Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Found this guy while golfing last week close to Nashville, Tn.
At first thought he was one of our hybrid rat snakes because of the blotch like pattern on his back.

Although there is some black- the predominant colors are olive/yellow.Anyone had juveniles similar to him in color?Care to speculate on his adult colors?(does the olive tend to darken to black?)

Thanks in advance,

Bill

A nice hatchling Black Kingsnake(lampropeltis, getula nigra). Adult color will be very similar to it's present color, but the yellow crossbands may fade a little and become less distinct. Great kings and underrated in my opinion. Good find.

Brandon Osborne

Brandon-

Many thanks

...that Speckled Kings produce intergrades with Black Kings all the way to central Tenn. Your little snake looks VERY similar to a 10 month old Speckled I recently caught from East-Central Mississippi.

Although I agree with Brandon - the pattern looks more like a Black King (which I also agree is an underrated King) - I've seen young Speckleds with an almost identical pattern and hatchling/juvenile Black Kings with a bit more and wider banding than in your pic.

Nice snake in any event!

-John

Yep, sure does look like you found a black king. Do be careful about the Tennessee wildlife laws...Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency gets a little cranky about the wildlife around here. Great looking snake!

For the record I fed that little guy two pinkies and returned him to hole 16 at country hills golf course.

But I guess I'm supposed to have a black king cause I found one with identical markings in southern KY.

I noticed your prior post concerning black kings... do you by chance have black kings that would resemble the Tn variety?

I can't get over how docile he is...I thought my corns were laid back.He is an awesome little guy.

TN laws forbid the captivity of all native reptile species and make NO subspecific distinctions. Make sure you don't get caught with that little guy or you might get some trouble.

Nice snake too!
Van