Hey wow - I didn't know a Cal King subforum existed.

Anyway - is there a resource (book or website) that adequately describes the various "naturally occuring" phases of the California Kingsnake?

I know about "desert phase" and "striped phase".
I've been told that my WC males are "coastal banded phase" - but is there any kind of authoritive description?

My big WC male is the typical irregular bands, black head (not completely black - it's got the typical white nose and white spot) with dark brown bands that sometimes look black when photographed.

Babies I've found near him, the banding looks distinctively black - but none of the adults did, you could tell they were brown.

The white bands are fairly thin, maybe on or two scales thick.



That's a pic of him getting ready to shed.

My two juvenile males (from a different locale) - same patterning, the dark banding looked black when they were hatchlings (I collected them as neonates), they still are a darker color than my big guy - but you can see the brown in them now, and the adults I've found up here are just as brown as my big guy.

Is this patterning what is referred to as "coastal banded" or is it something else?

My young female - she's banded, but different type of banding. The cream bands are a lot wider, I haven't actually counted but I'm sure she has a lower band count. Very few of the dark bands make it to her belly, her belly is almost completely cream. A couple of the dark bands are in fact spots and not bands at all, but very very few.

And her colour is different - she's a much lighter brown, like those brachs caramel candies. But she's young - she's 24 inches (the classified add said 30 inches, but whatever - I don't regret the purchase).

Anyway - she's supposedly Sacramento locale.

I'm guessing there is probably some name for her type of banding as well.

Any books dedicated to the wild california kingsnake variations?
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3.0 WC; 0.2 CB L. getula californiae
0.1 WC; 10 eggs (7/11) Elgaria multicarinata multicarinata

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