Speckled King Snake

Description:

Speckled king snakes are my favorite snakes to catch. They're very docile, and very cool to look at. Each scale has both light and dark coloration (the dark speckles give it its common name). In this part of TX I think our subspecies is supposed to be L. g. splendida (desert king snake) which has dark saddles across the back. I've seen both subspecies on Matagorda Island.

Habitat:

Matagorda Island is a barrier island along the TX coast that is managed by the Aransas NWR. The vegetation is mostly coastal prairie with a lot of native bluestem grasses and gulf cordgrass meadows. This snake was found crossing a gravel road.

Notes:

See Dixon and Werler, Texas Snakes.