Reptile & Amphibian Forums

What are the basic differences between Milksnakes and Kingsnakes?

You should search the forum archives, as this is one of the more frequently asked questions on here.

The difference is....they are different species.

Lampropeltis getula is the common kingsnake.
Lampropeltis triangulum is the milksnake.
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Chris Harrison

Chris,

Thanks; I've attempted searching the archives and haven't been very impressed with the results. If I search for "milk king difference" I get hundreds of links that have very little to do with my basic question. I wish the search function was a little more advanced; that would probably help.

Anyway, I was hoping to discover some basic morphologic and/or behavioral differences between the two families. Reading care sheets and looking at pictures would almost lead one to think that "milksnake" and "kingsnake" are synonyms.

David

It is even simpler than you may think. The only snakes that are milks are subspecies of Lampropeltis triangulum (as mentioned above). Any other Lampropeltis species or subspecies is a kingsnake. That includes alterna, getula, mexicana, pyromelana, and zonata.

The only exception to this simple rule is the Scarlet Kingsnake (Lampropeltis triangulum elapsoides). That exception may be cleared up soon as a great deal of evidence seems to indicate that Scarlets are not a subspecies of triangulum.

In Markell's book "Kingsnakes and Milksnakes" he made up the following key to distinguish the seperate species of Lampropeltis.....

"1-Posterior 2 maxillary teeth normal, not longer and stouter than anterior teeth (getula group)...............2
Posterior 2 maxillary teeth usually longer and stouter than more anterior teeth (triangulum group)...........3"

The numbers after the discription would help in further identifying a specie, ie-calligaster, Mexicana, alterna, etc.
He has 7 steps to distiguish each specie from the other. But, that's the gist of telling a milk from a common King(getula). It's in their teeth!
To tell from a banded King (Zonata), the triangulum SHOULD have fewer than 30 white rings and the Kings have more.
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Ace

Thanks, Ace! That's exactly the type of information I was wanting.

David