Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I don't REALLY know the subtle differences between kingsnakes, but when there is red in it I call it a mountain kingsnake. I've been looking for snakes for over a year now and this is my first colorful snake. I saw a striped racer on the same trip, but I couldn't get close enough to try to catch it.

I was fishing with a few buddies in the mountains north of Pasadena and we got a few rainbow trout too! It was a great afternoon.

Jake

yep that be a mountain king,(heres another one), congrats jake!/jon

Lampropeltis zonata parivrubra, San Bernardino Mountain Kingsnake.
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Randy Hallman

...lucky you, I'd hafta suggest the zonies in the San Gabriels are the same as the other Los Angeles area Mtns; the Santa Monicas...multifaciata...& not all of them have face splashes...
But being a lumper...I split zonies like others have done for a number of Cali-taxons; at the Sierra form & the coastal form. The geography of Cali was (if I recall correctly) recently as ~ 12-15000 years ago... w/ an inland sea

Nice shot of the 2nd zonie too...

Regal ringneck is confused, and Hallman misspelled parvirubra by hitting the wrong letter keys. Nice mtn king. VERY NICE in fact because most San Bernardino mtn kings are very dark (lots of black) from the Gabriels. Now that you own one, you need the book that tells all about mtn kings. Here's a link to it...www.mountainkingsnake.com The author tells everything in 370 pages. It will explain things to you that regal ringneck cannot, especially concerning subspecies. I just corrected him about that today. Since I'm the author of the book I can do that. lol

....or something like that...
...I see our Hubbster has once again "done the strand" & fallen off the wagon & into the abyss... deeply inhaling that sweet potatoebug thang on his way down...He is correct that parvis are the disgusting blackbacked zonies... suitable merely for feeders...yours however is gorgeous & thus must be coastal
I hear-tell that is a pretty good book btw...I am awaiting mine...purportedly it will have an original potatoebug bit scribed inside the cover...we'll see....Beers RxR

whooaa whats this...

Thanks for all of the clarifiacation, and I agree, that snake IS very good looking. I didn't keep it though. I actually just enjoy finding the snakes and taking pictures - I figure that if I leave it out there, maybe I can find it again or maybe one of it's offspring. I don't have anything against people collecting - its just that I think it is more fun to catch them than to take care of them.

Have fun out there,

Jake

for thinking it thru-resisting the knee-jerk bag'em bit....peace,j.c.