Reptile & Amphibian Forums

The poll below by Keith Hillson gave me this idea. I myself am interested to see what you folks think and a family friend asking for my advice (for his young teen son) would be too.

If a beginner or amateur wants a colorful, big, easy to keep and handle king that preferably costs less than $150, what are the best choices? How about ranking your favorite kings on a scale of 1-10 in the following catagories: coloring, patterning, size, handling, and keeping. The sum will be a total score out of 50 possible (school kid should be able to relate to that.)

I don't have much to compare it to, but here's how I'd rank my Cal king.

coloring: 5. It does have high contrast between light and dark, if not vivid colors.

patterning: 9. Bands with well defined borders are striking.

size: 7. The bigger the better for this comparison.

handling: 8 Considering mine is still basically a wild snake it's very docile, but Cal kings do musk.

keeping: 10. Seems like a piece of cake to me!

Total score: 39/50

So who wins under this criteria? Hondurans? Grey banded maybe?

I think you may have been too generous with the Cali on the handling score... musking sucks.

And dont overlook the very cool looking mexican black king... That all black look to the point of purple is VERY Beautiful. Price is next to nothing, super easy first snake, and handles well.

But as far as size-handling-ease of keeping-willingness to feed goes my vote would have to be for the South Florida King

Brooksi Kings:

coloring: 4- Cool pattern, though not candycane colors... yellow/black

patterning: 6- the banding is not very distinct...

size: 10- The biggest girth of the kingsnakes as far as I know.

handling: 10- While all snakes seem to have their own personality, its a safe bet that you can count on Brooksi's to be like puppy dogs.

keeping: 10. Just keep the temp reasonable, throw in a F/T mouse once a week, occasionaly give it a baby chicken and they will love you forever.

Total score: 40/50

Thayers Kingsnake

Color: 10

Pattern: 8

Size: 3

Handling: 10

Care: 10 (don't even need additional heat)

Score: 41/50

I am with ya Russ!!

Tough question. I love my Cal Kings, but I'll go with alterna.
Color: 5-10 because they're so variable
Pattern: 8
Size: 5 because they don't get very big
Handling: 10. Whenever I have someone over who's never handled a snake, I give them the grayband
Keeping: 7 because it's hard to get them started.
Cheers!

WC Speckled King ( yea nothin special but I love her )
5'7", gainin on 5 pounds

Color: 6 Black on yellow, not real exciting, but cool looking when they move.

Pattern: 4, not to much, buncha dots

Size: 7 not many get big, but this ones up their

Handling: 10, never musked , rattled a tail or even bite when I CAUGHT HER, much less now.

Keeping 10 : eats anyhting I put in the cage, mice , frogs, birds, snakes, lizards.

TOTAL: 37/50

Ooooh, I would like to see a pic of her. I have a yearling female that is just beautiful. She does like to p**p on me though. But, thankfully, she doesn't bite. Also, likes to eat in the dark when I'm not around and she's captive bred. Go figure.

I believe any Mexicana complex snake would win in this ranking game over most common kings, except for the size comparison you have listed.
Alterna, Mexmex, Greeri, Ruthveni and of course the most variable and colorful of all the Thayeri!!

The only colors you see in common kings is black/brown and yellowish cream to white with the occasional red tints.

You cannot beat handling mexicana complex snake. They do not bite or musk like a common king.

Care for them is just as simple as any common king as long as you purchase a feeding animal.

Then there is variability: You cannot get this type of variability with any other snake in its pure form. With common kings variability within clutches is only achieved with Morphs.

This is just my honest opinion. I enjoy and keep many common kings as well.
-John Lassiter-
Here is one of my favorite:

I forgot to do the ranking game on my thayeri pictured above.
Color: 10 (Look at it!)
Pattern: 9 (Classic)
Size: 6 (They do not get very big wich can be a good thing)
Handling: 10 (Never bites or musks)
Keeping: 10 (Has eaten since first feeding and never skips)
That's 45/50 but it is my own opinion.

.

Thanks,
Here is another one I am looking forward to breeding next year:

Great snakes........CHRIS' COLUBRIDS..........pikiemikie@aol.com

Our main male breeder.....reduced black from Vivid....thanks for looking, chris..........you guys can rate him.

They definitely look like Vivid Reptile strain animals.
I remember your classified adds from last year. I almost got that male breeder from Tim at Vivid.

Email me at:
jlassiterjr54@grandecom.net

I got some questions for you if you are interested.

-John Lassiter-

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thanks chris' colubrids

..

thanks chris bodner.......chris' colubrids.....pikiemikie@aol.com

Here is a problem....I have both an alterna and a thayeri. Both are beautiful, great eaters and tame.

-----
Krazy-K
1.0 Gray Banded Kingsnake
0.2 Thayeri Kingsnakes
1 B. Rainbow Boa
1.0 Bearded Dragon
2.0 Leopard Geckos

Here is the score for my thayeri
Color : 10 (Bright and variable!!)
Pattern : 10 (look at the head)
Size : 6
Handeling : 10
Keeping : 9 ( does not musk, but cage has a slight musky odor)
For a total of .......45.
I got this girl from John Lassiter...and she is great.
But I also own an alterna...so lets rate him too..

Color : 10 (just striking)
Pattern : 10 (So variable!!)
Size : 6
Handeling : 10
Keeping : 10
Which is a total of....46
Guess I am a tad bit partial. No offense to you John (I LOVE the snake!)
The alterna just settles down much faster than the baby. But he is a few years her senior, so that would lend to a calmer experience. Just my opinion.
[marqee]But my Rainbow Boa is the tops right now![marqee]

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Krazy-K
1.0 Gray Banded Kingsnake
0.2 Thayeri Kingsnakes
1 B. Rainbow Boa
1.0 Bearded Dragon
2.0 Leopard Geckos

Krazy K,
I was partial to Alterna when I first started breeding, but I then got some Vivid Reptile breeding Thayeri. After breeding, and hatching these I believe them to be the most unpredictable clutches of all. This variability can be achieved within clutches of many kingsnakes, but to achieve this type of variability one must breed morphs. Evenso, morph breeding results can be predicted. I never know what will hatch out when waiting on a clutch of Thayeri. Here is the old cliche: It is like Christmas time when hatching Thayeri. Thus the coloquial (sp?) name: "The Variable King".
BTW, I take no offense. I still love alterna. I am actually bringing some up to start breeding them again. Should have some next year. (Hwy 277, Lajitas and some generic black heads)
Take a look at one:
-John Lassiter-

By the way,
I still love seeing that ole SKULL HEAD around.
And, What's a point? Not much in my book. LOL !!
-John Lassiter-

Here is a male sibling to your Skull Head female:

you mentioned it, very cool. Your Alterna and Thayeri are beautiful as well. A LOL.

that failed to post for some reason.

myself and my friend. I've been finding other pics of the snakes mentioned. Those Thayeris and Alternas sure look and sound nice. If the kid really wants a big snake, I'll recommend a Brooksi as well as some smaller boa species. I'm a little curious why nobody mentioned Hondurans, (milksnake instead of king, right?) I'm considering one for myself.

What is the kingsnake of choice? I would have to say that the best snake posted here in months and months was the pic of the orange cheek Thayeri by Chris. All in all I think mexicana complex kings are the best to keep and handle and breed. They just don't get as large as common kings. Their small size is a plus in my book, though.

Then, why is their popularity not as well as it should be?
Plus, it is hard to determine what the popularity of a snake is just by reading what us few who frequent this forum post and wright here.

We are but a few in the herp world. LOL!!
Thanks for such a thread,
John Lassiter

write not wright. ha ha ha

JUST KIDDING!!! Yeah, the thayeris seem like a really good choice. I'll talk to the kid's dad again next week and give him some info I gathered here. As for myself, one of the mexicanas (not sure which) is tempting but so are rainbow boas, dumerils boas, and honduran milks. I probably only want one snake, or one species of snake (I see how it can snowball from there) and I have my wild caught Cal for now.

I'll likely find it a good home at the local nature museum or school as a teaching tool, probably the best place for it. I won't be keeping any more wild snakes since I don't really agree with doing so. (I collected a pair with the bad idea that I would breed them and release the young, then I learned here that it would be illegal.) I'll keep this one for at least a little while longer as it mellows out, and I'll keep learning from these forums, giving myself the "I wants" with all the beautiful pics!

Now,
Don't get me wrong. You cannot go wrong with a calking as a first snake. A California king is one of the greatest starter snakes around. I know from experience. Nearly 15 years ago I seriously started to keep snakes and the first snake I purchased was a coastal phase cal king. I still have this 15 year old today and he has never gotten sick or turned down a meal.
But my favorite snakes are mexicana complex snakes with the Thayeri being at top. They will always stay at the top of my list, but not far behind is Hondurans then common kings(calking, desertkings, chain kings, speckled, outer banks, etc.)
Good luck with your decision,
-John Lassiter-

Great orange head on that thayer,........chris

Thanks Chris,
Can't wait to get her up to breeding size and see what another year of line breeding can do.
-John Lassiter-

hello i have a specled king and just love it. it came out of the wild this spring and was preagnat.it has been handeld a lot even by kids and has never titten any one. not even when i grabed him in the woods.she eats very well.and has a nice aperance.i have stor bought corn snakes. 3 of them and they have all bitten a few times.