Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Just curious how big some of the kings in captivity are these days...

My biggest male is a wild-caught king from Levy county that I've measured in serpwidgets at 63" and 61.18" at different times. Maybe a difference in how he was stretched out... I don't think he would have shrunk 2 inches.

My largest female measured at about 57", and is also from Levy County, FL.

Seems like a lot of Florida kings and intergrades top out around 57". I've got four kings at that length.

Anyone have any legitimate measurements on their largest kings?

next time you're down check out the captive at one of the nature centers you know I visit in s. St.Pete.
It's a "Pinellas" phase but I'm unsure of it's origin (L.Krysko?)
Maybe they'll let us get him out and measure if I go with you.
It looks to be close to a 6'er.
I also saw a nice one at J.D.MacArthur Park recently.
:Mark
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Surrender Dorothy!

crimsonking.piczo.com/

These are Krysko line Pinellas...never measured them, but the biggest kings I've ever kept.

largest I've seen
over 10 years ago.....at a show in Pottstown (maybe Sellersville back then I bet )....eastern.....HUGE....don't know, but I bet over 6 foot and almost 2 1/2 inches thick....this thing was bigegr than most bullsnakes I've seen that are big....it's babies were for sale,but everyone wanted the adult ...I think male....it's kids were huge.....I swear they were as big as my pinky finger and 14 inches long.....it was the only king I have ever seen that was this big......bigger tha the buge Florida males that are around.......

I think genetics of course makes these montsters plus feeding them alot more than possible for the first years of it's life...starting as early as possible after hatching.......
....

...god luck......
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two digit morphs...who woulda thunk it.......

The best way to use serpwidget is with a tripod mount clamp that holds the lens plane completely parallel with the surface the snake is on. Slight differences in angle will result in different measurements.

But I do think an individual snake can vary somewhat in size.

Just like you can stretch your arms.
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Arrrggg!
It's like Shalom, but for pirates.
- iCarly

Well...Your question was who HAS the largest kingsnake.....Well I don't have this male hypo brooksi anymore but serpwidgets measured him at 69 inches about 4 years ago.....

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John Lassiter

"Poor planning and procrastination on your part does not constitute an emergency on my part....."

This is certainly NOT the largest kingsnake.. But, at just over 52" this nine year old Male is the biggest Gray Banded king in my collection and by far the largest Alterna I have ever seen!

~ Mike Russo

Very nice!
That's a MONSTER!
Thanks for sharing. How big is your biggest female?

Zee
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"I am an expert on everything, but I know so little and have so much to learn!" -Carsten "Zee" Zoldy-

My biggest female was back in college, but that was a long time ago and i was very drunk....

I have several good sized female Alterna, but nothing really out of the ordinary and nothing even close to the size of the male posted above.

~ Mike Russo

Thanks - Yeah, I guess we may have all had a large female once upon a time, lol!
Nice animals you have! I have three WC from Langtry that I collected myself, but they are still somewhat small (3 feet on down)...
Where is your large male from - (Hwy) 277 maybe?

Zee
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"I am an expert on everything, but I know so little and have so much to learn!" -Carsten "Zee" Zoldy-

I doubt he's the largest, but my Florida is 64", and I suspect he's not yet done growing.

I quit measuring, I don't have time with all the feedings!

I think he's been banned, but if I recall, Jetzen had some absolutely monster Easterns.
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Arrrggg!
It's like Shalom, but for pirates.
- iCarly

at least as far as I know.... (Of course I am always hoping someone will come up with a bigger one). The largest living Kingsnake I know of (so far), is "Georgia Boy", my ten year old captive born behemoth (E. king), from WC parents from South Georgia. He is currently just a tad over six foot and doing great.
(My largest ever was "Big John" (probable E. King X Blotched), who passed away four years ago at 77"...
I have several other (younger ones too), that are between 5 to 5.5 foot, in my collection. (I also have a female that is a true five footer).
(Top pic is "Georgia Boy" - bottom pic is of "Big John"

Zee

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"I am an expert on everything, but I know so little and have so much to learn!" -Carsten "Zee" Zoldy-

I think my Levy County, FL kings have some good size potential. Some huge kings have been found in that area. I think if I breed them and pump the babies I'll get some monster size adults.

Do you have a picture of that Beaufort County, NC eastern you had at the Raleigh show?

I will have to check on that... (Where's your male from in the pic above. He's nice!)

Zee
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"I am an expert on everything, but I know so little and have so much to learn!" -Carsten "Zee" Zoldy-

That male is from Levy County, FL. I found him earlier this year in May. So far he's behaved like a captive bred king.

I caught this female out there a couple years ago, and she's close to 4 feet right now, and thick:

A friend of mine gave me this female he hatched from a wild caught gravid king from out there. Looks a lot more like a Florida king than the others. She was at 57" when I measured her last year:

Some of them out there look just like the darker kings from Lake Okeechobee.