A Guide to the Amphibians
and Reptiles of California

Lampropeltis getula californiae - California Kingsnake:
Page 2 - Naturally-Occurring Aberrant Morphs

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Pictures and information about this snake and its habitat have been put on three pages: Page 1, the main page, shows to see pictures of the more common banded form of the California Kingsnake, plus a range map, a species description and natural history information, references, and links to more information. Page 2, this page, illustrates some other naturally-occuring pattern types and aberrant patterns. Page 3 shows some of the wide variety of habitats utilized by this snake.
San Diego Striped Morphs

San Diego Striped morph, coastal San Diego County	San Diego Striped morph, coastal San Diego County		Juvenile San Diego "Highway Stripe" morph, Riverside County. © Cody Merrylees

A Stripe-Blotch-Stripe morph from San Diego County.			Juvenile Stripe-Band-Stripe morph, San Diego County © Kyle McCann

Adult, Riverside "Dotted" morph, Riverside County. © Ross Padilla
Banded Morphs

48-band juvenile , a very high band count, from coastal Los Angeles county © 2005 Brian Hubbs	A hypomelanistic Banded morph from Whitewater, Riverside County, along with a darker snake which is a more typical example of the Banded morph kingsnakes from the same area. © Ross Padilla	Melanistic Banded morph, Butte County © Brian Hubbs	Narrow-banded Coastal Los Angeles morph, Los Angeles County. © Don Huffman

Adult, Yuma morph, Imperial County © Joe Bouvier	Adult, Yuma morph, Pima County, Arizona © Tim Burkhardt	Adult, Golden Brown Black-belly morph, Yolo County © Dave Feliz

Adult with "Zipper" pattern, Los Angeles County. © Byron De Stouet	Adult with a high band count and lots of yellow, Yolo County. © Richard Porter
Newport-Long Beach Morphs

A Newport-Long Beach "Barred" morph from western Riverside County. © Ross Padilla		A juvenile Newport-Long Beach "Barred" morph from San Juan Capistrano, Orange County, discovered by Brian Hubbs and Brian Hinds, 2/19/06. Photo © Brian Hinds	Newport-Long Beach "Mud" morph, coastal Los Angeles County. (The belly is completely brown.) © Don Huffman

A juvenile Newport-Long Beach "Scrambled Banded" morph, wild-caught in coastal Los Angeles County. The belly is all yellow with no hint of brown or black. © Josh Rosenstein		Bright yellow, typical Newport-Long Beach morph found in coastal Los Angeles County by Robert Edwards. Photo © Brian Hubbs	Typical Newport-Long Beach morph found by Brian Hinds in Irvine, Orange County, California. Photo © Brian Hubbs

Melanistic Long Beach morph from Long Beach, CA. An increasingly rare find within a shrinking urban range. Commonly called "grease kings," these snakes may cease to exist in the wild very soon if developers keep bulldozing all the remaining habitat in the urban Long Beach area. The snake was rescued from imminent slaughter by habitat destruction and photographed by Brian Hubbs. It is now part of a growing breeding colony designed to preserve this melanistic trait.
Eiseni Morphs

Valley Phase morph, Fresno County © Patrick Briggs	Dark underside of Valley Phase morph,, Madera County © Patrick Briggs	An adult, Central Valley Black-bellied "Eiseni" Morph, Fresno County © David Tobler
Delta Morphs

Adult male Delta morph, Yolo County. © Gary Nafis Specimen courtesy of Rick Staub			Juvenile Delta morph, Yolo County © Rick Staub
Speckled Morphs

Adult "Speckled" or "Washboard" morph, Fresno County. Specimen courtesy of Brian Hubbs © Patrick Briggs	Adult, with light speckling, Yolo County © John Stephenson
Misc. Morphs and Hybrids

75 percent Blotched morph, San Diego County. © Alexus Cazares		95 percent Blotched morph, Riverside County. (Striped morph on right at the top.) © Cody Merrylees

A probable cross between a Banded morph California Kingsnake and a Pacific Gophersnake, found in the wild in Yolo County by Steven Hinds. Photo © 2005 Brian Hubbs
Normal Banded Morph Snakes and Habitats

Go to Page 1 to see pictures of the more common banded form of the California Kingsnake, plus a range map, a species description and natural history information, references, and links to more information.	Go to Page 3 to see pictures of some of the wide variety of habitats used by California Kingsnakes.
Short Videos

A Striped morph California Kingsnake crawls across a dirt road in the afternoon in San Diego County.	A disgruntled kingsnake rears up in a partially-coiled defensive posture, strikes repeatedly at the photographer, then races off a rock to get away.	A distressed San Diego County California Kingsnake vibrates its tail.	Click to see a YouTube video of this snake shaking its tail defensively and making a rattling sound.

	More videos of normally-patterned Banded morph snakes on Page 1