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Prairie kingsnake

Lampropeltis calligaster · Snakes · Reptiles

Prairie kingsnake (Lampropeltis calligaster): Tan, grey-brown or yellow-brown with reddish-brown dorsal blotches alternating with smaller lateral blotches; pale or yellowish belly. Older snakes lose the pattern with age; 19-27 rows of smooth scales. 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.

Scientific name
Lampropeltis calligaster
Family
Colubridae
In North America
Native
Range
Populations west of the Mississippi River across the plains states and east across the Mississippi embayment to Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, western Tennessee and northern Mississippi (NatureServe); the wider group reaches Maryland and Florida.
Biology

How to identify it

Tan, grey-brown or yellow-brown with reddish-brown dorsal blotches alternating with smaller lateral blotches; pale or yellowish belly. [1][2]

Older snakes lose the pattern with age; 19-27 rows of smooth scales. [1][2]

Often mistaken for a copperhead: copperheads have brown hourglass crossbands, kingsnakes have blotches. [1][2]

Compared with the copperhead: Copperheads have brown hourglass crossbands; prairie and mole kingsnakes have dorsal blotches. [1][2]

Field notes

  • Identification Confirm a prairie kingsnake before you act. Compared with the copperhead: Copperheads have brown hourglass crossbands; prairie and mole kingsnakes have dorsal blotches.[1][2]
Field knowledge

Where it lives

Open habitats: fields, farmland, woodlots, rocky hillsides, favouring prairie and pasture on light soils. [1][2]

Field knowledge

How it behaves

Nocturnal and mostly solitary; active about April to mid-October and hibernates November-March in burrows or rock ledges. [1][2]

Spends about 75% of radio-tracked time underground; can climb and swim. [1][2]

Eats mice and voles, amphibians, snakes, lizards and birds and their eggs. [1][2]

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

Populations west of the Mississippi River across the plains states and east across the Mississippi embayment to Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, western Tennessee and northern Mississippi (NatureServe); the wider group reaches Maryland and Florida.

Biology

Sources

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

  1. NatureServe · reviewed 2026-09-30

    NatureServe

  2. University of Michigan Museum of Zoology · reviewed 2026-09-30

    University of Michigan Museum of Zoology