Reptile & Amphibian Forums

It has been a great year thus far in Kentucky for black kingsnakes. To date, my field partner Will Bird and myself have recorded 106 live specimens. Above is one we found last night at dusk under a sheet of tin at one of our sites.

Below is a small selection of some of the other specimens we have seen this year.

Another Edmonson county snake.

Jefferson county

Grayson county

Hopkins county

Calloway county

Edmonson county

Hickman county black x speckled intergrade

Hope you guys that have an interest in wild kingsnakes enjoyed!

Phil

The Black Kingsnake Website

You have found some really sweet kingsnakes! Thanks for sharing them with us.

Thanks Mike! I make these posts for guys like you. Glad you enjoyed.

Phil

Those a some great pics!, Thanks for sharing. jeff

Thanks Jeff. Glad you enjoyed!

Phil

Ohhh that top one is such a lusterous inky black ! Very nice Phil.
-----

Thanks Keith. That snake was found at the same site in which we have made many great finds. Timber rattlesnakes, corn snakes, copperheads and a northern pine snake. Of the many places we have herped this is our favorite place above all. The kingsnakes there are especially nice which adds all the more to it.

Phil

Great pics Phil always look forward to your reports. That is some pretty impressive diversity there. What size area is represented by these samples and / or is there a specific habitat that the given phenotypes are more typical in?

Thanks Tony,

Of the specimens photographed the area encompassed is roughly 250 miles. The intergrade was found on the extreme western edge of KY within a mile of the Mississippi river. The Calloway county specimen was found in west KY in the Jackson Purchase region. The kingsnakes found in this part of the state tend to retain some of the juvenile patterning, especially in the lowland areas. The rest of the kings (with the exception of the Hopkins county animal) were found in upland habitats in the karst regions near Mammoth Cave NP (Edmonson)and in the Kentucky Knobs (Bullitt and Jefferson).

Phil

Its a good example of what I call phenotypic spectrum. In my area this is most evident in black rats. Here in NE NC they have a dark greyish haze to them. Not too far north (or west) they are classic black rats, while to the south they gradually turn greenish.

It seems the variation in rat snakes is phenomenal. Our KY rats don't really fit in any where. Not quite black rats but not really grays either. Any more we just go along with the locals and refer to them as cow snakes or chicken snakes lol!

Phil

Phil,
Great pics as usual.
Can you please E-mail me at: BLB1029@cs.com
I need to discuss Eastern Black King hatchlings with you.
Thanks,
Brad

Thanks Brad, the only kings I have hatched this year are Hickman county nigra x holbrooki intergrades.

Phil

Phil,
Please E-mail me ASAP. We need to talk about the intergrade babies.
Brad (BLB1029@cs.com)

Man Phil that Calloway is great and the intergrade is very pleasing to my eye! Great year and didja produce any this year?
Todd Hughes

Thanks Todd, I planned on producing very dark Jefferson county kings this year but things didn't work out. I had lost my male last year but found the perfect replacement this year. As it turned out it was too late in the season and though copulation occured nothing resulted. I am set for next year though!

Phil

I like the second pic of the edmonson county nigra, and the sixth pic of the calloway nigra. It might all the lighting, but the second pic of the edmonson co. nigra looks to be a very deep, jet black color, with a touch of pattern. It's the depth of it's black colorization which I find so beautiful. The Calloway animal in the sixth pic I find attractive because it has one heck of a beautiful pattern. Thanks for the pics Phil. I'll be in Louisville next week visiting some family, so I don't know if I'll get a chance to meet up with Brian and you guys again, but we'll see what happens. Thanks for the pics.

Steve

Thanks Steve,

Honestly my pics do not give these snakes justice. When the snakes do not look jet black and glossy it is my ineptitude with a camera that is revealed! Too often I bounce flash off of them and give the subject a dull look. Shooting in full sun is even worse with the glare.

Anyhow, we are getting together to do another herp survey at the forest on Sunday. You are welcome to come with us if you like. Along with some kingsnakes we found a couple of really handsome milks last month. Should be plenty of the usual racers, copperheads, etc..to see too.

Let me know if you can make it.

Phil

Great stuff Phil!! I really like the look of the last one with the tiny bands and speckling. Also, I'm curious if you ever find any juveniles under cover? Most of the Easterns I've seen were probably around two/three feet but a friend did flip a small board revealing a juvenile Eastern on one trip thru Georgia.

Thanks Sean. Only on rare occasions have we found very small kings under full sized pieces of AC. It has happened, but I can probably count on one hand the times this has happened. We are much more likely to find them under very small pieces of debris. Things like pieces of tar paper, cardboard and small pieces of scrap boards.

Phil