Reptile & Amphibian Forums

This snake was received in trade and has caused some long talks with my friends. What do you think he is? Thanks Dan

He is a nice calm snake.

The man who had it said it was three years old. It seems a little older to me.

In the zonata the tip of the snout is always black. Kinda looks like a ruthven's king but I can't tell for sure.

Looks like a Ruthveni to me also, except the light colored band behind the head usually is not split with black. This is a characteristic usually seen in Sierra Mt. Kings and others.
John Lassiter

You are right about the black head cap connecting with the fisrt band, very zonata-like. To me the whole snake even the body and head shape looks zonata to me but I have seen hundreds of wild zonata and none with the rostal scale marked with red. I would probably have to catch it myself to believe that snake were pure zonata. Maybe someone with more experience has seen one like that?

Looks like a Ruthveni to me also, except the light colored band behind the head usually is not split with black. This is a characteristic usually seen in Sierra Mt. Kings and others.
John Lassiter

Hello,
Not all zonata are typical with an all black snout. Agalma's and Multifastica's (spelling?) are a few subspecies that have broken away from the traditional black heads.

The thing is, the snake looks very 'clean'-no cross overs, etc, to look like a zonata agalma.
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Zach Lim
Carnivorous Plant Grower and Herper
http://www.geocities.com/sf_snakes/index.html

Thank you all for the replies. I do not think it is a Baja king anymore. I am going to take it to the next San Diego Herp Society meeting. Dan

Hi Zach,
You are right agalma, mutifaciata, and I've even seen some parviruba and pulchra can have red on the heads. For agalma and multifaciata it is the norm. But on all the zonata I've seen, and that is hundreds(mostly wild), the very tip of the snout at the rostal scale is always black.
The snake in question has red were a zonata would have it but also the rostal scale has red. I'm stumped, perhaps it is just a very unusual zonata but I dont think so.