 Range in California: Red
Click the map for a guide
to the former subspecies
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Formerly, 7 subspecies of this snake were recognized, 5 of them found in California. These 5 subspecies are listed here under Alternate Names. When more studies are completed, researchers will probably recognize a few subspecies once again.
To get more pictures and information about these former subspecies, click on the scientific name links underneath the photos.
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Adult, Napa County. Formerly the subspecies L. z. zonata - St. Helena Mountain Kingsnake. © Gary Nafis. Specimen courtesy of Rick Staub |
Adult, San Diego County. Formerly the subspecies L. z. pulchra - San Diego Mountain Kingsnake |
Juvenile, Santa Clara County. Formerly the subspecies L. z. multifasciata - Coast Mountain Kingsnake |
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Adult, Riverside County. Formerly the subspecies L. z. parvirubra - San Bernardino Mountain Kingsnake. © Gary Nafis. Specimen courtesy of Mitch Mulks |
Adult, Tuolumne County. Formerly the subspecies L. z. multicincta - Sierra Mountain Kingsnake |
Axanthic L. z. multicincta, El Dorado County. Snake courtesy of Tim Burkhardt Photo © 2002 Brad Alexander |
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A California Mountain Kingsnake resting in a crack in a large boulder. Often this is all you will see of a snake before it retreats deeper into the rock. Unscrupulous collectors will often pry up and destroy rocks to get to a snake. This destroys important microhabitat which was created over thousands, and possibly millions of years, and which may be utilized by many species of animals. |
L. z. pulchra - San Diego Mountain Kingsnake habitat, 5,500 ft.
San Diego County |
L. z. parvirubra - San Bernardino Mountain Kingsnake habitat, 6,200 ft., San Bernardino County |
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L. z. zonata - St. Helena Mountain Kingsnake habitat, Napa County |
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Snakes similar to the California Mountain Kingsnake
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Many species of tricolored snakes with red, white, and black bands are popular pets. Sometimes these pets escape or get released illegally into the wild where they may be mistaken for California Mountain Kingsnakes. Below are a few of these tricolors.
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Sinaloan Milksnake
This snake was found in the wild in Ventura County, where it was mistaken for a California Mountain Kingsnake. |
Milksnakes 1, 2, 3, 4
Another snake similar to the California Mountain Kingsnake, but the white bands on a milksnake tend to increase in width towards the bottom of the snake. |
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Arizona Coralsnake.
The light-colored bands on a coral snake touch the red bands, which differentiate this dangerously venomous snake from the California Mountain Kingsnake on which the red bands touch the black bands. |
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Description |
Nonvenomous |
| Considered harmless to humans. (There are no venomous snakes in California that can be mistaken for this snake, but the similar-looking Arizona Coral Snake, found in Arizona, is venomous and dangerous.) |
| Size |
| 20 - 50 inches long (51 - 127 cm.) Average length is 24 - 30 inches (61 - 76 cm.) Hatchlings are 7 - 11 inches in length (18 - 28 cm.) |
| Appearance |
A medium-sized slender snake with a head not much wider than the cylindrical body with smooth shiny scales. The scale count at mid-body is usually 21 - 23.
Black, red, and white or off-white to pale yellow rings circle the body. Bands vary in width, often depending on the population. The red bands can vary in shade from blood red to orange, to pink. Frequently, the black bands widen and cross over the red bands on the back. Occasionally there will be little red visible, especially in the central high Sierras. Black and white snakes are sometimes found. The bands continue across the belly, but the coloring is paler, more faded in appearance, and the bands are more irregular, often encroaching into adjacent bands. The nose is typically black, occasionally with some blotches of red, followed by the first band which is white.
A red band surrounded by two black bands is referred to as a "triad." Triads counts (excluding the tail triads) are one of the methods used to determine subspecies, along with the location of the first white ring. |
| Behavior |
Secretive, but not rare in suitable habitat. Spends most of the time underground, under surface objects, or inside rock crevices. Occasionally seen active on the ground in the daytime, especially near shaded streams on hot sunny days. Active during the day at high altitudes during times of low nighttime temperatures (which is typical habitat.) When temperatures are more moderate, it can be crepuscular, nocturnal, and diurnal. During very hot weather, activity is primarily nocturnal. This snake is normally active at temperatures between aproximately 55 - 85 degrees.
Enters into winter hibernation typically around November, emerging some time from February to April, depending on location and weather conditions. |
| Diet |
| Eats lizards, small mammals, nestling birds, bird eggs, amphibians, and occasionally snakes, including its own species. |
| Reproduction |
| Breeding takes place a few weeks after emergence in the spring. Eggs are laid June-July and hatch after 50 - 65 days. |
| Range |
| Ranges from northerm Baja California, to southern Washington. In southern California found in the San Gabriel, San Bernardino, San jacinto, Santa Monica, and Santa Ana mountains. Ranges along the south-central coast and through the south coast ranges and part of the Diablo Range, continuing north away from the coast along the north coast ranges into the northern mountain ranges. Found throughout the Sierra Nevada mountains into the Tehachapi mountains. There are unconfirmed sight records from the White Mountains, Mt. Diablo, the interior south coast ranges, Santa Catalina Island, and Marin County. |
| Habitat |
| A habitat generalist, found in diverse habitats including coniferous forest, oak-pine woodlands, riperian woodland, chaparral, manzanita, and coastal sage scrub. Wooded areas near a stream with rock outcrops, talus or rotting logs that are exposed to the sun are good places to find this snake. From near sea level along the south coast, to 9,000 ft. (2750 m) on Mt. San Jacinto. |
| Taxonomic Notes |
Rodriguez-Robles, Denardo and Staub (1999 Molecular Ecology 8: 1923-1934) Publication #19 have called into question the recognition of 7 subspecies of Lampropeltis zonata, but not the existence of any subspecies:
"Examination of colour pattern variation in 321 living and preserved specimens indicated that the two main colour pattern characters used to define the subspecies are so variable that they cannot be reliably used to differentiate taxonomic units within this complex, which calls into question the recognition of 7 geographical races of this snake."
Mitochondrial DNA studies found 2 clades of L. zonata, a southern clade from Baja California and southern California, and a northern clade comprised of two subclades - a coastal subclade from the central coast and southern Sierra Nevada Mountains, and a northerneastern subclade of populations north of the San Francisco Bay and most of the Sierra Nevada.
The SSAR, whose taxonomy we follow on this website, no longer recognizes subspecies of L. zonata but we will continue to treat separately the 5 traditonally-recognized subspecies found in California to illustrate some of the regional variations found in this snake. |
| Conservation Issues (Conservation Status) |
The State of California considers the San Bernardino population (parvirubra) and the San Diego population (pulchra) to be potentially threatened. No California Mountain Kingsnakes can be collected in Orange and San Diego counties, and in Los Angeles County west of Interstate 5.
When slabs are torn off rock outcrops by someone searching for this snake or other reptiles, the habitat this snake uses for refuge is irreparably damaged. It takes thousands of years for this rock fissuring to occur, so this habitat will not be replaced for many centuries. Such rock destruction is illegal in California: "It is unlawful to use any method or means of collecting that involves breaking apart of rocks, granite flakes, logs or other shelters in or under which reptiles may be found." (2007 regulations 5.60.4.)
Reptile hunters are usually blamed for rock habitat destruction, but bulldozers are far more destructive. I have also witnessed people tearing off huge slabs of granite with a crowbar then carrying the slabs back to their truck to haul them away. |
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Taxonomy |
| Family |
Colubridae |
Colubrids |
| Genus |
Lampropeltis |
Kingsnakes and Milksnakes |
Species
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zonata |
California Mountain Kingsnake |
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Original Description |
Lampropeltis zonata - (Lockington, 1876 ex Blainville, 1835) - Proc. California Acad. Sci., Vol. 7, p. 52 ex Blainville, Ann. Mus. Hist. Nat. Paris., Ser. 3, Vol. 4, p. 293
from Original Description Citations for the Reptiles and Amphibians of North America © Ellin Beltz
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Meaning of the Scientific Name |
Lampropeltis - Greek - lampros - shiny and pelta - shield - referring to the smooth, shiny dorsal scales characteristic of this genus
zonata - Greek - zonata banded - refers to the black banding
from Scientific and Common Names of the Reptiles and Amphibians of North America - Explained © Ellin Beltz
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Alternate Names |
L. z. multicincta - Sierra Mountain Kingsnake
L. z. multifasciata - Coast Mountain Kingsnake
L. z. parvirubra - San Bernardino Mtn. Kingsnake
L. z. pulchra - San Diego Mountain Kingsnake
L. z. zonata - St. Helena Mountain Kingsnake
Rodriguez-Robles,Denardo and Staub (1999 Molecular Ecology 8: 1923-1934) have called into question the recognition of 7 subspecies of Lampropeltis zonata, but not the existence of any subspecies. Publication #19
Sometimes called the Coral Kingsnake
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Related or Similar California Snakes |
Lampropeltis getula californiae - California Kingsnake
Rhinocheilus lecontei - Long-nosed Snake
Chionactis occipitalis annulata - Colorado Desert Shovel-nosed snake
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More Information and References |
Natureserve Explorer
California Dept. of Fish and Game
Rodriguez-Robles,Denardo and Staub (1999 Molecular Ecology 8: 1923-1934) Publication #19
Stebbins, Robert C. A Field Guide to Western Reptiles and Amphibians. 3rd Edition. Houghton Mifflin Company, 2003.
Behler, John L., & F. Wayne King. The Audubon Society Field Guide to North American Reptiles and Amphibians. Alfred A. Knopf, 1992.
Bartlett, R.D. , & Alan Tennant. Snakes of North America - Western Region. Gulf Publishing Co., 2000.
Ernst, Carl H., Evelyn M. Ernst, & Robert M. Corker. Snakes of the United States and Canada. Smithsonian Institution Press, 2003.
Wright, Albert Hazen & Anna Allen Wright. Handbook of Snakes of the United States and Canada. Cornell University Press.
Brown, Philip R. A Field Guide to Snakes of California. Gulf Publishing Co., 1997.
"Mountain Kings"
by Brian Hubbs
Tricolor Books, 2004.
Mulks, Mitch. Zonata - The California Mountain Kingsnake. LM Digital, 2005.
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The following status listings come from the Special Animals List which is published several times each year by the California Department of Fish and Game.
These listings apply only to the San Bernardino and San Diego populations of this snake.
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Organization
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Status Listing
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| U.S. Endangered Species Act (ESA) |
None |
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| California Endangered Species Act (CESA) |
None |
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| California Department of Fish and Game |
DFG:SSC |
California Species of Special Concern |
| Bureau of Land Management |
None |
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| USDA Forest Service |
USFS:S |
Sensitive |
| Natureserve Global Conservation Status Ranks |
G4 |
Apparently Secure |
World Conservation Union - IUCN Red List
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None |
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