Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hello. Well my sister got her first snake this weekend and I'm not sure on what kind of King it is. I'm not well versed on kings. I believe the breeder stated it was a mexican/banana kingsnake. And the name might have been a mezzling? I have no idea but here are some pics! I've searched online and cannot find anything similar to this one.
Link

Some variety of California king snake.

That is a Desert Kingsnake (Lampropeltis g. splendida), but it is an odd looking one. It could be from southern NM where I have seen some similar but without the central line of dots on the back. The pattern on the side, however, is remniscent of desert kings in the eastern part of their range (central and south Texas, for example). Tough to know exactly where it might be from but it is an atypical splendida.

It may be a captive bred cross of some sort as well, but it is mostly Desert Kingsnake.
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Chris Harrison
San Antonio, Texas

Not to disagree (because frankly you are probably correct; my original thought was odd splendida), but why is this getula not one of the many varieties of californiae out there in the hobby? Thanks!

It may well be, but pattern and head shape look more like splendida to me.

I guess the first question to find out is whether it is a captive produced animal or if its locality of origin is known.
It is also a fairly young snake, so it could be on its way to darkening up and becoming nigrita-like as well. It might be what used to be known as L. g. nitida but the pattern on the side is throwing me off that.

Without some background on its origin is simply L. getula (sensu lato).
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Chris Harrison
San Antonio, Texas