Speckled Kingsnake
Lampropeltis holbrooki
Speckled Kingsnake 2
Speckled Kingsnakes are rare visitors to the Arboretum, seen mainly near the Meadow. They prefer to live in wet, grassy areas like coastal prairies and marshes, but will adapt to drier habitats like open woodlands. These stunning snakes are black or dark brown with pale to bright yellow spots all over their bodies, giving them a "spangled" or "salt and pepper" appearance. They eat mainly small vertebrate prey like rodents, birds, lizards, frogs, and especially other snakes. Like many other nonvenomous snakes, kingsnakes will pretend to be rattlesnakes when threatened, rapidly vibrating their tails against the ground to make a rattling sound.
Sources and Credits
- (c) johnwilliams, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC), uploaded by johnwilliams
- (c) hancnaturalist, some rights reserved (CC BY-SA)
More Info
iNat Map
| Pattern | mottled, spots |
|---|---|
| Color | black, green, white, yellow |
