Kingsnake

King Snake Facts

Size: Kingsnakes can reach 3 to 6 feet in length and up to 3.3 pounds of weight.

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Habitat: Kingsnakes are terrestrial animals (adapted to life on solid ground).

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Activity: Most species of kingsnakes are nocturnal. Few king snakes are active during the day (diurnal) or at dusk or dawn (crepuscular). Their activity often changes during the year (they become nocturnal during the summer).

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Diet: Kingsnakes are meat-eaters. Their diet is based on other snakes, turtle eggs, lizards, small mammals, birds and frogs. Kingsnakes belong to the group of snakes known as constrictors. They wrap the body around their prey and squeeze it until it dies out of suffocation.

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Life Span: Kingsnakes can survive 20 to 30 years in the wild. Kingsnakes reach maturity at the age of 3 to 4 years.

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Reproduction: Mating season of king snakes takes place during the spring.

Female deposits 3 to 13 eggs under decaying logs or into the ground. Babies emerge from the eggs 2 to 3 months later. They are 4 to 12 inches long at birth and able to fend for themselves from the moment of birth.

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Interesting Facts: The name "king snake" refers to the fact that these snakes tolerate the venom of pit-vipers and eat poisonous snakes such as copperhead, rattlesnake and cottonmouth without any visible side effects.

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When they are faced with danger, king snakes release unpleasant odor and produce rattling sound by moving their tail in leaf litter. Kingsnakes look like poisonous coral snakes. Specific body coloration repels many predators.

Kingsnakes are not aggressive by nature, but they will bite in self-defense.

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Natural enemies of kingsnakes are birds of prey such as hawks and eagles and mammals such as coyotes, raccoons, foxes and bobcats.

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The majority of king snakes hibernate during the winter or remain dormant short period of time ("pseudo-hibernation").

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