Cali King Question

[HavocovaH]

i've noticed that cali kings are either yellow/brown or white/black (at least naturally)...what i was wondering is if this changes with age (fades from black-brown or darkens from brown-black), if it's a phase, or if it's permanent? anyone know?

[richardduckworth]

not that i've seen. some are just more chocolate/off white and some are dark black/white. different regions produce different animals and just chance genetics as well. babies are usually a BIT more vibrant than a 4 year old adult, but they don't change much in this species.

[John_E_Dove]

I was asking someone who has a collection of different Cali Kings about this back last year. The explaination he gave me was thet those colors are locality. Black and white is one area, black and yellowish is from another etc.

[mrcota]

John is right. There are three naturally occuring colour phases of Lampropeltis getula californiae, which are different by locality. Brown and yellow banded occur along the costal area of California, north of North San Diego County. Black and white banded occur on the desert on the desert side of the mountains which separate these two colour phases. The striped pattern, which is a costal variation and naturally brown and yellow, occurs south of Orange County. I have seen both costal phases (stiped, banded and combination) in Camp Pendleton, California which is just to the south of Orange County.
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Cheers,
Michael

[Dicephalics]

The black and white snakes are desert phase and the chocolate and yellow are the coastal phase in Southern California