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Species authority page

California kingsnake

Lampropeltis californiae · Snakes · Reptiles

California kingsnake (Lampropeltis californiae): Smooth, glossy scales (NPS Cabrillo). Highly variable pattern: black and white or brown and cream, with bands or longitudinal stripes; aberrant animals may show dots, zippers or bars (NPS Cabrillo). This profile does not establish whether taking it is legal anywhere.

Check rules for a place and date

Certified rules currently represented in Hunt: coverage in development. This is coverage, not a legal answer.

California kingsnake coiled on bare ground
Adobe Stock · Standard License (asset 843913404)
Scientific name
Lampropeltis californiae
Family
Colubridae
In North America
Native
Range
Southern Oregon, western and southern Nevada, southern Utah and extreme southwestern Colorado south through California and Arizona to southern Baja California and northern Sinaloa (NatureServe).
Biology

How to identify it

Smooth, glossy scales (NPS Cabrillo). [1][2][3][4]

Highly variable pattern: black and white or brown and cream, with bands or longitudinal stripes; aberrant animals may show dots, zippers or bars (NPS Cabrillo). [1][2][3][4]

Usually 2.5-3.5 ft, up to about 4 ft (NPS Cabrillo); NatureServe gives typically 76-107 cm. [1][2][3][4]

Compared with the california mountain kingsnake: Red, black and white ringed pattern with red bands bordered by black (WDFW); listed as a similar species by theNAT. [1][2][3][4]

Compared with the long-nosed snake: Listed by theNAT as a similar species; no distinguishing marks were published on the page read. [1][2][3][4]

Species it is confused with

Check these before deciding what you are looking at. If you are not certain what it is, do not shoot.

Field notes

  • Identification Confirm a california kingsnake before you act. Compared with the california mountain kingsnake: Red, black and white ringed pattern with red bands bordered by black (WDFW); listed as a similar species by theNAT.[1][2][3][4]
Field knowledge

Where it lives

Primarily terrestrial; forest, woodland, shrubland, swamps, marshes, river bottoms, grassland, semidesert, desert and farmland (NatureServe). [1][2][3][4]

Field knowledge

How it behaves

Constrictor that eats small mammals, lizards, amphibians, birds, large invertebrates and other snakes (NPS Cabrillo). [1][2][3][4]

Resistant to rattlesnake venom and known to eat rattlesnakes (CDFW). [1][2][3][4]

Inactive periods are spent in crevices or burrows, or under rocks, logs, stumps or other cover (NatureServe). [1][2][3][4]

Regulatory handoff

Limited legal take

Legal take of this species exists only under narrow conditions — a quota, a draw, a permit, a small area, or animals released or held on private land — set by the authorities below. Nowhere else is a legal opportunity implied, and Hunt shows one only where a certified rule establishes it.

Where legal take is listed

Being listed is not an open season. Seasons, zones, licences, methods and limits decide whether this animal may be taken on a given day and place — check Hunt or the authority before you go. Listings read 2026-09-30.

Geospatial intelligence

Where it is found

Southern Oregon, western and southern Nevada, southern Utah and extreme southwestern Colorado south through California and Arizona to southern Baja California and northern Sinaloa (NatureServe).

Biology

Sources

Every claim above is attributed to one of these published sources.

  1. NatureServe · reviewed 2026-09-30

    NatureServe

  2. National Park Service · reviewed 2026-09-30

    National Park Service

  3. San Diego Natural History Museum (theNAT Amphibian and Reptile Atlas of Peninsular California) · reviewed 2026-09-30

    San Diego Natural History Museum (theNAT Amphibian and Reptile Atlas of Peninsular California)

  4. BIOLOGICALRattlesnake

    California Department of Fish and Wildlife · reviewed 2026-09-30

    California Department of Fish and Wildlife