 is noarmal nest lay, which usually happens between May and August. Eggs hatch in 45 - 60 days.