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I got this guy a few days ago from a craigslist posting, While talking with the former owner she got it as a Variable kingsnake, which in my head meant that the patten was...well variable... after looking at as many pictures I can find this looks nothing like a variable. actually I cannot find anything that has a face like his,

http://i266.photobucket.com/albums/ii273/gizzy20001/0226112030a.jpg
http://i266.photobucket.com/albums/ii273/gizzy20001/0226112030.jpg
http://i266.photobucket.com/albums/ii273/gizzy20001/0226112028.jpg
http://i266.photobucket.com/albums/ii273/gizzy20001/0226112027.jpg
http://i266.photobucket.com/albums/ii273/gizzy20001/0221110001.jpg
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I would say it's either a gray-banded king, or one of hundreds of different hybrid combinations. I'm leaning more towards the hybrid theory, after looking closer at the shape of the head.
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0.1 cb'09 loggerhead musk
0.1 cb'09 razorback musk
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1.0 cb '03 homo sapien(Kaelan,7)
"jesus is coming-when i count to 3,everyone jump out and yell SURPRISE!!"

Well, it does have the basic phenotype(look) of a milksnake phase(MSP)Variable king(L.m.thayeri)aka Nuevo Leon kingsnake. But without knowing it's true parental lineage, it is really tough to say if it is an authentically "pure" specimen or not that has never been crossed as so many can be now days, especially from the fairly poor photo quality. Many of these in the hobby have a strong history of being bred with other forms of the mexicana complex, such as the San Luis Potosi(L.m.mexicana), Durango Mt. king(L.m.greeri), Gray-banded kings(L. alterna), and even Cal. Mt. kings(L.p.pyromelana) and Ruthven's kingsnakes(L.ruthveni).

I don't really notice a few of these species/subspecies in it's characteristics, but it could possibly have a percentage of Gray-banded king in it, but it is extremely tough to say with any certainty. The much grayer head seems a little odd is why I say this.

In other words, from what I can see and how dark and under-exposed the photos are, it is simply impossible to really say.

I will say though that thayeri can be EXTREMELY variable, and virtually no two from a given clutch can look alike, having a wide array of different characteristics.

~Doug

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"a snake in the grass is a GOOD thing"

my website -Serpentine Specialties

It doesn't look that strange for a thayeri to me.

It would help if you had a photo where you weren't holding it so that we could see it more clearly.
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Chris Harrison
San Antonio, Texas

Also, you can imbed the images into your post using the square brackets ( [ and ] ) with IMG inside of it.

So you type IMG (in square brackets) then the URL of your image then use the same IMG tag at the end of the URL with a forward slash / in front of it (i.e . /IMG).

Like this -

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Chris Harrison
San Antonio, Texas

sorry for the poor quality photos, those were taken from my phone, I took a few more with the digital camera but I'm not sure they are any better, but I did try different lighting to see if it helped.

and a little closer

and then here is one of my other kings, pretty sure this one is a MSP thayeri the bands go all the way around and the head is black

It actually looks more like a thayeri now than in you first pics to be honest. The head being black and bands being complete really don't mean anything one way or the other either because they can be so darn variable with several different phases and mixed phenotype's of any or all as well.

But anyway, I would definitely roll with it being a MSP thayeri(variable king) from what I see there.

As you probably already know, the poor thing needs some weight on it's bones too.

Hope it thrives well in your care now, the snake deserves it after the rogh road it has had to endure before you got it....good luck man!

~Doug
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"a snake in the grass is a GOOD thing"

my website -Serpentine Specialties

he was given to me as a rescue, he is a regurger and is on flagyl treatment right now, his first small meal after treatment is next week, thats why I have his temp set in the 70s to hopefully slow him down a little till I can get more food in him. he has a strong prey drive but the poor guy did not keep his mouse down.

My educated guess:

A Thayeri X Ruthveni hybrid.......It does not have the typical thayeri bands normally seen on MSP thayeri....It has the Ruthveni look to it, but not pure ruthveni.......Ruthveni have normally black heads with mottled noses....red and white spots......

Mexicana is a taxonomic mess to say the least....there are many intergrades in Mexico found in overlapping ranges......
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John Lassiter
Poor planning and procrastination on your part does not constitute an emergency on my part...

Hybrid. Of what, is anyone's guess but looking at the side of the head it looks like it has thayeri or mexicana in it, or both. Def not a purebred thayeri or mexicana.