Hello All, I love keeping Cali kings and I would like to get into some of the less common kings, specifically either Variable, Arizona Mountain, or Gray Banded. Any recommendations among these three or additional sub-species you like and would recommend? Thanks!!
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Keeping wise they’re all about the same level of difficulty. Breeding wise, Mountain Kings are hard to breed, grey band babies are notoriously difficult to get feeding, leonis would be the easiest in that department.
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Cheers, thank you! They’re all so beautiful. I couldn’t make up my mind at Tinley so I stuck with species I already work with, but this is helpful!
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I personally would go with variable kings as I love variety and not knowing what you will get. And plus Variables can have babies that look like some localities of mountain kings, babies that look like gray bandeds, and every once in a while an all black baby.
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Well, my three favorite kingsnakes are…
- Grey banded
- Grey banded
- Grey banded
Followed closely by Mexican Black kingsnakes.
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Thank you! That’s very cool. I’m looking forward to my next animals and they’re definitely on the list!
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I do like them a lot too! What puts them above the others for you?
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Really the color combinations you get, along with the variation in the stripes. And they are just super laid back as well. At least ours are.
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Thanks man! Seems there are no bad options just really what an individual is looking for in the animals. Appreciate it!
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I honestly really love gray banded also. They’re just more bulletproof and there is some fun polygenic things that you can breed for with them also. I really really like the broadband project, even though it is not talked about a lot. I would have to try to find some pictures but essentially it’s breeding so you get wider and wider patches of orange. Also, breeding for the thinnest patches is also cool too 
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I also love Gray band-aids
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I actually saw some on MM recently with really wide bands! They’re awesome. Aside from how calm and nice corn snakes are, all the different kings just seem so fun to work with. I think they’ll become a predominant part of my projects in the coming years. Whether it’s Cali only, or if I branch out to add some more varieties to my projects. Thank you!
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All three! AND other! And by other I mean Durango Mountain Kings and Mex Mex. I also love Ruthveni but I haven’t had any luck breeding my pair.
Just get good at tricking lizard-eating kingsnakes to eat, and you can do anything! This skill is transferrable to Cal Kings, MBKs and even picky corns from time to time! People say a lot, but there’s not one species that is harder to get going than another. It depends more on bloodlines. I have gray-banded groups that have babies that will eat unscented pinks right off the bat, and I have leonis groups that are as hard as any alterna I’ve ever worked with. That’s my $0.02 - get good at tricking those babies into eating mice and there is no limit to the kingsnake species you can work with! Leonis are my favorite to breed because of their variability, but greeri are my favorite because they’re the most docile. Pyros are my favorite because of the morphs and the combos, and alterna are my favorite because of the localities and morphs…WAIT! Did I mention? They’re ALL my favorite? That’s Mexicana and montane kings, at least!
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Thank you for your insights Joel! I really appreciate your input and I can’t wait to expand out from Cali kings into some more work with other Lampropeltis! 