Reptile & Amphibian Forums

What is the largest King snake species in terms of how big round they get and length. I always thought it was the California king snake? Correct me if im wrong.

Eastern King is the largest, followed by the Florida King as a close second. I have a Florida King that is 5 foot, 8 inches and around 4 pounds. But the real King of the Kingsnakes is the Eastern. I have an Eastern/Blotched Kingsnake that is 6 foot 2 inches long and weighs 5 pounds! Thomas Davis also has a 6 footer that is an Eastern King. Keith Hillson once had a Florida King that was 6 foot 4 inches and weighed around 7lbs I believe. There is also a 6 foot eastern King owned by Kevin Enge. Those are all the giants that I know of out there for now. . . The largest California King that I know of is one that is a little over 5 foot - a giant for a Cal King. The world record for ANY Kingsnake is 6 foot 10 inches by an eastern King (of course) at least according to about four different books that I have.
This is a pic of my 6 foot 2inch monster . . .
Enjoy. . .

Zee

I'd say the largest of the Lampropeltis getulus complex is the nominal form (L. g. g. - the eastern).

However, Lampropeltis triangulum gaigeae (the black milksnake) can be expected to exceed 5 feet (the average length of an adult is 60-70". Several are known to approach and a few have exceeded 7 feet in length. The record is 88" as far as I know (I know it's not a "kingsnake" technically, but when you said largest "species" of kingsnake, I felt that I should point out this impressive member of Lampropeltis).

The california kingsnake, by the way, is one of the smallest if not the smallest of the L. g. complex.