Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Are Outer Banks Kingsnakes now proven to be just another phase of Eastern Kingsnakes? i know this has been a the question for a while. i have heard now that DNA testing has proven this true ? i have been out of the loop,lol. i have pure OBK's and hope to breed some next year, and think they are awesome snakes.any info would be great thanks dave

The most recent information I have is that Lampropeltis Getula Sticticeps is a species of Special Concern. It is believed to be imperiled in NC and very vulnerable to extirpation according to the NC Dept of Environment and Natural Resources.

Michael

I dont know if you have seen my Outer Banks King page but on there is a bit of info regarding the OBK.

Outer Banks Kingsnake Page

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I suspect that, since OBKs are no longer considered their own subspecies, they cannot be given protected status (endangered, threatened, or of special concern) without giving that status to ALL L. g. getulas in the area or in NC. Fortunately, it appears that virtually all of the Outer Banks from Moorehead City to Nags Head are designated National Seashores, and thus all wildlife therein is protected.

Keith, have you seen any sign of a rise in popularity of OBKs? I'm still surprised they're not more popular. There seems to be a number of breeding lines out there, so even with limited range and relative inability to obtain wc specimens, there should be enough supply for them to be easily obtainable at reasonable prices. Or is that not the case? One look at those pics on your OBK page, and you'd think everyone would want one. That combination of pattern and speckling is beautiful!
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MichaelB

We talked about this a week or so ago oddly enough. Tony D. made some good points on why OBK's are where they are today market wise etc...

Tony D's Post

The reasons that OBX Kings are under appreciated are multi fold. First and foremost they suffer from the perception that there is a significant phenotypic different from mainland kings. While they can be highly speckled, most are not. The example you posted shows great promise but is the result of years of selective breeding on Carl’s part. The real interesting aspect of the OBX King is its natural history not its phenotype. IMHO, natural history just doesn’t equate to the marketing of captive-bred animals, certainly not when the price disparity was so great. Time was when people were asking 400 a pop for a locality OBK King when at the same time you could barely give a mainland eastern away. I would imagine that this generated a lot of negativity when a large portion of the OBX animals grew up looking little different. This to me is an example were enthusiasm for locality set an expectation that was unfounded which when unrealized negatively affected the market. Now that prices are more in line with nice OBK animals moving well at 100ea and other locality animals moving for as much as 75ea I think you’ll start to see OBX Kings becoming more popular.
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